Dear Editor:
As a person full of misinformation, I thought the US Constitution gave states the ability to govern their own state. When I was in high school, Montana drafted a new constitution. Part of that document stated air and water quality standards. A few years later the state had to change the standards for the sake of jobs or out-of-state investors’ profits. About the same time the drinking age changed, the federal government said if we wanted interstate highway funds, we had better change the drinking age to 21.
As a former election judge, I thought Montana had some good election laws. One needed a picture ID and a physical address, just try to get a job without either. The physical address showed two things, proof of residency and in which precinct you belonged. The problem I saw was the arbitrary lines drawn for precincts and legislative districts. You have city, school, county and state elections. The legislative district is not in your county, your school district is not in your assigned precinct or you don›t live in the city, yet the vote has an effect on you or your property. One example, the precinct boundary crosses the river, it may be only a few miles as the crow flies, but the people had to drive twenty miles, past two other polling places and through their school district to get to the polling place. Makes me think those arbitrary lines were meant to discourage voters.
Now we have the federal government wanting to mess with our voting process, making a one size fits all or none law. The mail-in ballot has solved several problems and some savings of time and energy. I also think more people actually vote, with absentee or mail-in ballots as opposed to in-person voting although in-person voting was a social event in the past.
Lauris Byxbe
Pompeys Pillar, MT
