Voter fraud not issue
I signed up to work the polls Nov. 3. After going through seven hours of training, I can safely say it is nearly impossible to vote twice or vote using someone else's name.
Voter fraud is a non-issue, in my opinion. The crew at the Pulaski County Election Commission are on top of things. I was very impressed.
No matter what, everyone will get to vote. If there is any question regarding the validation of a voter's credentials, there is a contingency for that. No matter what the issue is. The system using provisional ballots will be utilized and the voter's identity will be verified later on.
If anyone is thinking about challenging this system, keep in mind it is a felony to vote twice or misrepresent yourself at the polls.
Another thing, in Pulaski County they have done away with the cumbersome Voter Books and they have been replaced with a very efficient computer tablet system that is used for voter verification. So, "You can vote early, but not often."
See you at the polls! Remember to practice social distancing and wear a mask.
KIRBY SHOFNER
Little Rock
Disgusted by support
When is an endorsement not an endorsement?
I agree with Saturday's letters to the editor by Roger Webb and Mary Remmel Wohlleb. They expressed the disgust I feel about your support of Trump as evidenced in your Oct. 18 editorial. If only the ADG wasn't the only game in town.
I knew your newspaper would endorse Hill and Cotton, but your backing of Trump is a shocker. You could stay silent, refrain from taking a stand, and not support this horrific president. Your opinion is a blatant example of "Fox"-style journalism: neither fair nor balanced.
You are one of only two newspapers supporting/endorsing Trump. The other is the Las Vegas Review-Journal. You corrected MSNBC's "Business Insider" when it said the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette endorses Trump. You may contend your editorial was not an endorsement, but you clearly recommended voting for Trump. If that is not an endorsement, how would you define it? Your editorial included lies such as your insinuation that Biden is far-left. You declined to mention that Trump has stoked racism, denied science, lied about the pandemic, and fired generals, scientists, diplomats, and other experts who did not agree with him. You also did not mention that he has insulted our allies and cozied up to unsavory government heads.
As the subhead of your editorial says, "Think hard about the top of the ticket." Yes, the people of Arkansas must think hard. Despite being a "red" state, most of my Republican friends and many prominent Republicans believe Trump has destroyed their party. Members of Congress, like those in our state, have kowtowed to him while he shreds the Constitution and acts as though he is a common "Banana Republic" despot. Those Republicans who are not members of the party of Trump are voting for Biden, and voting for Democrats up and down the ticket. Me too!
TERRY BARKET
Little Rock
Who pays the tariffs?
The importer always pays the tariff. The money is collected at the point of entry, which is a port or national border. Customs and Border Protection collects the money. A representative pays the tariff for the buyer. That means the buyer has incurred the cost of the tariff.
Business has one of three ways of getting the money back. One way is to lower the percentage of profit, which would not set well with investors. Another way would be to lessen the compensation of workers, which would not set well with labor. The chosen method is to pass the cost on to the consumer. This is generally embedded within the price of the product. When a product is taken off the shelf, the customer does not know how much of the price is tariff. If you are interested, you can find the tariff on goods on Google or Wikipedia. On big items the tariff can get costly. Builders pay a 20 percent tariff on lumber imported from Canada. Steel and aluminum also have a tariff, so the price of building has increased.
All goods from Mexico now have a tariff of 25 percent. Adding a quarter to your avocados may seem like no big deal, but if you buy a vehicle, it could be a big deal because many of the parts of the vehicle were made in Mexico.
The president has said that we have collected billions of dollars from imports from China. What he did not say was that the money had been collected from the American people. So who pays the tariffs? We do.
MARJORIE LeCLAIR
Shirley
Ballot will be counted
I had an experience with the mail-in voting process in Arkansas that I would like to share that has increased my confidence in the process.
When I completed the process of filling out and sealing my ballot into the inner "ballot only" envelope and put the other identification material in the return envelope, I realized a couple of days later that I had failed to include the "Absentee Voter Statement." I had no idea how to correct my error.
Earlier this month I received a letter from the Pulaski Circuit/County Clerk and Voter Registrar informing me of my omission and enclosing the document to correct it. This gave me even more confidence in the integrity and honesty of the mail-in voting process. It proved to me that my ballot was reviewed, checked for completeness and will be counted Nov. 3.
JAMES VANDERGRIFT
Little Rock
Save our democracy
Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation is the triumph of power over principle. Not only has she taken a seat on the Supreme Court through a breathtakingly cynical exercise of political power, but she also got her Court of Appeals seat the same way: Senator McConnell blocked President Obama's attempt to fill a vacancy and President Trump filled that vacancy with Judge, now Justice, Barrett.
Democrats must respond to the politicization of the judiciary not only to restore ideological balance to the federal courts but also to restore majority rule. A majority of justices on the Supreme Court have now been appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote and ratified by senators who represented less than half the nation's population. Due largely to Senator McConnell's obstructionism, President Obama only appointed 55 federal appeals court judges in eight years. In less than four years, President Trump not only appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, but 50 to federal courts of appeals, and 160 to federal trial courts.
The Democrats should embrace reforms like adding up to four justices to the Supreme Court and dramatically increasing the size of the lower federal courts. Please spare me the conservative pearl-clutching over "court-packing." Republicans have been packing the courts for years by playing political and constitutional hard ball. Why else would they rush a nomination through prior to an election they seem destined to lose? Only a few years ago Republicans accused President Obama of court-packing when he sought to exercise his constitutional power to appoint judges to vacancies on the lower courts. Republicans like our own Tom Cotton introduced a bill to reduce the size of the D.C. Circuit to prevent President Obama from filling vacancies there.
Bottom line: Republicans have been politicizing the federal courts and packing them with ideological fellow travelers for years. Increasing the size of the federal judiciary is not just politics. It's about saving our democracy.
JOHN M.A. DiPIPPA
Little Rock
Will pay tax forever
Re Issue 1: This was passed as a 10-year tax for the roads set to expire in 2023. The ads would have you believe it is not a new tax. It is. If you vote for it, you will pay for it forever, not just three more years.
We own a hybrid car which we now have to pay $100 tax a year for. We also own a non-hybrid car that we pay no extra tax on. The theory is that I don't buy as much gas for the hybrid. That theory is wrong. I buy the same amount of gas on both cars, and the non-hybrid car gets better gas mileage. We bought the hybrid because it is good for the environment and we are being taxed on it. Please vote no on Issue 1.
KAREN HERBERT
Little Rock
All in interest of self
Napoleon Bonaparte, the leader of the French Grande Armee, realized early on that his generals all worked toward their own self-interest in detriment to the cause, much like the politicians/office-holders are for Issue 3. They are working for their own "self-interest," and not the ordinary person.
JOHNNY McMAHAN
Benton