President Trump’s opposing voting by mail hurts citizens who back him | Opinion

Trump is wrong on voting by mail

President Donald Trump, in yet another misguided move to dilute if not destroy American democracy, has now announced he will move by executive order to abolish both mail-in voting and use of voting machines.

Claims that both forms of suffrage are fraught with fraud finds no basis in determinable fact. Note the recent $67 million settlement paid by MAGA miming Newsmax for its false claims about voting machines.

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic relatively greater utilization of mail-in ballots by Democratic voters in key states such as Pennsylvania promoted an electoral victory by President Biden. Yet increased utilization of mail-in voting by Republicans in 2024 likely was one factor in Trump‘s regaining the presidency.

All that abolishing mail-in voting accomplishes would be inconveniencing citizens who value their privilege to participate in American democracy, even when personal circumstances makes their directly attending a polling place on Election Day difficult. Such would especially impact voters who work prolonged shifts, such as many of our health care workers, or who must travel for work and even, orbiting astronauts.

Mail-in voting improves the function and efficiency of democracy. Voting machines provide accurate and rapid results. Let the nation not allow a misguided autocratic politician to disrupt these two important advances in conducting free and fair elections.

Alan M. Birnbaum, Fresno

Clovis and its rich farming history

Back in the ‘50s, my parents decided to leave South Texas and head to California to work the crops, and ended up in Clovis, just like many other families all over the nation.

Today, many of the farms where farmworkers toiled, cultivating crops and lands, are gone. Many of those farms have been replaced by gated communities and schools. Clovis still considers itself an ag town, with a statue of “Festus” in the center of town and farmers markets.

As a young boy growing up, I still remember the labor vans leaving off farmworkers at their homes and seeing them shake off peach fuzz and dirt from their clothes and boots.

Many of us who grew up in Clovis remember the giant packing house that packed grapes at the corner of Shaw and Clovis next to the railroad tracks. I ask the city of Clovis to recognize this and not forget the many people who helped make Clovis what it is today.

Steven Trevino Jr., Clovis

Aim for lasting peace in Armenia-Azerbaijan

President Trump seeks peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan — that’s beneficial. If this leads to the Nobel Peace Prize for the president, that too is good.

However, do we really have peace if Azerbaijan will not release or stop torturing the 23 Armenian prisoners of war? Should Trump say we have peace if the 23 Armenian POWs are not released? Congressman Mike Lawler, R-NY, says it well:

“I’m encouraged to see this framework for peace after decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Thank you POTUS for prioritizing this matter and working diligently to reach an agreement. While we continue to evaluate the scope and impact of this accord, we must ensure that it respects the rights of both countries and peoples, that it leads to Baku’s release of Armenian political prisoners, and that it truly paves the way to a just and durable peace.”

Avo Manoukian, Fresno

Don’t blame farmers for west-side subsidence

Critics blame farmers for subsidence affecting the San Luis Canal on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, yet a decades-old effort to restore habitat for fish resulted in problems that require shared costs to fix.

We all want a healthy environment. Surface water that farmers legally contracted to receive was taken by Congress, which left them with only one alternative — pump groundwater.

The 2001 Central Valley Project Improvement Act record of decision stated that this loss of water “will result in a greater dependency on groundwater supplies by CVP water service contractors.” The record of decision further states that this loss of surface water will cause “increased rates of subsidence along the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley,” home to the San Luis Canal.

There was no legal mechanism at the time to prevent groundwater pumping. Congressional members knew it when they voted for CVPIA. Several actions were mentioned that could have offset the water loss, but they weren’t sufficient. Farmers were left to solve water supply problems that they didn’t cause and now they’re the ones wrongly being blamed.

It’s clear that the state and the federal government should support repairs needed to resolve this problem.

Mike Wade, Sacramento

Trump’s bro love for Putin

Here is what the TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) president is doing. He gave Russia until Aug. 8 to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine. Russia did not agree to a ceasefire, so the TACO president threatened new sanctions on Russian imports.

But, there were no new sanctions.

He said there would be “severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. There is no ceasefire and no severe consequences.

After meeting with Putin on Aug. 15 in Alaska, Trump dropped the demand for a ceasefire. Trump also suggested he was backing away from trying to end the war and instead dumping the burden on Ukraine’s president. He told Fox News’ Hannity that “it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done.”

For some reason, Trump is Putin’s biggest defender. That is Vladimir Putin, the war criminal who has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Among his crimes are invading Ukraine, which has resulted in over 1 million deaths of soldiers and civilians, kidnapping Ukrainian children to Russia and putting them up for adoption to Russian families, murdering his political opponents, shutting down the free press and many other crimes.

Stephen Sacks, Fresno