Stop punishing companies for taking sides
Let’s stop blaming businesses and and sports franchises for taking sides in the discussion over the new Georgia voting law. And talk of boycotting is absurd.
If our State Legislature (and the U.S. Congress) would set a better example of legislators working together and stop handing us laws that were voted on by only one party, the general public, including sports franchises and businesses, could have more confidence in our lawmakers and relax. But when the legislative leaders continue to take sides against one another, what do you expect the rest of us to do?
JINI KILGORE COCKROFT, STONE MOUNTAIN
New photo ID requirement modernizes the voting process
The signature match for absentee ballot requests and voting is a holdover from the bygone era before photo ID’s.
My first Georgia driver’s license was just a piece of paper with my name, address and signature, and it had to be renewed every four years. Back in those days, all anyone had for identification when voting, absentee or in person, was the signature match on the line where you attest to be that person. This meant that your signature had to match the signature on your license when voting in person, or the signature on file with the voting registrar’s office when voting absentee.
The new requirement to use a photo ID when voting absentee is just pulling that portion of our election process into the 21st century with the rest of our election process. The list of things you cannot do without a photo ID now extends from seeing a doctor, to flying on a commercial aircraft, and almost everything in between. To me, saying people of color will be disenfranchised because they don’t have a photo ID is racist because it assumes they somehow do not have the ability to get a driver’s license or state issued ID because of their race or ethnicity.
GARY HENDERSON, MARIETTA
