Letters: Hey, Kris Kobach: President Trump is encouraging actual voter fraud now

Here’s voter fraud

For years, Kris Kobach has cried wolf about voter fraud. Those of us with functioning brains howled that statistics prove voter fraud is so low as to be virtually nonexistent.

But wait, now our tweeter in chief has called for his supporters to send in mail ballots and then vote again in person. Yes, you heard that right: He said exactly that. (Sept. 2, KansasCity.com, “Trump faces pushback for urging people to vote twice as test”)

So Kris, if you’re still out there, you should gear up for what you’ve been waiting for all along: actual voter fraud inspired by the head of the world’s once-greatest democracy.

Every day, our president slips further into the abyss of his twisted mind. This November, please put him out of his, and our, misery.

- Scott D. Roby, Lenexa

Student scores

As president of a local teachers union in late 1990s, I wrote articles for our monthly newsletter. One question I asked was: Who is responsible for a child’s education — the parent, the child, the administrator or the teacher? I asked people to give a percentage for each. It is my position that public school administrators place 100% on the backs of teachers. What do you think?

Another article I wrote was about the ideal grading system. For me, scores of 90% to 100% should get an A, 80% to 89% should get a B and zero to 79% should get a C. Yes, you read that last score correctly: Every student passes. No child is left behind. What do you think? Such a grading curve is more necessary today than 20 years ago.

I remember giving national standardized tests at the end of the school year. I believe we should administer those tests at the end of the fourth, eighth and 12th grades.

As a math instructor at a local community college, I see many of the incoming high school graduates perform at the eighth-grade level in reading, writing and arithmetic, according to the placement tests they must take. That needs to change.

- Hershel T. Martin Jr., Kansas City, Kansas

Expand Medicaid

At least 150,000 Kansans work but do not earn enough to afford health insurance. Their poorer friends can receive Medicaid benefits. Their wealthier friends can afford private health insurance, and their older or disabled friends can receive Medicare benefits.

But these remaining Kansans do not enjoy the peace of mind of knowing they can access affordable health care without the threat of bankruptcy from overwhelming medical bills.

Now that Missourians have voted to expand Medicaid, Kansas remains one of only 12 states that have not yet done so. Unless our Kansas leaders choose to expand KanCare, Kansas’ Medicaid program, a family of three making less than $29,000 per year will continue to be financially excluded from affordable coverage.

If we genuinely care about our fellow Kansans, we should expand the eligibility requirements for KanCare.

As a physician who has practiced rural family medicine, taught in an academic health center and served as CEO of a national nonprofit medical association, I urge us to vote for candidates for the Kansas House and Senate such as Joy Koesten, Democratic candidate for Kansas Senate in the 11th District, and others who will take the right path forward by quickly expanding Medicaid in Kansas.

- Norman Kahn, Prairie Village

Protect us, KU

To the University of Kansas, my future alma mater:

This week, I received an incredibly tone-deaf email from you. In it, you asked your students to not be afraid of the coronavirus and thanked us for “having the courage to face uncertainty.” You quoted an aphorism often attributed to Marie Curie: “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

Let’s get something straight: We are afraid of the coronavirus because we understand its dangers.

But we are more afraid of you. We fear that you are waiting until the refund deadline has passed to discontinue in-person instruction, because we understand that your pocketbook’s safety is more important than ours. We fear that your current plan doesn’t include enough random testing, because we understand the threat posed by asymptomatic carriers. And we fear that you will intentionally mislead us about it all, because you already have.

Marie Curie was fearless, yes. She also didn’t understand the dangers of her research, and it is likely what eventually killed her.

You do understand the dangers of coronavirus. Learn from her and put student safety first. First.

If we know you’re doing that, then maybe — just maybe — we’ll be a little less afraid.

- Nicholas Johnston, Lawrence, Kansas