In a recent letter to the editor, Rep. Forrest Mandeville (R-Columbus) made a mighty effort to discredit mail voting – mighty outrageous, that is.
The chair of the House State Administration Committee believes that a mail ballot in the May 25 special election for Montana’s lone congressional seat will result in “voter suppression.” He used the right bumper sticker buzzwords to get attention, but perhaps he doesn’t know that we’re already in on this deal since his colleague, Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann (R-(who isn’t?)-Billings), already scooped Mandeville on this mail ballot thing when he accidentally told the truth: Mail ballots should be discouraged, said Essmann, because more Democrats vote in mail ballot elections than Republicans, and we don’t want that so therefore the Montana Legislature should make it as difficult as possible to allow mail ballots even though it’s a lot cheaper than voting at the polls.
Mandeville, apparently not realizing Essmann already spilled the beans on this deal to the point where it is now practically a Twitter meme, tried to moonwalk it back by putting forth some alternative facts so fanciful they could have been written by Stephen King. Voters who prefer to vote at the polls, said Mandeville, would be “disenfranchised” if they have to vote at home. Yep, nothing says inconvenience like voting at your leisure in the comfort of your own home, I always say.
Or your ballot could get lost in the mail, he says. Uh huh. And Ravalli County could start voting Democrat.
But let’s not get crazy. Let’s get back to reality and Mandeville’s “cost-shifting” argument that says the cost of running a special election – about a half million bucks statewide – would be “cost-shifted” to voters in “return postage.” Well, he’s got me there. But personally, I’m willing to pay any price, shoulder any financial burden, including the price of a first class stamp, if I have to.
I hope you’ll join me, and every Republican who swears it’s all about the money, in supporting mail ballots.
It’s the conservative thing to do.
Carlotta Grandstaff
Hamilton