LETTER: Let’s have ricocheting ballots this November

To the editor:

Abraham Lincoln said: “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” Well, let’s vote and make sure our future isn’t determined by firepower. Things have gotten uglier and uglier lately, with some calling for riots and violence, and that’s not what any reasonable person wants.

“We do not have government by the majority,” Thomas Jefferson said. “We have government by the majority who participate.” Participate. Vote. Have a say in what happens in Wisconsin.

Register at your municipal clerk’s office or at myvote.wi.gov, with a Wisconsin driver’s license or ID — or any other proof of residence. Request a ballot at myvote.wi.gov and vote by mail (by 5 p.m. on the fifth day before an election), or show up. You can find your polling place at myvote.wi.gov, too. The poll workers there are your neighbors and friends, not fraudsters and partisans. Our democracy is only as good as we make it, so let’s make it work.

If we want a future for ourselves, our families, our country, we need to step up — and voting is the first and easiest way to start. Get your family and friends to the polls. Vote for the candidates that reflect your values be they fairness, safety, or honesty. Our democracy depends on it.

John E. Durben, Cecil