New D.C. resident seeks support for right to vote

New D.C. resident seeks support for right to vote
EDITOR:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spoke for the voiceless and shared a dream.
Ironically, today in the very capital where Dr. King marched more than 40 years ago, half a million people remain silenced in issues of national debate. Nearly 350,000 blacks and African-Americans are denied equal, civil rights. Dr. King's dream remains unfulfilled.
In Washington, DC, Americans are denied voting representation in Congress. They are left without a vote on all national issues: health care, jobs, the economy, the environment, taxes, social security, Supreme Court nominees, and the list goes on.
We are moving toward improvement, but we need your help.
The DC FAIR Act, H.R. 2043, a bill introduced in Congress by Representative Tom Davis, R-Va., would grant a voting representative in the House to Washington, DC -- a traditionally Democratic district -- and give a representative to Utah - a traditionally Republican state. Utah narrowly missed getting an additional representative in the last U.S. Census. This vote-neutral solution allows for partisan politics to be put aside, and Congress must act now.
This is not simply a DC issue: This is an issue that affects all Americans. Every letter, e-mail and phone call to a member of Congress applies the pressure we need to put this ongoing civil rights violation in the spotlight.
I urge you to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a true champion of equality, by requesting equal voting rights for the citizens of the District of Columbia. Make change happen now and learn more at www.dcvote.org.
Katie Reardon
Washington, DC
X The writer is a graduate of Poland Seminary High School who moved to Washington, D.C., and is a communications associate at DC Vote, an educational organization working to secure American democracy for America's capital.
Votes went astray, and now we're paying the price
EDITOR:
We as Americans believe in doing the right thing. The election of November 2004 in Ohio was one in which many voters did not get a chance to vote and many votes were not counted because of machine errors.
A week before the election, new voter registration was 900,000 with 80 percent Democratic. I worked for America Coming Together and called many people, even Republicans, and they wanted a change. Americans do want the true and right in government at all times but, sometimes greed does come into play. We are still waiting to find WMDs in that Third World country where thousands of Americans have died and have been injured for life. Should we mention billions of tax money spent to fight this Arab war?
Americans will now suffer cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, schools -- with cuts to all Americans who do need it in programs across the board. Why? Because of the war in Iraq and the tax cut for the very rich, which this administration loves to help.
The last thing that upsets me is that when good, law-abiding Democrats vote for a candidate they are putting a vote of confidence in that person. The vote represents how the voter thinks about issues. We should have a law prohibiting a candidate from endorsing the opposing party's people or being able to switch parties after being put into office.
DENNIS P. McNEAL
Campbell
That was quite a portrait
EDITOR:
Wow. What a beautiful photo in the Jan. 7 Vindicator of the new mayor of Youngstown and his wife. As a senior citizen, it reminded me of Jack and Jackie at their Inaugural Ball. Maybe Camelot is back.
Congratulations to Mayor Williams and his new cabinet. We hope this is a new beginning for the city of Youngstown and all the surrounding communities.
ELEANOR TESNER
Campbell