Letters to the Editor: Trump’s attacks on voting are an assault on constitutional civil rights
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- Letters to the editor argue Trump’s mail-voting order is not just election interference but a direct attack on post–Civil War constitutional civil rights protections for voters nationwide.
- A Los Angeles resident and naturalized citizen warns the order unlawfully bypasses Congress, threatens voting rights and echoes broader efforts to undermine immigrant families and demonize minority communities.
- Another reader, citing distrust of the Postal Service, vows to avoid mail ballots in November and urges voters to cast ballots in person or via secure drop boxes.
To the editor: George Skelton’s column on President Trump’s mail‑voting order is timely, but it misses a fundamental point (“California’s fight against Trump’s unhinged war on voting by mail,” Aug. 31). This is not just about election interference — it is a direct assault on the civil rights framework established after the Civil War. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 14th and 15th amendments and the very principles upon which this nation was founded stand in defense of the Constitution and the right of every citizen to vote.
As a naturalized citizen who has lived in California for 28 years and been a U.S. citizen for 22 years, I know what it means to have rights that must be defended. Trump’s executive order is a likely unlawful attempt to bypass Congress and the Constitution. The same logic that justifies attacking mail voting is the logic that justifies dismantling support for immigrant families and demonizing entire communities. We cannot allow this administration to erode the foundations of our democracy.
Antonio P. Sanchez, Los Angeles
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To the editor: I have voted by mail a number of times, most recently in the Kansas primary. However, regardless of how the Supreme Court decides on the recent executive order, I no longer trust the U.S. Postal Service to deliver all ballots, and I will not vote by mail in this November’s general election. I will vote in person at the polling site, put my ballot in a drop box or take it to the election office. I recommend that everyone else do the same if they can.
James Morton, Overland Park, Kansas
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To the editor: The Constitution explicitly assigns authority over elections to the individual states, not to the president and certainly not to the U.S. Postal Service (“Whistleblower says USPS defied court to push ‘untested’ portal for Trump mail voting order,” Aug. 1). The job of the post office is to deliver mail, not to verify citizenship. Asking the Postal Service to verify the citizenship of every person to whom it sends a mail-in ballot is the equivalent of asking the police to stop every driver on the road and validate their license, an effort that would create chaos and bring traffic to a halt.
Of course, that may well be the whole point: Create chaos so that the president can bring the midterm elections to a halt.
Bart Braverman, Indio
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To the editor: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” can prevent the post office from delivering the mail, but apparently faulty databases hurriedly slapped together to support Trump’s political whims can. Postmaster General David Steiner needs to be reminded that the Postal Service has one job and one job only: Deliver the mail. The job does not include involving the Postal Service in politics.
This debacle sullies the proud traditions of the U.S. Postal Service, which predates the Declaration of Independence itself. Benjamin Franklin must be turning over in his grave.
James Sims, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Doesn’t the USPS have enough to do without interfering with our federal- and state-mandated election process? It can’t deliver mail on time as it is and at least once a month I have to stop payment on my business checks because my vendor hasn’t received payment.
Maurice Cayne, Woodland Hills
