SAVE Act doesn’t make elections great again. It rejects women | Opinion

Dangerous bills

A subset of Republicans is vocally opposing women being allowed to vote. The danger is when those ideas start moving through Congress. Enter the SAVE Act and Make Elections Great Again Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri.

Labeled as important for “election integrity,” it would hit women hardest, because about 79% of women in opposite-sex marriages have changed their names. The bill could reject a driver’s license or REAL ID unless it shows citizenship, even though those IDs require documents that require proof of citizenship.

Any ID requirement that costs money is a barrier to voting and collides with the ban on poll taxes. The “you need an ID to fly” argument is irrelevant. Flying is not a constitutional right. Voting is. Noncitizen voting is already illegal and rarely happens.

If the government wants proof of citizenship at the polls, it must provide identification issued at birth or naturalization. This is not theoretical. More than 9% of voting-age Americans, about 21.3 million people, do not have proof of citizenship readily available.

If it is mandatory, it must be free. If it is required to vote, it must be free. If it is required and costs money, it is a poll tax.

- Karen Sicheneder, Columbia

Pick it up

Come on, Kansas City — let’s have an anti-litter campaign: education, billboards, publicity and more. Start now. Our city is a mess, so it’s going to take some time.

Pick up litter you see and don’t throw out more — not even a tiny piece.

Let’s get picky about it. We’re getting ready for company, and all Kansas Citians would enjoy and appreciate a cleaner city.

- Kathleen Williams, Kansas City

EV reality

A Feb. 1 letter to the editor (18A) discussed supposed “problems” with electric vehicles. Its talking points appear to be taken from far-right sources and the fossil-fuel industry. Starting with mention of “anti-pollution extremists” and the use of “clean” in quotation marks, it attacks renewable energy.

Yes, there are issues with producing batteries. There’s also pollution from coal-fired energy. Has the writer ever been inside a car factory?

The weakest point of this argument is that the idea that charging EV batteries takes too long. Chinese automakers manufacture cars that use interchangeable batteries, which can be switched out in the time it takes to fill a gas tank — technology that will prove revolutionary. Cutting off the EV supply would cripple us while internal-combustion cars chug on. The current administration has convinced too many of us that we can roll back time.

Not that long ago, Detroit carmakers woke up to the fact that Japan was crushing them — so Detroit started building vehicles Americans wanted.

Today, we’re doomed to repeat the same error if we end a century of America as the shining city on the hill through willful ignorance, brought about by the greed and influence of fossil-fuel CEOs.

- Jeff Lee, Overland Park

Short move

May I suggest an option for a new Royals stadium? How about demolishing Arrowhead Stadium and building a new Royals stadium on that site?

- Norma Tharp, Columbia

Logically speaking

According to the National Archives of the U.S. government, Amendment XXII to the U.S. Constitution was passed in 1947 and ratified in 1951. It states that a person may be elected president only twice. Further, any person who has held the office of president or acted as president for more than two years of a term to which another person was elected shall not be elected president more than once.

Donald Trump continues to claim he was elected president three times. He claims he was the true president from 2020 to 2024, and Joe Biden was merely a usurper.

Therefore, by the logic of Trump and his supporters:

• The 2024 election was invalid.
• All Trump’s election lawsuits are invalid.
• U.S. taxpayers should be able to sue to recoup the costs of these many frivolous lawsuits.
• Trump should forfeit his position as president immediately.

Since this logic invalidates the 2024 election, JD Vance’s ascension to the presidency should not be guaranteed. A special election should be held.

As the saying goes: Be careful what you ask for — you might get it.

- Kathleen Evans, Kansas City

Needed relief

For some people, including me, 7-OH products are the only things that help our long-term pain. But I recently heard that the mayor of Kansas City has proposed an ordinance that would ban most 7-OH products. As members of the City Council consider this ordinance , I want them to understand that it would hurt people like me. I live with severe pain every day because of a flail hip and a nonunion of my humerus. Over-the-counter medicine barely helps. Prescription medication is too expensive even with my insurance. At times, I’ve been so desperate that I’ve gone to a free methadone clinic. It’s miserable, but I’ve had to endure it or end up homeless. 7-OH, which comes from the kratom plant, has helped me in a way nothing else did. I had forgotten what it felt like to live without constant pain. If we want to protect consumers, we should require accurate labels and age limits. But taking away an option that helps chronic pain patients is not fair. I hope the City Council votes against this ordinance. We can make rules for safety without taking 7-OH away from the people it helps.

- Trevor Foreman, Independence