Letter to the Editor: Vote Jan. 23

Amendment 15 absolutely guarantees the right of male citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged.

Amendment 19 guarantees the right of all women citizens to vote shall not be abridged or denied. Amendment 24 further guarantees the right to vote shall not be abridged nor denied. Amendment 26 guarantees that citizens over 18 right to vote shall not be denied or abridged.

Four States: California, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon are the only states with well developed and secure vote- by-mail systems.

Oregon stands alone as the state with automatic voter registration via driver’s license records. Nationally, only one qualified voter in four consented to governance by this administration. Two of the four qualified voters abdicated their birth right! In the four vote- by- mail states, greater than 80 percent of eligible citizens voted. The remainder of the country had less than 50 percent participation. In the upcoming Jan. 23 referendum, voter participation will likely be 50 percent or lower.

Voter suppression, registration impediments, and apathy are why citizens fail to exercise their respective birth right and responsibility.

Oregon’s automatic registration voter participation is even greater among the four because the automatic registration is well above the other three. Comparing the four vote-by-mail states with the remaindersuggests voter suppression and registration impediments accounts for about 30 percent.

The remaining 15 percent to 20 percent is simply voter apathy. The abdication of well-defined and protected birth rights.

The current political intransigence is not the fault of politicians. It is the result of inactive citizens.

It is the result of 15 to 20 percent of the electorate’s failure to exercise the right and responsibility of citizenship. When good people stand idly, voter suppression is rampant amongst the remaining 47. Apathy compounds voter suppression.

When turnout is low, the intransigent fringes dominate. Apathy and voter suppression is diminishing our democracy, drowning out the ringing of the 1775 shot from Concord Bridge heard around the world.

How simple can it be? The USPS delivered the ballot to your home. You need only to be intelligent, mark your ballot, and return it.

Terry B. Armentrout

The Dalles