Elections: Voting is a precious, fragile right
I read Erwin Chemerinsky’s column warning us about executive branch interference with the postal service role in elections (“SCOTUS needs to remind Trump he has no power over elections,” Aug. 28, Opinion). His concerns struck home with me because I remember how I felt in 1977 when I was a student in the Soviet Union and received my absentee ballot through the diplomatic pouch mail.
The right to cast my vote for the Seattle mayoral election while I was far away in a totalitarian country reminded me how precious this right is, but potentially how fragile unless we protect it. I later volunteered as a poll worker in King County and witnessed the change to all mail-in ballots in 2009. Elections officials report remarkably few cases of fraud since we switched to that system.
We need to help the Constitution hold strong on the way we regulate the right to vote and not allow obstruction from any quarter.
Kathleen Braden, Seattle
Denny Way: An idea for new bus-only lanes
Re: “Seattle’s bus-only lane on Denny Way gets its biggest test yet” (Aug. 24, Traffic Lab):
Seattle traffic east and west is still a major challenge, starting with Mercer Street going eastbound from Queen Anne Avenue North to Interstate 5 and Denny Way the same direction.
The recent change of bus-only lanes going east on Denny Way only compounds congestion. Like many, I drive it many times a week and note that weekends there are many fewer buses — leaving those dedicated lanes very open while car-only lanes still have a buildup of traffic.
How about making those bus-only lanes just Monday-Friday and giving the rest of us a chance on weekends?
Tom Lucas, Seattle
Mail-in voting: No reason to oppose it
Re: “ ‘Zero doubt’: The story of WA’s 100% accurate mail-in election” (Aug. 29, Local News):
Danny Westneat’s column should remind us that Washington’s statewide mail voting system was the work of a Republican secretary of state. In 2020, Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, wrote in the National Review that of course Republicans should support vote by mail. The Republican President votes by mail.
There is no partisan or even rational reason to oppose it.
Frederick Wamsley, Redmond
Ten Commandments: Reality check
Re: “Supreme Court asked to review Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools” (Aug. 17, Nation):
I was given an education in a Catholic grade school taught by nuns, so I’m quite familiar with the Ten Commandments.
Posting the Ten Commandments in school rooms should come with a curriculum requirement that they be examined in the context of critical thinking:
Fifth commandment: Thou shalt not kill. The United States is a leader in the production of lethal weapons. Israelis, to whom the Ten Commandments were originally given, are rightfully accused of genocide against Palestinians.
Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery. Whatever happened to the Epstein files?
Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. President Donald Trump does this in every public speech he gives.
Post the Ten Commandments — under a heading “Just kidding.”
Kate Bradley, Sammamish
Religious expression: Ten Commandments in classrooms
Re: “Does separation of church and state have a prayer?” (Aug. 30, Opinion) and “Supreme Court asked to review Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools” (Aug. 17, Nation):
I didn’t agree with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Bremerton coach Joe Kennedy, who prayed at the 50-yard line after each game, but at least that was one person expressing his religious beliefs outside the classroom.
But when Texas passed a law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom, the teachers had no choice. It didn’t matter whether they agreed or not, it was mandated — just like the textbooks they must use, the subjects they must teach and the posters they must display. Therefore the Ten Commandments became part of the official curriculum and obviously against the separation of church and state.
Kathleen Blanton, Maple Valley
Anti-wokeness: ‘Revisionist history’
Carlos Lozada’s column “I have one question for the formerly woke” (Aug. 30, Opinion) focuses only on one individual’s “woke” stance while failing to bring out what the “anti-woke” truly abhor — inclusivity.
Certainly there are those who believed in defunding police, but the “wokism” deplored by conservatives is based on civil rights. Race, creed, color and the gamut of LGBQT+ and the equal rights they deserve drives the anti-woke. The anti-woke brand of political correctness doesn’t allow for bringing up those who were part of the American Revolution who owned enslaved people. Rather, revisionist history is their focus.
The current administration believes truth doesn’t belong in the national discourse if it defames the framers.
The anti-woke rant about what they don’t like, but don’t make it clear what they support — which seems to be white supremacy.
Mark Clemons, Seattle
Cedar River: ‘Important to all of us’
Re: “King County buys asphalt plant site with plans for a new park” (Aug. 29, Local News):
The excerpt from David B. Williams’ “In the Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington’s Cascades” references his book “Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography” (“How Snoqualmie Pass became the most important route across the Cascades,” Aug. 15, Pacific NW Magazine). I have read “Too High and Too Steep” and found it fascinating.
He points out the importance of the Cedar River, the main source of drinking water for Seattle. And someone thought an asphalt plant should be built on the river! They had certainly not done their necessary research (or ignored it).
The Cedar River was/is an important historical site/asset for the Indigenous people who have lived along its banks since long before Seattle was settled. My thanks to activist Bob Baker and his persistent work to expose and reject the proposed asphalt plant between Renton and Maple Valley. Preserving even a small area along the Cedar River is important to all of us.
Linell Arbuckle, Federal Way
Graffiti: Focus on traffic, directional signs
On its website, Seattle Parks and Recreation claims to conduct “proactive inspections to remove graffiti in the public right of way and city assets.” But it is at best a whack-a-mole operation. As soon as the city paints over graffiti, fresh scribbles appear within a few days. It is downright dangerous when graffiti mars a traffic or road sign. There are numerous directional signs over Interstate 5 that are difficult or impossible to read because of graffiti.
Seattle Parks and Recreation should concentrate on graffiti removal on traffic and directional signs, and the city of Seattle should increase the penalties for this type of vandalism.
