The mail-in voting bill passed out of the Idaho Legislature’s House State Affairs Committee, much to the consternation of the chairman, Rep. Tom Loertscher. However, the full House sent it back to committee when one minor flaw was detected.

The sticking point is one pesky section of the Idaho Constitution, which reads,

SECRET BALLOT GUARANTEED. All elections by the people must be by ballot. An absolutely secret ballot is hereby guaranteed, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to enact such laws as shall carry this section into effect (Article VI, Section 1).

Remember, the mail-in voting legislation provides that each voter will mark his mail ballot and sign his name to it before mailing it back to the county. County election officials will then open the ballot to verify the signature. Each ballot will contain an identifying signature and thus be clearly and easily traceable to the voter.

(And yes, it appears that even absentee ballots may be questionable when held up to this section of the Idaho Constitution.)

With current election procedures, the ballots must all be accounted for by the precinct elections officials,to prevent their theft. The ballots are numbered and correspond to voter signatures on the journal which all voters must sign as they vote. However, each ballot number is removed after voting as the ballot is placed in the ballot box so there can be no identification of specific ballots.

What chilling effect on voting might this have when voters realize their “secret” ballots can be traced straight back to them? Who might be looking at the signed ballots? If we disregard this requirement of the Idaho Constitution for convenience sake, what’s next?

If you believe in the rule of law, particularly Constitutional law, contact members of the House State Affairs Committee and urge them to not send this bad bill back to the floor of the House. And if it does come back out of committee, contact your representatives and urge them to vote NO.

It is a rare occasion when I will refer you to a reader comment in a post. However, a comment with extraordinary insight was received on the post “The Certificate of Need, Otherwise Known as the Certificate of Non-Competition”.

Please take a moment to read through this very educated discussion of the effect of “CON’s”.

By Tom Loertscher
I was asked the other day by someone at home about how things were in
the capitol city. My answer was that it was probably warmer than
anywhere in District 31. He said that would be understandable because of
all the hot air that arises from the Capitol this time of year. I
don’t know about that, but things inside the Capitol have
definitely warmed up.

The two issues that have generated the most heat this week in the State
Affairs Committee in the House were Vote by Mail and the Minimum Wage
bills.

Even after about two hours of discussion and testimony on Idaho moving
toward a vote by mail system there are questions that remain. The bill
did move out of committee to the floor of the House but was voted back
to committee for further work later in the week. I have huge concerns
about the legislation and the potential for election problems. The
reason that it was returned to committee however, is that it was pointed
out to me that there may be some inconsistencies with existing law that
need to be resolved. The election process is way too important and care
must be taken to make sure there are not conflicts.

The Minimum Wage bill needs an amendment and was sent to be amended on
the floor of the House. The bill provides that the Idaho minimum wage
will be the same as the federal minimum wage. It has been an interesting
issue and an interesting time to be discussing it. Idaho is virtually at
full employment and no matter where you look these days there are a lot
of help wanted signs. This market situation has gone a long way to make
the de facto minimum wage higher than the Idaho minimum wage. One
businessman on the committee commented that in his business he had to
offer at least nine dollars an hour in order to find workers. As one
radio talk show host says frequently, “Free enterprise works every
time it is tried.”

The calendar in the house has gone into a growth spurt and that in and
of itself will necessitate some longer days in floor sessions. The Joint
Finance and Appropriations Committee is perched and ready to begin
setting budgets. At long last they have heard from all of the agencies
and slicing up the budget pie will begin in earnest. Most noteworthy
this year is a Governor’s recommended increase for Health and Welfare
of under five percent. Even at that the proposed budget will be almost
two billion dollars, one third of which is State general fund. You may
be wondering why the increase is so much lower than the last decade of
so. The Department says it is because of good times, and that case load
is flat.

On a personal note I had all day Saturday at home catching up on things
before we begin the calving season. It was a long day of hard physical
work and even though my muscles all ached, it sure did feel good. Or
maybe it was just good to get a breather from the heat of the
legislation session

By Larry Lyon
Read Part I.

As the officers walked toward me I thought what a waste of taxpayer money to send four officers, to deliver a dog ticket. In my opinion that kind of show of force (4 officers) over something so benign is itself a form of intimidation.

With my car blocked in and four officers there who I believed would lie to cover for each other and being aware of a number of complaints about the unnecessarily aggressive, impolite and unprofessional behavior of city police officers I took out my cell phone to record whatever might happen. It was a good thing I did because Officer Frei immediately took on the persona of what I would describe as a school yard bully.

