Preserving democracy
The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act must be passed before the 2022 elections.
While the Senate fails to do this, our state is being taken over by a party of right-wing extremists who do not and cannot speak for us.
The lack of action to secure our voting rights is handing them the keys to the state, and the country.
The filibuster will need to be suspended to do this. The GOP knows that in their current form, they lose if people are allowed to vote and have our votes counted.
Make no mistake — this is the single most important thing Congress must do.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s hesitancy to protect our voting rights is terrifying. If she has an ounce of decency, she’ll get behind this effort now.
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Amy Fountain
South Tucson
More gerrymandering
The plans by the Independent Redistricting Commission for the new Legislative District 16 boggle the mind. Stretching from southwest Tucson to Goodyear, it would include Sacaton, Casa Grande, Picacho Peak, Avra Valley and Tucson Estates. It would take part of Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties.
Why would anyone put all those places in the same district? How would anyone campaign, let alone represent, such a district? It is approximately 100 miles end-to-end, and maybe half that in width.
District 23 is almost as bad, extending from near Mission Del Bac to Yuma. Others have complained about the proposed LD 17.
The obvious point of such butchery is to take part of Democratic Pima County and connect it to more Republican Phoenix. The question really is: Do the proponents of this foolishness think nobody would notice or fight back?
Martin Plocke
Southwest side
Build Back Better bill
We so often hear that Sen. Joe Manchin (Democrat) is the senator scrapping the Build Back Better plan. It’s never mentioned that there are 50 Republican senators blocking the bill. All that is needed is for two Republicans to step out of the thrall of Donald Trump. Instead, they choose to follow a man that thinks only of himself and, I believe, did everything he could to form a coup on Jan. 6 to overthrow the election. The BBB plan, consisting of a means-tested child tax credit, would help many of the people that voted these Republicans into office. Manchin isn’t the real problem. 50 to 1? Who’s really blocking BBB?
John Blackwell
Midtown
Redistricting commission
Having watched many hours of the Independent Redistricting Commission meetings, it is obvious to me that the Republicans on the commission were not negotiating in good faith. While the the Democrats were seeking competitive districts so that the state would be balanced, the other side sought only to make sure their team would have an advantage.
The most egregious evidence of this was shifting lines so Sens. Sine Kerr, Vince Leach and Wendy Rogers would be in districts favorable to reelection. While the 11 months of work will not be thrown out, the illegal manipulations should definitely be investigated.
When I moved to Arizona and discovered that there was an independent commission to draw new voting districts, I was so happy that gerrymandering was something I would not have to worry about. What a disappointment to find out that legislators can still choose their voters, rather than the other way around.
Kathleen Dubbs
West side
