A change in voting laws

A number of states are passing laws which can complicate a citizen's attempt to vote. The rationale for passing these laws are the contentions that the 2020 Presidential Election was marred by a large amount of fraud. Contentions which have not stood up in court.

These new laws have the potential to make a major difference in future elections. For example, consider the presidential election of 1940 and what took place in the states of Alabama and Minnesota.

In 1940, a number of the laws which governed voting in the states of Alabama and Minnesota were similar. But Alabama had two additional rules for eligibility to vote. First you had to pass a literacy test and then you had to pay a poll tax. Together these last two requirements were used to keep both African Americans and less affluent individuals of any ethic background from voting.

According to the 1940 census, both of these states had about 2.8 million residents and 11 electoral college votes. However, due to its restrictive voting rules only about 19% percent of the Alabamans of voting age cast ballots for president. In contrast approximately 70% of Minnesota's voting age population cast their ballots.

Although doing it differently, the new election rules can be used to influence and control the outcome of our elections. The citizens of this country should not let this happen. We must ask our senators to pass House of Representatives Bill 1 which was passed by the House on March 3.

JOHN PIEPHO, Cape Girardeau