I have since learned that he seems to have a reputation as a “hot head.” This is how he has been described to me by people who have told me they have had dealings with him or have known people who have had to deal with him.

Officer Frei got right up in my face the way a teenage bully might do. He repeatedly threatened to “take me to the ground.” He tried to grab the cell phone out of my hand and threatened to arrest me.

I had hoped to simply explain my position. I tried to do that. Officer Frei would not even give me the courtesy of listening to my side of the story.

He told me at one point I was “obstructing” and “resisting.” I felt like he was doing everything he could to escalate the tension and make the situation as volatile as possible.

It was obvious to me that he was trying to instigate a confrontation. I didn’t know it at the time but he had an audio recorder on and so the whole exchange was captured electronically.

It was clear that officer Frei’s reputation was well deserved. All his words and actions sent a clear message. That message was that he was trying to provoke some action on my part that would give him an excuse to as he put it, “take me to the ground”, tazer me, or arrest me.

My biggest mistake in this whole scenario was to expect the Idaho Falls Police to conduct themselves with the highest levels of courtesy and professionalism. Knowing Chief Livesy the way I do I should have known better.

To avoid giving officer Frei the excuse he was looking for I decided to just give him my driver’s license.

When I got the ticket back I was told by the animal control officer I didn’t have to sign it.

Then I was told by officer Frei I did have to sign it.

I got my tickets and the officers left.

I have since been told by a state police officer who is a friend that I wasn’t legally required to sign the tickets.

The animal control officer told me I would have to go to court. When I did I was told that I didn’t need to be there. All I needed to do was pay the city clerk.

The conflicting direction and misinformation I received right up to the end of the incident just underscored the lack of professionalism and the absence of a strong customer service orientation on the part of the officers.

Again let me say that I think we have some excellent officers on the city police force. I believe that if it had been some of those officers who were at my house on the 5th of January I would have been treated very differently.

If you read this and think it is about a dogs getting loose you have missed the whole point. This is about how the of citizens of this city have a right to be treated by city law enforcement and who is the servant of whom? Are the people of Idaho Falls servants of the city government or does the city government exist to serve the people?

When I talked with my attorney about this incident he asked a question. Why did they need your drivers’ license to issue a dog ticket? I said that was a good question. If a driver’s license was necessary to issue a dog ticket then anyone who does not have a driver’s license could never be issued a dog ticket. So it appears they were asking for something they didn’t really need in the first place.

In fact the police reports state that while I was being threatened by one officer the other one simply looked up my driver’s license information on his police computer.

Another interesting detail of the police reports is that they both state that I was shoving my cell phone in officer Frei’s face. That is a total lie! When I read that in the police reports, I felt like my concern that the officers would lie to cover for each other was validated. I wonder how many other police reports have been falsified over the years.

I have filed a formal complaint with the police dept. The police policy that allows citizens to file complaints works very similar to the city grievance policy so I have no confidence of any real justice coming out of that process. I only hope that it will serve to highlight the need for reform.

I also think it is interesting and somewhat ironic that the meeting I was late for when the animal control officers knocked on my door was a meeting with Post Register reporter Corey Taule to discuss the city grievance policy and to provide him with documentation of some grievances I have known about since I have been on the council. The end result was the front page article “Grievance Denied” that ran on Sunday Feb. 11. I have been calling for grievance reform since 2005 and made Mayor Fuhriman aware of the problem even before he was sworn in as the new Mayor.

If there is to be any reform that is truly meaningful I believe it will have to come from outside the “system.” If Employees had a truly effective mechanism for blowing the whistle on waste, unethical behavior and mistreatment it would be a serious blow to the “good old boys” that run the city behind the scenes. It would dispel much of the climate of fear and intimidation that hangs over too many city employees. Since fear and intimidation are two of the most effective tools that are used to keep city employees in line and to cover up wrongdoing in the city, those who hold the strings of power will do everything they can to prevent any reform of the system that would make a real difference. Only symbolic changes that don’t make any real difference will be allowed.

What will happen from here? I will keep you informed.

Bob Webster, a constitutional scholar, sent the link for a wonderful video reminding us that our country is Christian, and its survival depends upon our adherence to our God.

Take just a minute to view this video.  You’ll be glad you did.  Then email the link to your family and friends.