Murali Sivarajan, Seattle
Protection Island: Keep it within federal refuge system
Re: “WA island’s only resident supports transfer from feds to tribe” (Aug. 29, Pacific NW Magazine):
Protection Island should remain within the federal refuge system. It became a wildlife refuge because citizens such as my grandmother, environmental activist Eleanor Stopps; organizations; and public agencies worked together to acquire private lots for that purpose. Land purchased to establish a public wildlife refuge should remain within the national refuge system.
Removing Protection Island and the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge from the refuge system could set a precedent for other refuge transfers within the Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex, including the San Juan Islands, Flattery Rocks, Quillayute Needles and Copalis. This complex provides critical habitat for nesting seabirds, marine mammals and plants. Wildlife refuges are not interchangeable with other federal lands; they exist for specific conservation purposes.
Co-stewardship already provides a way to work together without removing Protection Island from the federal refuge system. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is a sovereign government, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages Protection Island as part of a national wildlife refuge system established specifically for wildlife conservation, with federal laws, congressional oversight, and opportunities for public participation.
I believe my grandmother would want to keep Protection Island within the federal refuge system and to extend the existing co-stewardship agreement too.
Donna Armstrong, Black Diamond
Sept. 11 anniversary: ‘We depend on each other’
There will be plenty of stories about 9/11 this month. As part of The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services team, I was deployed to New York as part of the disaster response; it was an experience I will never forget.
This summer I served in Spokane, where more than 700 homes were destroyed by wildfire. The Salvation Army provided meals, supplies and other assistance. And we listened.
Thirty years in disaster services has taught me that no two events are alike. There is no playbook. But a person’s need to be heard doesn’t change.
Recovery in Spokane will take years, and we’ll be there. Some families will spend years in temporary housing or paying a mortgage for a home they can no longer live in while renting another.
When someone has lost their home, job or loved one, you can’t always fix the problem. Sometimes you can simply be there.
The country rallied together after 9/11, and the Spokane community has rallied around its neighbors. That matters because when it is needed, hope is often found close to home.
Disasters remind us how much we depend on each other. We should not have to wait for one to remember that.
Shaun Jones, The Salvation Army, Pacific Northwest Emergency Disaster Services director
Roadless Rule: ‘Leave the roadless areas roadless’
The op-ed “Lift Roadless Rule, give Forest Service flexibility in fire prevention” (Aug. 27, Opinion) seems to be just another attempt to justify more private development on public lands and to build mining roads into roadless public lands. In the public comment period, over 99% (of 600,000 comments) voiced opposition to changing the roadless rule. Why is there so much support to keep roadless areas roadless? Because people understand how roads can pollute drinking water and degrade recreational areas for hikers, fishermen, hunters and others.
The author’s concern is that roadless protections somehow inhibit “Forest Service professionals from implementing thinning, fuels reduction and other management projects.” Hogwash! Giving forest service professionals more flexibility in managing the lands that they presently manage makes perfect sense. But the ranks of these forest service professionals have been devastated by job reductions of over 25%. Since January, 2025, 57 of 77 forest research labs and several regional forest service centers have been shuttered.
How about pressuring this administration to hire and not fire forest service managers? That would be positive.
Meanwhile, leave the roadless areas roadless.
Glenn Jarstad, Seattle
State GOP: ‘A fuller picture’
Re: “Facing a ‘cobalt blue year,’ WA GOP ought to recalibrate” (Aug. 12, Local News):
Why should Seattle Times readers vote Republican? Democrats often present themselves as champions of people in need. But without a credible counterweight representing the taxpayers who fund government, well-intended policies can become unaffordable — even tyrannical. Washingtonians benefit when both major parties are competitive and transparent.
Heading into general election season, the Washington State Republican Party supports three initiatives: protecting girls’ sports, restoring parental rights and repealing the state income tax. These initiatives enjoy broad bipartisan support. WAGOP is also recommending five independent, constitutionally minded candidates for the Washington State Supreme Court, not activist candidates who would rubber stamp Gov. Bob Ferguson’s schemes, especially on matters pertaining to the unconstitutional state income tax, disingenuously dubbed the “millionaires tax.”
But rather than inform readers, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat is determined to feed them a steady diet of anti-Trump rhetoric, with the Washington State Republican Party as a frequent target.
Millions of Washingtonians support the Trump administration’s efforts to secure the border, restore merit-based policies, and provide tax relief to working- and middle-class families. More balanced coverage of those policies would lower the temperature of our politics and give readers a fuller picture of the choices before Washington voters.
Elizabeth Economou, WAGOP communications director, and Victoria Palmer, King County GOP media relations
Political systems: ‘A continuum’
Re: “Capitalism and socialism: Find middle ground” (Aug. 29, Northwest Voices):
The letter writer broached a good topic regarding capitalism and socialism.
In my high school economics class, my teacher, who had actually traveled to the former Soviet Union, taught us that no economic system is 100% socialist or 100% capitalist. Economies are on a continuum of socialist and capitalist. In the United States, we have public roads, schools, etc. In the former Soviet Union, some family businesses were allowed, and of course, there was the black market.
In my own travels around the world, I see that well-regulated capitalism with a strong social-safety net is what works. Many capitalist countries have affordable healthcare for all their citizens. This is not a radical communist idea. Germany has had a national social health insurance system since 1883. Some countries do it with a single-payer model, some with a multi-payer model. The conservative Heritage Foundation, in 1989, supported mandatory private health insurance but then opposed it when it became part of Obamacare.
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld ran a Universal Basic Income experiment during the Nixon administration. It was found that the experiment didn’t disincentivize work, and the Nixon administration proposed that the program be expanded. But the proposal died in Congress.
William Williamson, Federal Way
