LETTER: South Korea showed how to vote in pandemic; our state didn’t

To Ozaukee Press:

Let’s begin this letter with the statement that I am a diehard independent voter. I most hardily agree with the editorial in last week’s Ozaukee Press that “Wisconsin has become the model of cut-throat politics.” From where I stand, it oozes from both sides, but the recent scam created in Milwaukee reducing the voting stations down from 180 to five smacks up “one-upmanship,” the old “look what they’ve done to us, forcing us to risk life and limb in the rain to vote!”

I can understand the usual polling volunteers (due to their ages) being concerned about manning those stations, but as demonstrated in our smaller communities (God love them), plastic barriers, younger volunteers, the National Guard assistance, throwaway gloves and the like all could have been brought into play in Milwaukee to keep the polling stations open and the lines of citizens from fearing for their health to do their civic duty.

Case in point is the recent South Korean national election. South Koreans streamed into polling stations wearing face masks and throwaway plastic gloves to choose the nation’s 300-seat National Assembly. The turnout, coupled with record levels of early voting, reached 66% of the country’s 44 million voters, the highest since 1992. It was said that none had to wait more than a half-hour.

To see the Korean election on BBC was inspiring in its scope and professional thoughtful execution. And yet the pathetic photo of Wisconsin voters standing in lines blocks long also went viral and appeared on the BBC news.

When you have a carefully crafted constitution (as Wisconsin does), you step up to accommodate its rules. There are so many other ways the election could have been handled. Heaven help us if this pox is still around come November. This time we won’t be able to blame the Russians.

Jerry Zak
Fredonia