From Idaho Chooses Life 

What is it about Democrats that drives them to obsess over election procedures, public finance, controlling the airwaves, “campaign finance reform” and the like?

We have witnessed an assault at the national level by Democrats: First they tried to overwhelm organizations like Family Research Council and American Life League into silence with new grassroots lobbying rules. They are seeking to tighten the already outrageous McCain-Feingold campaign finance scheme. And then there is the plot to restrict the free speech rights of conservatives by re-imposing the “Fairness Doctrine” over print and broadcast mediums.

And remember the incessant whining over stolen elections and voting violations?

Clearly Democrats will do just about anything to control the debate, to hold power, when they find free competition too disadvantageous.

It seems Idaho Democrats have finally caught the wave.

The Lonely Seven of the Idaho Senate have introduced a bill (SB1037) to bring “fairness” back to Idaho elections. (Translation: let’s change the rules so needy Democrats have a better shot at winning legislative seats).

SB 1037 is called the “Idaho Fair Elections Act”, implying that our centuries of experience with the ballot box have been little more than a sham. (How foolish we Idahoans have been not to elect more liberals! What other explanation could there be for the pathetic history of Democrats in Idaho? If not their message and pro-abortion values – then there must be something wrong with the process!)

This legislation would set up a 7 member commission to distribute public campaign dough to candidates for statewide or legislative office. They would acquire this money by sticking a ten percent surcharge on all traffic fines in the state.

The fact that Democrats would forcibly extract campaign monies from Idaho citizens does not even cause them an embarrassing pause in pushing the bill: In their Statement of Purpose, Senate Democrats claim that this scheme creates “an alternative, voluntary method of financing electoral campaigns.”

But it turns out that it is only “voluntary” for candidates. The rest of us will be forced to pay the printing bills for Democrat liberals to publish their campaign propaganda.

Certainly the GOP will kill this measure – but be prepared for a high-toned whine all winter long over how “mean-spirited” Bart Davis and Company can be.

From Idaho Chooses Life

Our annual Legislative Reception will be held on Thursday, March 1st at the Owyhee Plaza in downtown Boise. 6-8 pm. We are honored to have Congressman Hunter as this year’s guest speaker.

He represents the San Diego area and was, until Democrat takeover, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He recently announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

Hunter has a very strong pro-Life record and has just reintroduced the “Right to Life Act” (H.R. 618), co-sponsored by Idaho’s Bill Sali.

From Idaho Chooses Life

Parental Consent Bill Keeps Moving

Senate Bill 1082 moved to the 2nd reading calendar in the Senate yesterday. That means we should see final Senate passage of the measure by the middle of next week.

Following passage of the original Parental Consent Law in 2000, Idaho witnessed a dramatic decline in teenage abortions. In 1999 there were 304 abortions performed on girls under 17; the next year, that dropped to 219.

But since the law was enjoined by Federal Judge Lynn Winmill—we have seen those numbers climb. Our estimate is that there were 393 abortions performed on girls last year in Idaho.

In fact, Idaho is bucking the national trend. Partial numbers for 2006 indicate that there were more than 1,124 abortions performed in the state; that is up from a ten year low of 801 recorded for 2000.

Coercion: The Ignored Abuse of Women and Girls

The “right” to kill a pre-born baby in this society is so highly developed that we are barred from telling parents that some strange doctor has just performed an emergency abortion on their 14 year old daughter — for fear that requirement might have a “chilling effect” on a girl’s supposed right to commit abortion.

But only 2 states in the union make it a crime to coerce a woman into aborting her baby, Utah and Tennessee. Utah’s law comes with absolutely no penalty. And we have been unable to find a single prosecution in Tennessee, where coercion is a misdemeanor.

The horrors of abortion are life-long for many women—which is to say nothing about the destroyed children. Idaho has a chance this session to lead the nation into creating real protections around a woman’s right to choose Life for her baby — and herself.

Sali Co-Sponsors “Holly’s Law”

Congressman Bill Sali has signed on as a co-sponsor of HR 63, entitled the “RU-486 Suspension and Review Act of 2007”. This bill would require the Food & Drug Administration to pull its approval of the abortion pill pending a scientific review of deaths and other serious health problems associated with its use.

The Annals of Pharmacotherapy reports that at least 5 women have died from RU-486, and another 607 women underwent hospitalizations and medical treatments for serious adverse reactions to the deadly drug regimen.

