Our democracy and future
are at stake
The current USPS dilemma is totally President Donald Trump’s dishonest doing … openly disrupting mail norms, vomiting misleading information, and spreading unfounded theories (“dead people will vote”) and fear … hoping we won’t trust the mail-in voting process and trying to scare those who need to stay at home into not voting at all.
The coronavirus situation is and will be a unique impediment to normal in-person voting. Many people will opt not to vote rather than suffer long lines and risk their health. The mail-in option is essential under these unprecedented circumstances. Without proper funding and controllable, ensurable management changes, how will the existing postal system cope with the expected huge increase in mail voting traffic when current mail delays are already rampant?
Trump donator “Postmaster” DeJoy has admitted he didn’t expect the reaction to the mail box and sorting machine removals and overtime cutbacks. DUH! Taking DeJoy’s and some Republican’s word that the mail system will be OK “as is” would be irresponsible and dangerous. And what if mail delivery doesn’t work efficiently during the remaining election cycle? What if tons of ballots are not received in time? Will DeJoy and many supportive politicians simply say “Oops, sorry” and walk away when it’s all over and either too late or impermissible to count all votes?
The least we can do is ensure all proper mail-in ballots postmarked by stipulated deadlines will be counted. It may be traditional and good TV, but it’s not required that we know the winners by midnight, Nov. 3. It could take a few days (not months or years, Mr. Trump) to get final results, but our democracy and future are at stake as never before.
Neal Herbert
Hilo
Resort Bubbles are a fantasy
Resort Bubble? The only bubble I see here is in the empty space that should contain the brains of our leaders.
Let’s start with a reality. These are not tourists or guests. These are “Potential Virus Vectors” or PVVs. So, the plan is to collect these “Covidiots,” who think a pandemic is the perfect time to vacation in Hawaii, and have them congregate at airport terminals at even bigger hot spots in Dallas and Los Angeles to ensure that those who are not infected get a new opportunity to get the virus. After that we want them to all gather in a giant aluminum Petri dish for five to seven hours. Of course, eating and wandering up and down the aisles to use the restroom and thoroughly touch everything along the way. This is essential to ensure optimum infection for those who missed out at LAX terminal.
Finally, they are deposited at a “Resort Bubble,” which is conveniently staffed by employees who live in Hawaii. These employees then get their opportunity to get the virus from the PVVs. These resorts sit on public beaches that will be occupied by … the public! Our leaders wouldn’t want to cheat them out of an infection. The final stage is when these employees and the public go home and infect our kupuna and their own kids, who will take it to school and infect classmates and teachers. I miss anything? Oh, the very few dollars these PVVs bring in will do nothing to solve our economic problem. So we’ll be actually worse off if we have to shut down again.
Lt Gov. Dr. Josh Green said it best, “Hawaii has not stopped the virus and we have done too little too late.” Honesty versus a harebrained Resort Bubble fantasy. I like that.
Joseph Appleton
Waimea
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