Keep federal meddling out of state elections

OPINION — Remember your civics class when you were taught that it was our civic duty to vote; to exercise your right to vote, creating our government for the people, by the people, we the people?

In Arizona our mail-in ballots are arriving and early voting begins, the official election day set for July 21. The Constitution has mandated that states have the authority to set election laws: who and how votes are cast. The federal government is excluded from this authority by our prescient forefathers.

This administration, however, wants the United States Postal Service to be the guardrail for those who receive or are denied their requested ballot, thereby removing the state’s authority and vesting it in the Trump administration to decide who gets their ballot delivered. Mail-in voting has been used since the Civil War. It’s cost effective and secure. Six states use only mail-in ballots. In 1997 the Arizona Legislature allowed for mail-in ballots to be requested for any reason. Fraud is rare and inconsequential.

The Trump administration's executive order, titled “Ensuring Citizen Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,”  has thankfully been challenged in court by many states and organizations to stop the federal meddling in states’ right to set election laws. Hopefully, the courts will see fit to uphold the states’ rights as set forth in the Constitution. And hopefully “We the People” will stand up, rise up, in protest to protect against the federalization of our elections.

I am a proud voter. I believe as President Barack Obama said, “Don’t boo, vote!” Voting is  our voice in the direction we want to take our country. Be engaged, be educated and vote!

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