Political theater

Dallas County voters are being asked to accept confusion on election day at the polls as unavoidable. It isn’t. This mess was intentionally created by the Dallas GOP engaging in performance politics, not election integrity.

For decades, Democratic and Republican election judges in Dallas County have worked together to run welcoming, lawful and efficient polling places. That bipartisan success is being undermined by Allen West and the Dallas GOP, who seem to have chosen loyalty to Gov. Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump over voters.

After Republicans passed mid-decade gerrymandered maps that violated the law (by splitting precincts in half, thus forcing massive redrawing of precincts), they created a logistical crisis and blamed election workers for it.

In Irving, those maps cost us our Democratic congressional representative.

Now the GOP wants credit for security while Texas already has the strictest voter ID laws in the nation. If Republicans can send the state’s voter file to Washington, they can implement statewide voting and reduce confusion. They simply don’t want to.

This chaos isn’t accidental. It’s political theater designed to suppress turnout.

Liza Hameline, Irving

Voting should be effortless

If I have the right to vote, and voting by mail is a valid way to exercise that right, then why can the state ignore that right if I: failed to re-create a driver’s license signature, didn’t have a printer, didn’t have stamps, didn’t have a car, misread forms that haven’t been checked for errors, had a visual impairment or was impacted by a mailing delay longer than four days?

If citizens have the right to vote, then the process of exercising that right should be as effortless as possible. The state shouldn’t be able to shift the burden of running elections onto voters by making them jump through bureaucratic hoops.

Finnegan Motz, Dallas/Lochwood

Cheers and jeers for DMN

Cheers to The Dallas Morning News for 1. the Ultimate Puzzle Book, 2. the Sports section and 3. our local paper delivery person. I look forward to receiving the Ultimate Puzzle Book every month. The Sudoku Monster is quite a challenge.

The Sports section, although not quite as current as in recent years, is good. Your sports writers do a good job of reporting both national and local sports news.

Our paper delivery people are excellent.

Jeers to The Dallas Morning News news section. As Mario Vitale masterly reported in a recent letter to the editor, I find that the vast majority of the national and international news agencies used by The News are left-leaning. From reading most of the news articles, one would think a majority of North Texans are liberals. Recent election results don’t verify this. No surprise Fox News is the most popular cable news channel.

David Gordon, Bedford

We need DART

Re: “Density wrong for DART,” by Bill Pritchard, Jan. 1 Letters.

I can’t agree with Pritchard’s opinion on DART. In Nassau County, N.Y., the population is 1,900 per square kilometer and in Suffolk County, the population is 647 per square kilometer. The Long Island Railroad carries around 270,000 to 300,000 people every day and is the main transit artery for Long Island.

The railroad stops at many towns and transfers along the way, and includes a stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Texas roads are great, but it is not a long-term solution. We need to get cars off the road and mass transit is the solution. Imagine how much better and robust Dallas would be and can be.

I believe it’s not too late to continue building and improving Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The Long Island Railroad is well over 100 years old and still growing and improving. We can do the same with DART.

Jesse T. Reed, Flower Mound

Some other facts

Re: “A ‘convenient fairy tale,’” by Janet Worthington, and “Good tried to run over agent,” by Carl Herman, Wednesday Letters.

Now that it’s an established “fact” that Republicans have always staunchly supported civil rights and that Renee Good was killed in self-defense, we can move on to other “facts.” Pinocchio became a real boy, and the cow really did jump over the moon. Also, the fact that Rudolph has a red nose shows clearly that Santa Claus is a Republican.

Tom E. Stone, Dallas

The whole story

Worthington’s selective recall of American history fails to note that President Lyndon Johnson said that his voting rights legislation would lose the Southern Democratic vote for generations as the solid South immediately began switching to the Republican Party.

Richard Nixon’s Southern strategy of promoting “law and order” in Black neighborhoods and emphasizing state’s rights regarding progressive legislation further attracted their move. Now Donald Trump’s apprehension of people of color completes the transition.

James Clinton Cargile, Plano

A nightmare for Cowboys fans

In only two National Football League seasons, Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix and New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye each has two NFL postseason victories under his belt. Each has also earned an appearance in the American Football Conference conference championship game, and one of the teams will be going to the Super Bowl this season.

In 10 NFL seasons, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, the highest-paid player in the NFL, also has two postseason victories, although they were not in the same season.

I’m still waiting on Prescott and the Cowboys to make it to the National Football Conference conference championship game though. Then, maybe the Super Bowl?

A fan can dream, right? Because the last 30 years of being a Cowboys fan have been a nightmare.

Craig Renfro, Mesquite

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