In the forum piece, “People want expanded voting, not less of it” (Oct. 4), Maine people spoke eloquently of the need to encourage and expand voting access for all citizens.

In Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and elsewhere, new contested laws have attempted to restrict early voting, inhibit voter registration or require eligible registered voters to show a picture ID at the polls. In the guise of preventing virtually non-existent fraud, those laws were crafted by Republican legislatures and governors in order to suppress voting by demographic groups that tend to vote Democratic.

Many eligible voters in cities — the poor, minority, elderly and disabled voters — may lack the requisite ID or the means or wherewithal to obtain one.

Proponents try to rationalize voter ID by pointing to ID requirements in everyday life, such as cashing a check, getting on an airplane or buying alcohol.

Casting a ballot is not an everyday activity. It is a constitutionally protected right that should be encouraged and not infringed by partisanship.

The push for restrictive voting laws is a reprehensible assault on our American democracy and a subversion of principles engraved in the U.S. Constitution, the document that many on the right call on us to “restore” and uphold.

Fortunately, in this election cycle, at least 14 court decisions, plus two citizen initiatives (including one in Maine) have struck down or delayed implementation of those attacks on access to voting.

Richard Fortier, New Gloucester