Letters to the Editor

Letter: Keep voting safe

I am used to seeing the signs go up for early voting, which is a reminder that Election Day is coming up and I’d better double-check the ballot measures. I am used to voting in person on Election Day, showing my valid Alaska driver’s license to the nice ladies at the table, signing next to my name, voting in the secure booth and watching my ballot whoosh into the special machine. I still participated, in a wheelchair, after an accident. When I was able to get out of the wheelchair, those nice ladies cheered my recovery and offered me extra chocolate. We have a relationship, as intermittent as it is. I am used to getting my “I Voted” sticker off the roll, a metaphor for each person’s piece contributing to the whole of our democracy.

This pandemic changes everything with regard to accessing the polls. For the first time, I may vote absentee and I frankly don’t like it. I miss my nice district grandmothers and aunties behind the table offering me my choice of a ballot and sticker. But I won’t put their health or my own at risk without knowing safety measures have been put in place to vote safely in person.

To elected officials: Show me that voters matter during every election, and not just when it’s your turn to run for office.

In the future, I will remember whether a fair and safe opportunity to vote was provided in order to protect our right and responsibility to vote.

Support the VoteSafe Act.

Annette Alfonsi

Anchorage

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