A22 WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2020
NNew York’s Legislature is meeting virtually, for the most
part, this week, tackling unfinished business amid the coro-
navirus pandemic that has wreaked havoc on the state’s
health and its finances.
Given what New York and other hard-hit states are up
against, the Legislature has its work cut out for it. At least
one form of relief state lawmakers can deliver in this brief
and unusual summer session is swiftly passing a package of
reforms to make it easier for New Yorkers to vote — a no-
brainer ahead of an important presidential election.
Voting in New York is still harder than it should be.
Across the state, election boards are too often packed with
partisan patronage appointees rather than independent pro-
fessionals. Voters often have faced lengthy lines or broken
machines at poll sites. In 2014 and 2015, New York City im-
properly purged roughly 200,000 voters from the rolls.
Practices that are straightforward in other states, like
voting by absentee ballot, can be an ordeal in New York. In
the state’s congressional primary elections last month, for
example, thousands of absentee ballots failed to arrive in
time for people to vote. In other cases, absentee ballots may
have been invalidated because of postmarking delays by the
U.S. Postal Service. At least two candidates and a small
group of voters have sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the
State Board of Elections over these irregularities.
Fixing the state’s antiquated voting system now is a pri-ority. The Legislature can do some of that work this week,
by passing three smart bills.
The first, sponsored by Senator Michael Gianaris and
Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, would enact sweeping au-
tomatic voter registration, which has proved to be among
the best ways to improve turnout elsewhere in the nation.
Medicaid applicants, for example, would be automatically
registered to vote as long as they are U.S. citizens or do not
check a box declining the voter registration. The program
would work the same way at the Department of Motor Vehi-
cles, New York City’s public housing authority and several
other widely used agencies.
Another bill would make it easier to vote by absentee
ballot in this year’s election, as well as in next year’s may-
oral elections.
The State Constitution allows voters to cast absentee
ballots in only six situations, and it requires voters to desig-
nate one on their ballot application. They include absence
from New York on Election Day, temporary or permanent
illness or disability, care-taking duties for someone who is ill
or physically disabled, detention in jail or prison and being
in a Veterans Health Administration hospital. Efforts are un-
derway to overturn this rule, but doing so will require a con-
stitutional amendment, a yearslong process.
In the meantime, legislators can approve a bill before
them this week that would expand the state’s definition of
temporary illness to include concerns over contracting or
spreading the coronavirus. The measure, sponsored by Sen-
ator Alessandra Biaggi and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz,
would help New Yorkers safely vote amid the pandemic.
A third vital voting reform under consideration, spon-
sored by Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblyman Charles
D. Lavine, would require election boards to notify voters of
clerical errors that could otherwise invalidate their ballot
and then give them seven days to respond. Right now, elec-
tion boards are permitted to toss ballots over errors like fail-
ing to sign the envelope the ballot is mailed in or writing the
wrong date on a ballot.
Albany has earned a reputation as a place of dysfunc-
tion and corruption, thanks to bad behavior by politicians of
both parties. Perhaps with members legislating remotely,
those lawmakers can think beyond the capital’s toxic atmos-
phere.
These voting bills are the kind of unglamorous reforms
that could transform the state into a model of good govern-
ment. Given the assault on voting rights elsewhere, this is a
refreshing thing to behold.New York Can Make Voting Much Easier
ILLUSTRATION BY THE NEW YORK TIMES; PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGESEDITORIALTO THE EDITOR:
Re “Trump Threatens to Use Force
in Major Cities” (front page, July
21):
What goes into the formula that
President Trump used to send
federal forces to Portland, Ore.?
Portland has a Democratic mayor.
The governor is a Democrat, as are
the two senators. Any objections
by these Democratic officials will
fall on deaf ears in Mr. Trump’s
America.
The president says “New York
and Chicago and Philadelphia and
Detroit and Baltimore” could be
next because they are “all run by
liberal Democrats.”
