Letters to the editor: Voting, dams, initiatives, vaccines

Idaho voting

Citizens of Idaho are awesome. The turnout for the November election was an astounding total of 867,250 out of a million registered voters. We owe a debt of gratitude to the women and men who worked to make the election run smoothly despite the turmoil caused by COVID-19.

This month, Rep. Mike Moyle said on the House floor, “voting shouldn’t be easy.” I assure you, Rep. Moyle, voting is not easy. Even the threat of a deadly disease did not deter the determined citizens of Idaho from fulfilling this sacred duty. We show up and vote.

Rather than introducing a slew of bills that seek to limit voting such as stricter voter-ID requirements or making the ballot initiative process nearly impossible (SB 1110), I implore our elected officials to work to make voting more accessible to all citizens.

Excellent ways to encourage voting include creating automatic voter registration, expanding early voting and making it easier to vote by mail. When everyone votes, our state is great.

Kayla Dodson, Boise

Dam proposal

I was encouraged to see Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson release a visionary proposal for restoring salmon and steelhead by removing four dams on the lower Snake River while providing significant investments in our transportation and energy systems. In addition, it includes support for fish passage and restoring salmon in the upper Columbia and other blocked areas.

Restoring the lower Snake River will open up more than 5,500 miles of tributary habitat to salmon and steelhead. Providing fish passage at the dams in the Upper Columbia will restore salmon to rivers that have been vacant of their iconic fish for far too long.

As an avid angler and conservationist, I urge Sens. Murray and Cantwell, and Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers to seize this opportunity to work with Simpson to bring our salmon and steelhead home.

Joshua Abel, Spokane

Initiatives

Republicans in the Idaho Legislature really, really, really hate Medicaid, and they will never forgive the audacity Idaho voters showed in November 2018 when citizens enacted Medicaid expansion. More than 60% of voters approved that initiative. Since then, Republicans have done nothing but try to repeal it, get it declared unconstitutional, make initiatives more difficult, and even throw up more suppression of voters. After all, “Voting shouldn’t be easy!” according to Rep. Mike Moyle.

Now the Idaho state Senate has passed S1110 to make initiatives harder. Why? In the eight years since the current rules were put in place, there were 15 initiatives attempted and only two made the ballot. That’s hardly democracy run amok.

Please contact your Idaho state representatives to ask them to vote no on S1110 and ask Governor Little to veto it if it reaches his desk.

Paul D. Rolig, Boise

Vaccines

What wonderful people populate the COVID-19 vaccination clinic phone lines. I am a needle-phobe, and my primary care physician and I have a plan, which will take some pre-planning with my vaccination clinic on the day of the main event.

I called the St. Luke’s vaccination info line, and even though they had never encountered my solution to overcome fear to get myself into a clinic and get vaccinated, the St. Luke’s staff went into full response mode. Now they are part of the plan. I encourage all needle-phobes to please call your physician. There are options out there for getting you through this. It is life-affirming to get the COVID-19 vaccine. It isn’t just for yourself. It is for the lives and well-being of all in our community.

Jean Lynn, Nampa