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Opinion: Utah’s leaders should support federal voter reform

Several states are quietly working to overturn the will of the people

SHARE Opinion: Utah’s leaders should support federal voter reform
A voters puts a ballot into an official drop box.

Millie Wetterberg places her ballot into an official ballot drop box at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Should legislatures be allowed to overturn the will of the people? Likely no one wants that, for this is the opposite of self-rule. And yet several states are stealthily passing laws to enable this.

We may take our democracy for granted, yet even now The Economist has downgraded the U.S. from “full” to “flawed democracy.”

Voter reform is currently being written in Congress. It offers some policies Republicans favor, like voter ID, along with policies Democrats favor, like making Election Day a public holiday. The legislation also seeks to ban gerrymandering that allows politicians to choose their voters rather than letting voters choose their representatives. And legislatures will not be allowed to overrule the people’s vote. All of this is highly popular among all Americans.

I ask Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee and the rest of the Utah congressional delegation to support these voting protections, which will fortify democracy and preserve the sovereignty of the people.

Georgia Platts

South Jordan