The president does not treat the
coronavirus as the enemy. He does
not treat Russians who may have
paid bounties for the lives of Amer-
ican soldiers as the enemy. The
enemy is the Democratic Party,
and the only war that moves him is
the election.
There is only one way this war
against our citizens can end. Re-
publicans must speak out now. You
have the only voices the president
can hear. Your silence is deafening.ELLIOTT MILLER, BALA CYNWYD, PA.TO THE EDITOR:
In a different era, President Lyn-
don B. Johnson federalized the
Alabama National Guard to protect
protesters after John Lewis and
others were savaged by the police.
Over the objections of state and
city officials, Mr. Trump has de-
cided that his election fortunesmay improve if he foments vio-
lence by federal officers in Port-
land. He threatened to do so in
Chicago and elsewhere.
Portland mothers tried to form a
ring of protection. If Mr. Trump’s
forces again threaten, let us all
form rings of righteousness: doc-
tors in white coats, clergy in garb,
firefighters in helmets, vets in
uniform, members of Congress
with lapel pins, and, yes, unarmed
police in uniform.
“Good trouble,” as Mr. Lewis
would say.
DAVID ROSMARIN, NEWTON, MASS.TO THE EDITOR:
Sending jackbooted unidentified
federal forces into cities is not
designed to actually restore order.
It’s a tactic to reinforce President
Trump’s law and order campaign
theme — a desperate grasp to
reverse his downward slide in the
polls.
These cities do not have a pro-
tester violence problem. What they
do have, along with their brethren
in small towns and rural areas
throughout the country, is the most
serious life-threatening health
crisis in 100 years.
If instead of sending club-wield-
ing federal forces to fight a manu-
factured crisis Mr. Trump put the
resources and sense of urgency
behind developing a federal re-
sponse to the coronavirus, we
would all be shopping for school
supplies now.
NANCY ROBERTS, BALTIMOREA Threat to Send Forces to More Cities
LETTERSTO THE EDITOR:
Re “The Covid-19 Parent Trap”
(Sunday Business, July 5):
Thank you, Deb Perelman, for
writing an article that acknowl-
edges the elephant in the room for
working parents during the pan-
demic. I’ve read countless articles
about the challenges of employees
returning to work. I’ve read some
about the challenges of kids return-
ing to school. This is one of the few
that acknowledges that these issues
are intrinsically tied for working
parents.
I have been very lucky so far, and
I don’t take it for granted. My hus-
band is a schoolteacher, so as soon
as the school year ended, he was
able to take over most of the child
care duties for our 7-year-old so I
could continue to work. But come
August, it will be all me if school
hours are drastically reduced.
The options are not pretty. They
are also terrifically guilt-inducing.
If I don’t step up as a parent by
stepping down as a professional,
am I bad person? Do I even have a
choice?ROSALIND FOURNIER
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.Working Parent’s Quandary
TO THE EDITOR:
Re “Mass Transit Will Not Survive
Without Help,” by Nicole Gelinas
(Op-Ed, July 6):
As a rider returning to the sub-
way, I have been dismayed to see
some people on the trains without
masks or wearing them pulled
down. Rather than have police
officers handing out masks to
everyone outside the stations, they
could walk through the trains and
give masks to those who need
them, explaining briefly why social
distancing in confined, poorly
ventilated spaces, where air flow
plays a role in viral spread, isn’t
enough.
In addition, there were people
sleeping on the trains surrounded
by their belongings. If people are
to return to mass transit, we must
feel safer than this, and patrolling
the trains would help with mask
compliance and give riders a sense
of greater security.DEBBIE PLUMER, BROOKLYNSecurity for Subway Riders
TO THE EDITOR:
Re “Who Would Get Vaccinated
First? U.S. Considers Race in Its
Plans” (news article, July 10):
The debate in the article centers
on whoshould get priority to re-
ceive the coronavirus vaccine
when it first comes out. Another
consideration is whereit should
first be deployed. Politics may
dictate that it go to states that
currently have the highest inci-
dence, i.e., many red states. How-
ever, many places in those states
are not prudently practicing quar-
antine, masking and social distanc-
ing.
