Letters to the editor for June 3

Reopening too fast

The virus has not peaked. The worst is not over. Looking at the Worldometer tracking statistics, the US is still reporting 30,000 new cases every day. The real number is much higher and may never be known. The important number is the number of deaths per day. That number can and should be known — but the GOP want to hide it.

There are many Republican-led states undertesting (including Texas and Florida) and refusing to accurately report. Even so, the US reports about 2,000 coronavirus deaths per day. For 30 days in a row: 30,000 new cases and 2,000 lost lives per day.

But what we are hearing are the Republicans led by Trump saying they are OK with these figures. They are OK with continuing this slaughter unabated. 30,000 new cases a day and 2,000 deaths a day indicates to them it is time to increase the exposure and see just how much death the Americans are willing to accept so that the billionaire money junkies can get another fix. More than 100,000 American corpses so far — more than twice as many as any other country.

This pandemic shows that the Republican policy of selfish capitalism has so weakened the social fabric, the healthcare system, the economy and national security that Americans will die at a rate of 2,000 per day into the foreseeable future. Thanks a lot, Republicans.

Elna Benoit, Olympia

Vote by mail should be questioned

Sam Hunt’s recent letter to The Olympian about vote by mail makes at least two points: “fraud has never been an issue” in Washington’s vote by mail; and President Trump made both a “baseless ... attack on vote by mail” and “the outlandish accusation that vote by mail encourages fraud.”

The most charitable response to whether fraud has ever been an issue with Washington’s vote by mail is that it is doubtful anyone has made a systematic effort to examine that. Around 40 percent of U.S. votes are now cast by mail, but there has been little scrutiny or research on the risks.

Regarding President Trump’s comments, there is plenty of evidence that mail-in voting is susceptible to fraud and has been repeatedly used for fraudulent purposes. The Heritage Foundation has documented at least 15 instances around the country since 2003 where courts threw out an election result based in whole or in part on mail-in voting fraud.

The fact is that mail-in voting incentivizes “ballot harvesting,” where third parties can collect mail-in ballots on behalf of voters and deliver them to election officials. This has resulted in votes by persons other than the ones to whom the ballots were intended. Even The New York Times reported that voter fraud involving mail-in ballots “is vastly more prevalent than the in-person voting fraud.”

President Trump has ample reason to question whether vote by mail should be extended.

James A. Winterstein, Olympia