The bill is named for Holly, a young California girl who died in 2005 from the drug. Lead sponsor is Rep. Bartlett of Maryland.

The following is authored by an anonymous source in Bannock County. The piece is fictional, but illustrates actual events in Bannock County over the last 35 years.

Secret Union Plan Now Being Implemented: Comprehensive plan for a future unification for a cooperative union for County, city and school District.
Meeting held January 5th 1972, with 11 present, gathered to discuss implementation of the new plan for the democrat party’s future.
Conducting, Ray Bradford, with Daryl Jensen presiding.

Ray-
As we discussed during our meeting last month, when we began our public outreach last year to deliver the goodwill pens to area merchants, we covered outlet stores including movie theatres and shops all the way down to the JC Penney block on both sides. If you still have some pens please try to distribute all of them and feel free to keep one pen for yourself as a token of the bright future of the democrat party. Let me now introduce Daryl who will describe the new plan for the future of our local party.

Daryl-
I want to thank all of you for being in attendance today. I also wish to thank Ray for the many years of service and his devotion to our progress and the exciting changes in the democrat party’s plans. This plan guarantee’s this party’s growth for a hundred years to come within city and county governments’ in spite of what happens at the state level.

Today we take the first step toward implementing the new plan to solidify the first cooperative union between all three branches of local government. This will be accomplished by introducing an exciting new role for labor unions, wherein they will have a position within local government rather than strictly private sector jobs. This exciting change will all but guarantee a permanent and unbreakable political position within not only our city, but also our county and eventually the entire state. The beauty of our plan lies in how subtly it circumvents citizen opposition.

Phase 1

I now wish to make a direct comparison to the success of unionizing the public schools which have placed the democrat party in the driver’s seat nationwide on every level today. Our party today is in the forefront of the public mind widely recognized as the only salvation for public education, as the people who care about our children’s future.

Phase 2

Just as sacred to the public as education are the police and firemen who protect our children and secure civilization. Phase 2 will take a lot more work coupled with a long range plan in order to accomplish it. We are already on our way.

This plan will take very careful planning to build public trust because people are very conditioned to accept unions only for the private sector.

First, we must establish a police and fireman’s union at the local level and gradually implement the county ambulance and police force into the union, which will permanently maintain democrats in both the city and the county commission seats.

Can you now see where this is going? We will not only have direct access to local taxes in order to support our people but the union itself will eventually help our party control the whole county. We will then become free to extract healthy annual raises for all the public employees now supported by rural county farm properties as well as the revenue from all the communities within our county tax base. Some may object saying that they are not recipients to all the services but there will be very little opposition to this approach.

The hardest part will be to make a union transition from private companies and corporations that will be monopolized by government employees. Why? Our party’s future depends upon making this very transition. The eternal fabric and sanctity of police and fireman unions will ensure public job security, and create allegiance within a public employee voter block, who will gladly vote for our party.

This party support becomes greatly multiplied through extended family members and friends, making it practically impossible to lose an election. The school teachers, firemen and policemen are so sacred that no one will dare to challenge the union.

This will give us a much stronger position than we could have ever hoped to achieve within private business unions simply because the old style of union membership is uncertain. We must have an elected majority on the city counsel and gain the majority on the county commission seats or this plan simply will not work folks.

Don Abram-
Daryl…this plan bothers me somewhat because you are obviously changing the original purposes for labor union’s in order to shift the democrat party into a monopoly of power that cannot be challenged through the voices of the people at the ballot box. Each citizen is will eventually be forced to foot the bill for government unions, just like the teachers, fire, and police departments. The long range plan is to empower all levels of government with union allegiance.

Daryl-
The best way that we can protect the citizen or little guy is to guarantee that police and fire departments are giving him the best protection available, coupled with road and comparable water costs for his family.

Don-
Aren’t the costs for these services going to go up dramatically in order to support the higher wages proposed for our political purposes?

Daryl.
Your answers are yes, & yes. Inflation is already driving up these costs and we must simply keep employee raises aligned with current inflationary levels which are also amplified by fair union scale.

Don-
You and I both know exactly how unions work. These proposed raises and benefit packages now become a bargaining chip for union arm-twisting for more leverage to raise wages and, therefore, taxes. This surely changes the union into a kind of parasite-monster standing directly in the way of citizens’ control of local government. The employees’ union will surely replace citizen involvement in the governing process.

Daryl-
The union cannot replace citizens simply because people will still have the same right to appose tax increases for union wages.