Would it be fair to those states
with sensible policies that they
have to wait for the vaccine?
JOEL SHALOWITZ, EVANSTON, ILL.
The writer is an adjunct professor ofpreventive medicine at the Feinberg
School of Medicine, Northwestern
University.TO THE EDITOR:
You report that policymakers are
considering a “contentious option”
— whether to put Black and Latino
people ahead of others. But does it
have to be an all-or-nothing ap-
proach, as the article implies? Why
not something more nuanced,
where individuals in various cate-
gories can be scored according to
relative risks?
For instance, you are assigned a
certain number of points if you are
over 65, more points if you are
Black or Latino, more if you live in
a certain ZIP code, more if you
have certain underlying conditions,
more if you work in proximity to
others, etc.
Risk experts could decide how
many points each category de-
serves, and presumably Black and
Latino people would be assigned a
high number based on existing
data. Under such a system, race
would be relevant, but not determi-
native.DICK STOLL, MILWAUKEEWho Should Be First in Line for the Vaccine?
TO THE EDITOR:
Re “They Go Into Exile. Then They
Disappear” (news article, June 28):
The Thai authorities are con-
cerned about the disappearance of
Wanchalerm Satsaksit, as the case
involves the safety and well-being
of a Thai citizen, even though he is
accused of having committed a
crime and is in self-exile in Cambo-
dia.
The Thai government coordi-
nated with the Cambodian authori-
ties to seek their cooperation in
investigating the case. The Depart-
ment of Consular Affairs has also
engaged with the family, providing
updates.
Until the Cambodian authorities
have completed their investigation,
we believe that it is important to
refrain from making any prejudg-
ments or assumptions that could be
misleading. We will continue to
work closely with the Cambodian
side to seek any information that
will assist with discovering Mr.
Wanchalerm’s whereabouts.
I also wish to reaffirm Thailand’s
commitment to upholding the rule
of law and the promotion and pro-
tection of human rights for all. In
June, the cabinet approved the
draft Prevention and Suppression
of Torture and Enforced Disappear-
ance Act, which is now in the final
stage of consideration by Parlia-
ment.CHERDKIAT ATTHAKOR, BANGKOK
The writer is a spokesman for the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.A Missing Thai Activist
The Times welcomes letters from read-
ers. Letters must include the writer’s
name, address and telephone number.
Those selected may be edited, and short-
ened to fit allotted space. Email: letters
@nytimes.comSOME PRESIDENTS, WHENthey get into
trouble before an election, try to “wag the
dog” by starting a war abroad. Donald
Trump seems ready to wag the dog by
starting a war at home. Be afraid — he just
might get his wish.
How did we get here? Well, when histo-
rians summarize the Trump team’s ap-
proach to dealing with the coronavirus, it
will take only a few paragraphs:
“They talked as if they were locking
down like China. They acted as if they
were going for herd immunity like Swe-
den. They prepared for neither. And they
claimed to be superior to both. In the end,
they got the worst of all worlds — uncon-
trolled viral spread and an unemployment
catastrophe.
“And then the story turned really dark.
“As the virus spread, and businesses
had to shut down again and schools and
universities were paralyzed as to whether
to open or stay closed in the fall, Trump’s
poll numbers nose-dived. Joe Biden
opened up a 15-point lead in a national
head-to-head survey.
“So, in a desperate effort to salvage his
campaign, Trump turned to the Middle
East Dictator’s Official Handbook and
found just what he was looking for, the
chapter titled, ‘What to Do When Your
People Turn Against You?'
“Answer: Turn them against each other
and then present yourself as the only
source of law and order.”
America blessedly is not Syria, yet, but
Trump is adopting the same broad ap-
proach that Bashar al-Assad did back in
2011, when peaceful protests broke out in
the southern Syrian town of Dara’a, call-
ing for democratic reforms; the protests
then spread throughout the country.
