Letters to the editor: Kindergarten, voting, GOP primary

Kindergarten

The first assignment of my 35-year kindergarten teaching career was in a small, rural Idaho town. The only available space for this newly offered program was in a condemned building on the grounds of an old TB hospital. Classroom highlights for my students that year were watching the teacher trap mice under the wastebasket, gathering after recess to the sound of a cowbell and riding a bus to PE once a week. The ensuing 34 years may not have been as “rustic” as that first year, but maintained two characteristics. Kindergarten never became mandatory and even though I retired teaching full-day kindergarten, it was never free. It’s time for Idaho to consider free, mandatory, full-day kindergarten. The data on better academic, social and emotional outcomes for full-day kindergarten students is conclusive. The full-day schedule offers students an opportunity for broader and deeper understandings of the curriculum, opportunities to develop social relationships that are foundational to future educational success and, most importantly, the time to gain the emotional maturity and confidence to see themselves as lifetime learners.

Janet-lee Murphy, Boise

Voting bill

The recent Idaho Statesman story of Rep. Dorothy Moon’s bill to unravel the 1994 voting bill came with no substantiation of need.

I want to point up an issue that seems to pervade much of the majority’s rhetoric, that the original law was passed by a liberal legislature.

That is nothing more than a dog whistle for a reason to rescind anything that happened previously.

A little fact checking; the governor at the time was a Democrat. Yes. The House and Senate that created this legislation were not, and have not been, for over 40 years.

The governor does not write or debate legislation. That has been left to the Republicans far too long to be used as an excuse to alter any law.

The good representative from Stanley is clearly pandering to those people who have recently moved to the area or others who, unlike their pachyderm namesake, have a short memory.

Bob Parrish, Boise

Elections

Election integrity is hotly debated lately. One piece of hard data both sides can consider is the database maintained by Heritage Foundation listing cases of criminal convictions for voter fraud. According to Heritage, there have been 10 persons convicted in Idaho between 2004 and 2017. That’s not much, but it’s also not nothing and it suggests that securing elections is worth working on. Statista lists the rate of “crime clearance” for different crimes and though voter fraud is not listed it might be comparable to “larceny - theft” which has a clearance rate of 15.1%. If that’s true, then for those 10 voter fraud convictions another 66 cases may have gone undetected or unconvicted, and maybe Mike Lindell is overstating the case, but his assertions are worth investigating if we value election integrity. And maybe “The Big Lie” is a big overstatement but with an important grain of truth at the heart, and well worth giving due consideration instead of an eye roll. I commend Rep. Moon for her effort to make it harder to wrongly vote.

Steve Dunlap, Boise

GOP primary

There’s nothing wrong with being independent — to a point. We’re at that point. Unaffiliated, independent voters must decide now if they’ll register Republican for the primary.

When the Republican Party closed its primary, it limited voters’ choices. Idaho GOP chairman Tom Luna said “elections aren’t won by gaming the system.” But it’s already been gamed.

In an operationally one-party state, the primary does determine winners, and the closed Republican primary best serves the party. With independent voters outnumbering the ruling party, the only way this plurality of people has a chance of gaining a voice in government is to register Republican and vote.

Primaries are to select the best candidates for the general election. In the primary, if anyone wants to vote the Democratic ballot they can do so as a registered Republican. The Democratic Party did not close anyone out.

Independent voters wishing to select the best candidates for public service offices must register Republican to “get in the game.” Don’t wait. Lawmakers are in session and can change rules ahead of the primary!

Victoria M. Young, Caldwell