Don-
I can surely see this now as hundreds of local and county police and fireman stand in their uniforms at a City Council meeting, demanding annual salary increases. No citizen would dare stand and tell firefighters and their policemen they do not deserve a raise.

This plan is not fair because those who pay for police protection find themselves pitted against those who provide their police protection. No citizen will publicly isolate himself by opposing those who risk their lives. This plan stinks to high heaven!

Daryl-
Don, please hear out the plan before you condemn it, because it simply is not as bad as you envision it. This plan will greatly improve our area and each community.

Todd Christiansen-
Why is this plan such a secret? Why is it necessary to pull the wool over citizens’ eyes? I am very opposed to anything so secretive, especially when it is hidden behind props that cannot be openly discussed in the light of day.

Daryl-
The public is always suspicious of something new. When governing people you must approach them according to their level of understanding. If you blurt out our real plan, you will surely have ignorant people at our throats challenging what is best. I believe that this plan will someday make our city larger than the capitol city of this state.

Todd-
Well, that brings up another concern. Is it even constitutional to seize public entities so the employees answer to a public employee union and no longer to the voters? The teachers union has become so powerful that it controls education by blackmail and if you do not believe me go appose them in court and see who wins! Why would the public support a union which takes their taxes and then denies them union representation to oppose the very same union which is taking their money? This is crazy!

Daryl-
The answer is they do not want to oppose their police and firemen who do such a good job for them. Unions impose honor and respect.

Jay Anderson-
Citizens will no more speak against our union than they dare oppose the teachers’ union. They simply accept the proposal that these people deserve pay raises. What business do you know who wants to become labeled in this community as anti-children, or anti-union?

It is the same principle as being labeled anti-police. Which small town in the entire county would dare raise their voice to challenge these institutions? They will not fight against it, folks, and it will soon work like a charm. We will have access to unlimited power and funding. You will see the wisdom of this union plan simply because the public employees are also paying customers. The fears of opposing public servants and losing a large number of union customers who support their business do not seem worth opposing the plan.

These fine union folks might simply begin shopping somewhere else.

Insurance companies, real estate, health professionals will all be supportive of the union which will have no public opposition. What few complaints there are will simply fall upon deaf ears.

Todd-
I am opposed to this plan because I believe its implementation will ruin the democrat party and possibly the country. I fought in the Korean War defending freedom and you folks want to turn us into another Soviet Union. A dominant government union becomes a monopoly of power and destroys freedom. What in the hell are you guys doing here?

Ray-
You’re just simply wrong, Todd. For the first time we will be in a position to actually do something about education, poverty, unemployment, racism, and discrimination.

At last we can crack down on bigotry and greedy businesses who exploit the public. We will control the water and therefore regulate vital services.

Todd-
Just listen to yourself, Ray. You sound like a crazy tyrant who wants to control the world so you can force the world to do the right thing. You need not go back far in history far to see where this plan has failed. I cannot believe what I am hearing.

Ray
The plan is already working in New York and California and if we do not get on board everyone here will someday move to California to find prosperity and then we are left behind.

Mike-
This all sounds to me like our party is going to take advantage of the publics’ good faith in order to follow a plan that will empower a secret takeover of the public treasury. It will be hidden under a prop of water, police, fire, school districts, and public employees in order to destroy the two-party system in America. The public will never swallow this. What makes you believe no one will catch on to this? What’s next, taking peoples private property for union raises?

Ray-
Think about this. Today the democrat party and education are exactly the same thing. Even republicans refer to education and our party in the same context. The reason we have that position is simply because the teachers union gives us leverage to pit the teachers against their school boards for higher wages. Republicans do not wish to become labeled anti- education in the media so they dare not challenge our plan.

When they do challenge us we solicit citizens and businesses to place the “support the teacher” signs everywhere and run those Republicans out of office just like they are public enemy number one. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

You must agree that this plan works every time, simply because the public is not as smart as you think. They are busy people and the majority will likely vote democrat until their dying breath. Why? Because their dad was a democrat. They honestly do not care about these changes in their party.

Mike-
You are creating an unconstitutional middle man who is not elected by the people, in order to rule by a secret subversion of the Constitution. I do not understand why our kids need to be used by democrats, Republicans, or unions for political purposes. This will surely undermine education itself and the kids are already being used as the bargaining chip by teacher unions to leverage more taxes from us.