Had al-Assad responded with even the
mildest offer of more participatory poli-
tics, he would have been hailed as a savior
by a majority of Syrians. One of their main
chants during the demonstrations was,
“Silmiya, silmiya” (“Peaceful, peaceful”).
But al-Assad did not want to share
power, and so he made sure that the pro-
tests were not peaceful. He had his sol-
diers open fire on and arrest nonviolent
demonstrators, many of them Sunni Mus-
lims. Over time, the peaceful, secular ele-
ments of the Syrian democracy move-
ment were sidelined, as hardened Islam-
ists began to spearhead the fight against
al-Assad. In the process, the uprising was
transformed into a naked, rule-or-die sec-
tarian civil war between al-Assad’s Alaw-
ite Shiite forces and various Sunni jihadist
groups.
Al-Assad got exactly what he wanted —
not a war between his dictatorship and his
people peacefully asking to have their
voices heard, but a war with Islamic radi-
cals in which he could play the law-and-
order president, backed by Russia and
Iran.
I have zero tolerance for any American
protesters who resort to violence in any
U.S. city, because it damages homes and
businesses already hammered by the co-
ronavirus — many of them minority-owned — and because violence will only
turn off and repel the majority needed to
drive change.
But when I heard Trump suggest, as he
did in the Oval Office on Monday, that he
was going to send federal forces into U.S.
cities, where the local mayors have not in-
vited him, the first word that popped into
my head was “Syria.”
Listen to how Trump put it: “I’m going
to do something — that, I can tell you. Be-
cause we’re not going to let New York and
Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and
Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a
mess. We’re not going to let this happen in
our country.”
These cities, Trump stressed, are “all
run by very liberal Democrats. All run, re-
ally, by radical left. If Biden got in, that
would be true for the country. The whole
country would go to hell. And we’re not go-
ing to let it go to hell.”
This is coming so straight from the Mid-dle East Dictator’s Handbook, it’s chilling.
In Syria, al-Assad used plainclothes, pro-
regime thugs, known as the shabiha (“the
apparitions”) to make protesters disap-
pear. In Portland, Ore., we saw militarized
federal forces wearing battle fatigues, but
no identifiable markings, arresting people
and putting them into unmarked vans.
In the face of such a threat, the left
needs to be smart. Stop calling for “de-
funding the police” and then saying that
“defunding” doesn’t mean disbanding. If it
doesn’t mean that then say what it means:
“reform.” Defunding the police, calling po-
lice officers “pigs,” taking over whole
neighborhoods with barricades — these
are terrible messages, not to mention
strategies, easily exploitable by Trump.
Today’s protesters need to trump
Trump by taking a page from another for-
eign leader — a liberal — Ekrem
Imamoglu, who managed to win the 2019
election to become the mayor of Istanbul,
despite the illiberal Turkish president, Re-
cep Tayyip Erdogan, using every dirty
trick possible to steal the election.
Imamoglu’s campaign strategy was called
“radical love.”
Radical love meant reaching out to the
more traditional and religious Erdogan
supporters, listening to them, showing
them respect and making clear that they
were not “the enemy” — that Erdogan
was the enemy, because he was the enemy
of unity and mutual respect, and there
could be no progress without them.
As a recent essay on Imamoglu’s strat-
egy in The Journal of Democracy noted,
he overcame Erdogan with a “message of
inclusiveness, an attitude of respect to-
ward [Erdogan] supporters, and a focus
on bread-and-butter issues that could
unite voters across opposing political
camps. On June 23, Imamoglu was again
elected mayor of Istanbul, but this time
with more than 54 percent of the vote —
the largest mandate obtained by an Istan-
bul mayor since 1984 — against 45 percent
for his opponent.”
Radical love. Wow. I bet that could work
in America, too. It’s the perfect answer to
Trump’s politics of division — and it’s the
one strategy he’ll never imitate. 0THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Trump’s Wag-the-Dog War
The president is looking
for a dangerous domestic
enemy to fight.