House Bill 2541 proposes closing all polling places and implementing a 100 percent mail-in ballot system. The belief is that it will improve Hawaii’s declining voter turnout and save about $750,000 per election cycle, after the appropriate investment in people, equipment and systemic changes.

No doubt if voting were easier more people would vote, but why go retro to a snail-mail system? Why not implement online voting along with the present absentee system?

I realize there is a lot of buzz these days about sabotaging elections, but if it is secure enough to bank online, the geeks of the world can probably figure out how to securely vote online.

It seems to me that by going to an all snail-mail voting system we are going backward instead of forward. But all told, government has gotten pretty good at that, hasn’t it?

Fred Fogel

Volcano

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Academy Award speech memorable

We always enjoy the Oscars and this year was no exception. It’s always an endless “thank you” list by one artist after another. The best line of the evening was from one winner who brought down the house when she said, “I did it all by myself.”

Of course, she then went on to thank half of Hollywood, her family, her puppy dog, etc. It was a classic minute that will long be remembered by members of the Academy. Lots of us ordinary folks will remember it, too.

Walter Mahr

Mililani

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We should be able to choose our end

If our lives are gifts from God, so is our capacity to choose.

House Bill 2739 is about the choice to complete the craft of a human life, to bring it to its inevitable end in a manner that fulfills our individual characters. Such a choice is not for everyone.

But is it not to protect the choice of even a few that we make our society free to accommodate and even celebrate difference? Is it not the responsibility of legislators to protect those freedoms?

Our social institutions are based on the premise that citizens are rational, independent and free, possessed of autonomy and aware of their self-interest. I do not understand why we abandon this premise when adults approach their death. All human beings deserve the respect to live their lives in dignity, as they choose. Why do we so coldly disregard the value of individual choice when life approaches its end?

Sharon Rowe

Makiki

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Medically assisted death has fatal flaw

The proposed Hawaii medically assisted death bill has a Catch-22 fatal flaw.

Any patient lucid enough to understand a written legal statement, steady enough to sign it, and able-bodied enough to self-administer lethal medication is too well to commit suicide. And anyone not able to do those things is not well enough to make such a decision.

Charles Kerr

Kalama Valley

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NRA leader sets national gun policy

It seems that one person, the head of the National Rifle Association, sets gun policies for the U.S. government through his influence over the president.

Somehow this makes me think how it would be if the Rev. Billy Graham had been able to dictate everyone’s worship practices.

Beverly Kai

Kakaako

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People have right to defend themselves

Every time there is a mass shooting, the National Rifle Association gets attacked and politicians get on TV to start pushing gun control.

What makes everyone think laws will stop gun violence? Heroin has been illegal for years, but every city in the country has a heroin problem. The Second Amendment should be protected because people should have the right of self-defense.

Remember the Los Angeles riots of 1992? There were some Korean store owners who stood in front of their stores with guns to defend against looting because law enforcement couldn’t protect them.

Anyone who is evil enough to kill 17 people is not going to be detoured by some law preventing him from obtaining a weapon. And the police and FBI were not able to protect the school in Parkland, Fla.

John Berry

Makiki

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‘Pro-birth’ isn’t same as ‘pro-life’

Most who say they are “pro-life” are simply “pro-birth.”

If they were indeed pro-life, they would not support candidates who seek to de-fund food programs, education, housing and health care for our children, to name just a few anti-life platforms.

When we misname “pro-birth” as “pro-life,” we confuse the conversation and lose the ability to see issues with clarity. So let’s begin our conversation by calling things what they truly are.

Betsy Connors

Kailua

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Raise GET to fund essential services

The Child Welfare Services (CWS) article, “No Signs of Improvement,” really missed the point (“Star-Advertiser, March 3).

The state cut the staff of CWS a few years ago by 20-40 percent. Can Matson Navigation Co. cut 20-40 percent of personnel and expect to ship goods effectively?

In the old days, it was simple — funding first for health, education and welfare (HEW), three of the most important agencies and programs in any state. We have to pull our heads out of the 1960s and 1970s and fund HEW properly.

How can CWS effectively work with minimal personnel?

Hello, legislators: Raise the general excise tax. Stop worrying about not being re-elected. I will gladly pay 3 cents extra per dollar.

Todd Hendricks

Kailua