Letter to the Editor: People casting ballots should play by the same rules

(The following Letter to the Editor has been submitted by Thomas Hansen of Decorah):

"We are a nation that continually strives toward equality for all, which means applying our laws to everyone equally, not giving special rights to or applying laws to 'special' groups of people--that is not equality. Everyone in the State of Iowa had 29 days to vote early in the 2018 election, everyone. Everyone had the opportunity to either vote at their local county courthouse or request an absentee ballot, everyone. Everyone, if they had requested an absentee ballot, also had the responsibility to get it to their local County Auditor's office by the 5th of November. If those ballots were received by the 5th of November, with or without a postmark, they were counted.

We are now being asked to make special exceptions for a group of people who did not take their responsibility seriously. They did not do 'everything they could to comply with the rules' or they would have mailed their ballots back in a timely manner such that the missing postmark would not have mattered. It is not the fault of the Post Office, the Auditor's Office, the canvassing board, or all the people who were responsible and followed the rules which applied to everyone. It is the fault of the 29 people, who had the same equal opportunity as every other Iowan but who waited until the last minute of that 29-day period to make a half-hearted effort to fulfill their responsibilities as American citizens.

The way to uplift and better a society is to encourage everyone to strive to do their best, not lower the bar to accommodate those who are not willing to take their responsibility seriously and make anything more than mediocre efforts. The greatest teacher in the world is failure, and I am sure that there will be 29 people in 2020 who will make sure they do things differently. For now, the rules that apply to all equally in this situation are the rules and the ballots should remain right where they are--sealed in their non-postmarked envelopes."