Letter to the Editor

To the editor:

Voters face a very serious issue alluded to in Jan. 17 articles in the Call: “Better Together,” “Bell Plan” and “Murphy’s First Bill.” Our votes have become meaningless in the state of Missouri.

Think about the number of times our decisions have been challenged and overturned by our elected officials.

If someone tampered with your ballot they would be charged with a crime, but Missouri legislators are exempt from prosecution when they change your vote.

Why isn’t this called exactly what it is, an insidious form of disenfranchisement?

Something needs investigation and revision.

Victimized by big money and the loyalty-peddlers it buys, voters passed “Clean Missouri” to end one method of subjugating votes.

It is un-American to disenfranchise the people by whining and countermanding in Jefferson City because voters didn’t decide the way you and your backers wanted.

To lose fair and square is one thing; to be robbed by elected bullies is another.

Have the majority of voters said they want the state attorney general making decisions about any prosecutions in St. Louis County? Overwhelmingly, voters decided against a prosecutor who seemed to embody old-school practices and for one who seems to want to avoid clogging the courts with cases that might be handled in lawful, more humane ways.

Give Wesley Bell a chance, without using the gutless artifice of inflammatory “what if?” statements. Allow the man the dignity to speak for himself.

“What if” the Missouri Legislature allowed citizens to read, listen, think and vote without its oh-so-inexcusable intervention?

Patricia S. Walker-Welk
South County