Editor:

More and more of America is becoming increasingly worried about the threats to the stability and viability of our Social Security, healthcare, national parks, funding for medical research and Constitutional rights, to name just a few. The biggest concern is preserving our democracy. These issues have generated nationwide protest demonstrations such as Hands Off Our Democracy. Cape Cod has held demonstrations in Hyannis, Falmouth, Orleans, Eastham and Provincetown.

On June 14 there will be national demonstrations designated as No Kings day. Residents of Chatham can make their voices heard without having to travel out of town. The front lawn of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House at 819 Main St. will serve as the community demonstration location on June 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Everyone who wishes to participate in this peaceful and non-violent expression of views is welcome to join.

Participants needing parking should use one of three public parking lots at the

community center, Oyster Pond and behind the Orpheum Theater. Please do not park in the CVS/Chatham Village Market private lot in consideration for their customers. Also, please do not use their bathroom facilities. On an urgent need basis, the UUMH church bathroom will be made available. 

Evan Howard 
Gail Tilton
Chatham

Editor: 

Several months ago you published my letter expressing concern that our most confidential information stored in Social Security records was at risk of being made available to barely adult techies within DOGE. Now, our Supreme Court, which was once considered the last bastion of democracy, has issued an “emergency order” (everything the current administration seeks to do is an emergency) opening up our records to potential disclosure and abuse. There was no rationale provided to justify the decision despite several lower court rulings denying such access.

Before reading this news, I listened to a presentation by a Harvard professor about how fragile democracy is today in America. Harvard should know, as it is facing threats by our government to starve it out of existence. The United States, once the envy of other nations for its public and private education and health care excellence, now ranks in the last quartile among major world economies. Yet indiscriminate cuts in government funding and personnel are being made in these vital areas and the social services without regard to their economic and social value. Where is the opposition within our country to decisions being made at the highest level of our government that threaten the very fabric of the nation we elders thought we would leave to future generations?

John Sweeney
South Chatham

Editor:

The League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area, along with the LWV of Massachusetts and the LWV United States, is a non-partisan organization involved in education and advocacy. In this light it is imperative that we share with your readers’ information regarding the SAVE Act, a bill working its way right now through the Senate in Washington. It passed in the House on April 105 strictly by partisan vote. 

The SAVE Act would undermine election integrity based on lies about who is voting. There is absolutely no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting in federal or state elections. It is just not happening anywhere in federal or state elections based on numerous investigations by both Republicans and Democrats. Many voters are already required to show identification in order to vote and this will not change if the SAVE Act does not pass.

It is already illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in federal elections. Every state also bans non-citizens from voting in state elections. Violations can lead to imprisonment and deportation.

However, this bill will make it significantly harder, if not outright impossible, for millions of eligible voters to register or re-register to vote and have their voices heard. It would require every single American citizen to provide very specific documents, chiefly by either presenting a passport or an original copy of their birth certificate, in person when registering to vote and anytime they update their voter registration. 

This bill would especially burden military voters, tribal voters, rural voters, survivors of natural disasters, and the tens of millions of married women in America who have changed their names, meaning that these women do not have a legal birth certificate that matches their current legal name and thus cannot be used as valid proof of citizenship. Military voters could not use their military IDs. Native Americans could not use their tribal ID because it does not list a place of birth, and survivors of natural disasters in all likelihood would have lost any passport or birth certificate that had existed.

The purpose of this bill is not about safeguarding elections, it’s about silencing voters. America’s election process has been secure for decades. This proposed law will undermine the election integrity that is already in place. What Congress can do to protect voting rights is to restore the Voting Rights Act, protect the ability of voters with disabilities to have access to polling places, and return funding to the independent Election Assistance Commission.

The SAVE Act does none of these things. It focuses on removing or restricting access to voting, a fundamental American right and one that we should all fight to protect. Please join the LWV of the Cape Cod Area in contacting your Senators in Washington, D.C. and telling them to vote no on this attempt to limit voting rights for a large portion of the American citizenry. You may contact Senator Warren by calling her D.C. office at: 202-224-4543 or by using this link: www.warren.senate.gov/contact/shareyouropinion. Senator Markey’s contact info is 202-224-2742 and www.markey.senate.gov/contact/share-your-opinion.

Thank you for your concern and action to preserve our democracy. 

Lynne Pleffner, president, League of Women Voters Of the Cape Cod Area
Chatham 

Editor:

I am writing to endorse Joanne Goodman’s idea to establish a fenced-in dog park in Chatham. She makes salient points about the benefits of such a park for both dogs and people. The fact that there is already a potential location — Volunteer Park, which allows dogs, has parking and a water source — adds to the feasibility of making the park a reality for the numerous residents and visitors who have dogs. I am a proponent and encourage others to support this initiative. Let’s get this done, doggone it!

Nancy Maguire
Chatham