Voting rights clarity

No one should, nor do I believe does, disagree with most of what Lee Hamilton wrote about in his July 21 op-ed "The fight over voting rights." However, Mr. Hamilton has some things backward.

He seems to have forgotten that our dear old U.S. Constitution gave our state legislatures, not the secretaries of state, authority over federal elections in Article I. Section. 4, when it states "The times, Places and Manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed, in each State by the legislature thereof."

Also Article II. Section. 1 states, "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the legislature thereof may direct, ..."

Secretaries of state only have whatever authority over federal elections they are given by state legislatures. The fact that state legislatures in many states are tightening up that authority to reestablish voter integrity, after seeing it erode during the pandemic, is what "does inspire confidence in the future of American democracy," not the other way around as Mr. Hamilton states.

All the polls I have seen show that the vast majority of American citizens of all stripes want citizens to be able to prove they are who they say they are when voting. Nothing I have seen or heard coming from state legislatures has diminished the integrity of, or the rights established by, the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Roland G. Ley

Arlington Heights