The cost of education will climb through the roof and you folks will never have enough money. You already know they cut classroom funding in order to make a sympathy case for more and more money and make the taxpayers, kids and teachers hostages to create voter guilt. I do not like the idea of hiding behind a curtain or a prop of public sanctity for the purpose of gaining power. This is what I have been taught is a secret combination. I am out of this plan as of this moment.

Todd-
How can you justify doing all of this funny business when the public will surely question you about your motives for seeking power?

Daryl-
If a tree falls in a forest when no one is around to hear it fall, will there be a sound? No!

We change that saying slightly. If A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST AND LEADERSHIP REFUSES TO HEAR OR ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOUND, AND MOVES ON LIKE IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED, SOON EVERY ONE ELSE WILL FOLLOW AND DO LIKEWISE.

Daryl-
We anticipated that some of you would not like the new plan, and so we remind you that this is a nationwide party plan and the party must stay together on the same course. We cannot survive as a party unless we are on the same page everywhere. We are a party of compassion and not a dictatorship as Mike and others have charged.

Mike-
One more thing! Suppose the entire country rebels against this plan someday? Won’t that destroy the party?

Daryl-
Who controls the water Mike? Who controls code enforcement? Who controls the police? Do you think anybody will continue a rebellion when they suddenly face huge fines or have their water shut off? This is a win-win situation for the democrat party. It is a plan to take control of these entities and does not mention our roll in health and welfare, or environmental programs. No one can justify attacking our party for doing good things. Think about it and you will see it is true.

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee passed the vote-by-mail legislation (discussed in previous posts here and here) and sent it to the full House by an 11-7 vote. This surprised a number of people, not all happily.

Chairman of the committee, Representative Tom Loertscher, whose weekly musings, “House Highlights”, appear in this column, was saddened by the vote. He is justifiably afraid mail-in voting will lead to massive fraud.

Strangely, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa is thrilled. He never believed the bill would make it out of committee. Ysursa is very confident that this vote scheme is the answer to low voter turnouts and lack of participation. As an added bonus, it will save the taxpayer money. He suggests that when county election officials come across a problematic signature (the “proof” of each mailed-in ballot’s authenticity), they will just hire “document examiners” to determine if it is a match to the voter’s registration card.

“County clerks aren’t going to bring in some system that’s susceptible to fraud”, Ysursa said.

Of course not. No one has ever attempted to forge another’s signature. Who would think of doing such a thing? Certainly not a political candidate, nor his operatives.

Most Idahoans have completely forgotten about the Republican primary between now-Lt. Governor Jim Risch and former Senator Jack Noble. The legal proceedings for that contested race made it all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court. One of the issues was an absentee ballot purportedly filled out by Risch’s son.

“Document examiners” were unable to definitively say who actually signed that ballot, but many thought it was Risch himself. There were many other points of question, including ballots sitting out of sight of observers in unlocked rooms, and the wife of the chief election judge taking the “dimpled” ballots or ones with “hanging chads” into an unobserved room where she helped the voters decide who they really wanted to vote for (she punched their ballots).

The result of that case was very disappointing. In spite of irrefutable proof of illegalities in the voting, the Supreme Court refused to act. In essence they gave every person who attempts and/or succeeds at vote fraud in Idaho a free pass. By the way, Risch won that primary, but Noble succeeded him when he moved on to lieutenant governor.

So, in the big picture, maybe mail-in voting won’t increase vote fraud. We’ve already got it. But just maybe it will make it easier to commit and more difficult to detect.

To my untrained and admittedly biased eye, it appears that the real reason for mail-in voting is to ease the burden of election officials. (Of course, they could just quit their county jobs and go work for Wal-Mart, but the retirement isn’t nearly as good.) Sorry, but that is not a worthy goal.

In a Constitutional Republic, such as the United States, nothing matters more than an untainted citizen voting system, no matter what the cost in dollars, time or gray hairs for the county clerks.

So mail-in voting works like a dream in Washington and Oregon? Since when have Idahoans felt they had to “keep up with the Joneses”? (In my observation, state bureaucrats are the only ones who keep score on that account anyway, and mainly to see if their paycheck compares favorably to similar out-of-state bureaucrats’.)

Have we forgotten the brave Iraqis who risked their lives to vote? Have we forgotten how few people today or in the annals of history have had the privilege, much less the right, to vote for their leaders?

Let’s keep things in perspective. And lets keep our voting system. Contact the members of the House today.