Please use your voice

As ballots arrive in mailboxes across El Paso County for the June 30 primary election, I encourage every eligible voter to participate in this important civic responsibility.

Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen has a voice and elections are how we make that voice heard. Whether your priorities are public safety, education, transportation, economic growth, taxes or the future of our community, voting is one of the most direct ways to influence the decisions that affect our daily lives.

Primary elections are often overlooked, yet they play a critical role in determining which candidates will appear on the ballot in November. By participating in the primary election, voters help shape the choices available in the November general election and influence the direction of government at every level.

One of the greatest privileges we enjoy as Americans is the right to vote. Generations have served and sacrificed to protect that right, and we honor their legacy when we take the time to become informed and cast our ballots.

As El Paso County Clerk and Recorder, I have the privilege of witnessing firsthand the dedication of election judges, volunteers and staff who work diligently to ensure elections are secure, transparent and accessible. Their commitment helps ensure every eligible voter has the opportunity to participate with confidence.

Whether you vote by mail, use a ballot drop box or visit a Voter Service and Polling Center, I encourage you to make your voice heard. Democracy is strongest when citizens engage in the process.

Your vote is your voice. Please use it.

Steve Schleiker

El Paso County

Voting fraud fallacies

With regard to a recent opinion on fair and honest elections, I was reminded of the first rule in the propaganda playbook: constantly repeat the same lie enough times and the masses will believe it to be true.

In 2020, over sixty…that is six-zero, court cases were brought by Donald Trump and the Republican Party over election fraud…every single one of them was dismissed because no evidence existed that any fraud had been committed. Many of these cases were dismissed with prejudice because they were without merit. If there were a shred of truth to the sham that is election fraud, couldn’t Trump and the Republican Party have won a single one of these cases?

I can help solve the mystery of why it takes so long to count votes in California and New York …. there are lots of people in New York and California. There are more people in Los Angeles County alone than in the entire state of Colorado. Additionally, they have too few volunteers to count those votes. Based on past attacks on poll workers (see Rudy Giuliani), it is not shocking that there are so few volunteers to perform this critical task.

What seems to really be the problem here for Republicans is mail-in voting. Because most of the mail-in votes come from Democrats, and apparently that is unfair. An argument that would seem more compelling if the President of the United States did not consistently vote by mail.

Or you can continue to spread lies and baseless rumors because you don’t like it when you lose elections. I just don’t understand how these lies make things better.

Christopher Erickson

Colorado Springs

MOU is a failure

No matter how the White House tries to spin it, President Donald Trump’s MOU with Iran is a loser. We spent the past four months at war with Iran to gain nothing. But we certainly lost plenty. Over 100 billion dollars for the war effort and another $300 billion to Iran for reconstruction efforts. Hundreds of our troops injured and 13 soldiers killed during this senseless war. Additionally, thousands of innocent Iranians killed, including 168 school children. We have left the Iranian protesters without any support from an unchanged regime. We depleted our stockpile of weapons that has created a new crisis for the future. And the primary objective of eliminating Iran’s nuclear capabilities clearly has not been addressed.

After four months of us “annihilating Iran,” they now know that they can hold our economy hostage by closing the Strait of Hormuz, that Trump’s threats are idle chatter during his 2 a.m. tirades on Truth Social and that he is full of bluster but nothing else. We have damaged our relationship with Israel while demonstrating to the entire Middle East that we cannot provide them a safe future. Gaza remains in a severe humanitarian crisis with ongoing violence and 2 million people displaced. And this man wanted to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize?

Trump has left us with continued inflation, higher gas prices and a huge bill to be paid by taxpayers. And we still have not seen the Epstein files.

His vanity projects including the White House ballroom ($600 million), the algae-infected “new and beautiful” Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool ($14 million), the Triumphal Arch ($100 million), UFC Fights on the White House Lawn, and the renaming of The Kennedy Center seem to be more important to him than serving the people of our country. His failures in Iran, Ukraine and Venezuela have demonstrated what everyone, but MAGA has known all along. He is not fit for the job.

Steve Rauch

Colorado Springs

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

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