Gail Danckert is a retired nonprofit director of communications. She lives in Cumberland.

So much was wrong about a recent op-ed in the Portland Press Herald that it’s hard to know where to begin (“Susan Collins has taken a bold stand for secure elections,” April 8).

According to the headline, Sen. Collins has taken a bold stand for secure elections — the opposite of the truth. The size of the headline, alongside Sen. Collins’ picture, lent credence to this falsehood. As any journalist will tell you, headlines are what people read most.

In addition, the author’s biographical line mentioned her position as president of the Election Integrity Network, but did not explain what that organization is all about. The name certainly sounds like it is protecting our right to vote, as Americans. The EIN is working to do the opposite.

The SAVE Act will be brought to a vote in the near future and, if it passes, will require people to present a photo ID at the polls and proof of citizenship to register to vote. Estimates are that it will disenfranchise millions of people nationwide and be especially hard on women, rural and low-income voters and people of color. This legislation is frightening. Its passage would strike at the core of our democracy, our constitutionally protected right to vote.

Sen. Collins was the deciding and final vote that allowed Republicans to bring the SAVE Act to a vote in the Senate. Just 51 senators voted to bring it forward — all the Republicans but one, Lisa Murkowski, who noted that while it sounds reasonable, “you need to not be afraid to peel this back and look at the implementation,” something apparently Collins did not do. By her vote, she did, however, take a bold stand, not to secure, but to undermine our very safe and secure elections here in Maine.

The Election Integrity Network is a national organization that wants to limit voting access by establishing requirements, such as those in the SAVE Act, and by training election skeptics as poll watchers. The chair of the Election Integrity Network is Cleta Mitchell, who, according to the New York Times, “is a Republican lawyer and architect of the Donald J. Trump failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”

Cleta Mitchell was present and participated in the call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, to find “11,780” votes to overturn our national election. She and other election deniers are at the heart of the Election Integrity Network. The author of the April 8 op-ed is the EIN president.

Why is Susan Collins aligning herself with election deniers, and why is she trying to limit voting access for Mainers? Collins knows that Mainers voted soundly against voter IDs last November. She also knows that Maine elections are safe and always have been. Perhaps Sen. Collins is willing to risk Maine voting rights in exchange for the millions of dollars and support from conservative PACs for her reelection campaign.

Call Sen. Collins, ask her to explain her position on the SAVE Act and ask her to stand up for
Mainers and our sacred right to vote.