To increase confidence in elections, start by strengthening the voter ID process

Voter integrity

Step one in voting is to know who is voting. Without voter ID, by which I mean a stronger voter verification process, any other steps in the process are a sham built on a foundation of ignorance.

Not knowing who is voting leads to claims of fraud and falsified results.

Both parties have attempted to overthrow “valid” election results in the past two decades. With some elections being well within the margin of error, it behooves us to do everything possible to ensure elections have integrity from beginning to end.

Thomas Shute, Raleigh

Rise in COVID

Regarding “Cases back on rise across Triangle; school clusters reported in Wake,” (March 22)

I’m afraid we’re going to blow it, wasting the miracle of the COVID vaccines. How? By thinking the vaccine is a get-out-of-jail-free card, by opening up, pretending COVID is over, ditching masks — just when sustained effort could actually vanquish it.

Behavior counts; the December holiday season was deadly.

Elected leaders must publicly encourage constituents to support safety guidelines and get vaccinated. Please, provide money to vaccinate all school personnel, and regularly test all students attending in-person.

We’re so close to victory. The alternative is awful.

Sherri Zann Rosenthal, Durham

Bipartisan?

Recent Forum writers have complained that the mean old GOP didn’t approach the relief bill in a bipartisan fashion. But Senate Republicans went to the White House to offer President Biden a bipartisan relief bill. No real counter offer or negotiation followed.

Bipartisanship requires give and take on both sides. Seems the Biden administration’s definition of bipartisan is you can vote for my bill but don’t expect to have input.

Bob Sepich, Cary

Stimulus checks

A March 19 Forum writer said, “I am getting a relief check and certainly don’t need one.” I hope he and others in a similar situation will donate all or part of their $1,400 stimulus checks to local organizations that provide assistance to people who do need financial help, as my family has done.

Especially deserving are groups that help with food, child care, and rental assistance. Not only does this lift up those most in need, but it gives immediate stimulation to the local economy.

David Smith, Durham

Flood insurance

Regarding “Big flood insurance rate changes are coming to NC. Will they be fair?” (March 14 Editorial):

I have some experience with FEMA flood insurance. I owned a property in the Midwest in a 100-year flood plain.

When I bought my property in 2007, flood insurance was about $450 a year. By the time I sold it in 2019, it had tripled to over $1,300 per year.

Climate change has resulted in more hurricanes and flooding, some of which North Carolina experienced in 2018 and 1999 with Hurricanes Florence and Floyd.

Do I think it’s fair that a new risk assessment must be done and premiums will rise for higher risk properties and drop those at lower risk? Emphatically yes! But I hope we emphasize solving the real culprit — climate change, which will only worsen if we do nothing.

Patricia LeGrand, Clayton

NC whales

Last week, a survey team from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium spotted a North Atlantic right whale mother and calf off the N.C. coast near the New Hanover County line.

This is a big deal. Only about 360 of these gentle giants remain in the world. As they calve off the coast, they’re being killed by collisions with vessels and entanglements with fishing gear. Every human-caused death threatens this species’ chance of survival.

Federal law requires vessels, paddle boarders, aircraft, and drones to stay at least 500 yards from these whales. But we must do more, like requiring vessels to slow down and reducing the amount of fishing gear in their habitats.

If we fail, this will be the first large whale species to go extinct in the Atlantic Ocean for centuries, and it’ll be on our watch. The government has the ability and responsibility to strengthen protections for these whales. We must demand they do more.

Randy Sturgill

Senior campaign organizer, Oceana