Non-partisan League of Women Voters provides one-stop shop for your June 11 voting | Opinion

It’s as easy as VOTE411

Note: The writer is the interim president of the League of Women Voters of the Columbia area.

You can easily find out who will be on your ballot for the June statewide primaries by going to this website: VOTE411.org.

VOTE411 is provided nationwide by the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization that does not support or oppose candidates or political parties.

The mission of the League of Women Voters is to empower voters and defend democracy.

To use VOTE411, select “Find What’s on Your Ballot,” enter your street address, select your choice of party.

You will then see the candidates and races specific to your location -- including races at the federal, state and local levels.

To assist in making an informed decision, VOTE411 provides the candidate’s unedited responses to questions from the League of Women Voters.

It also provides the candidate’s public contact information.

The League of Women Voters of the Columbia Area is providing VOTE411 for more than 30 races and 94 candidates – mostly for Lexington and Richland counties.

Other local leagues in South Carolina are covering races throughout the rest of the state.

About 120,000 people in the state used VOTE411 in 2020.

Let VOTE411 be your personalized voter guide. Check out your candidates, make an informed decision, then exercise your right to vote.

David Smith, Columbia

Truth, facts required

I read with interest the angry statements of what must’ve been every politician in South Carolina in your story about Mr. Trump’s guilty verdict in the hush money trial.

We have to assume they’re saying the things he wants them to say, but neither Trump nor any of them said he was innocent or provided evidence of the like.

Sort of like the ‘stolen’ election – many complaints, but no evidence to show in court.

I agree, it is sad to see a former American president convicted of any crime, but, like any citizen, without the support of truth or facts on your side, it’s hard to win in court.

Harry Spratlin, Columbia

Undermines judicial system

Recent public comments by S.C. Republican politicians parroting Donald Trump’s false statements about his 34 felony convictions are an affront to the American judicial system and the rule of law.

Some of them are lawyers and know full well that Trump’s indictment and convictions were decided by grand juries and trial juries made up of regular citizens randomly drawn from voter rolls who evaluated actual evidence in a court of law. And Trump’s lawyers helped select them.

Denigration of this legal process as “political” is both irresponsible and damaging to public confidence in an American judicial system that is admired the world over.

The Biden administration has no authority or influence over state courts, yet Trump’s apologists continue to irresponsibly spread destructive conspiracy theories.

Don’t listen.

Donald Trump is a criminal who finally got caught. Simple as that.

Ted McCoy, Greenville

Own enemy?

A New York jury recently convicted former President Trump on all 34 counts.

This was surprising to me, but then I recognized that the solution to his problem was his problem.

One of his solutions was to encourage many powerful people to show up and support him by being there. That may have been his problem.

Maybe the jury considered that he was trying to intimidate them.

I believe that if there were some way that Trump was sent to jail and could not run for president, the same politicians who supported him would be more than glad to take his place as the Republican presidential candidate.

One of our former S.C. treasurers came up with a great solution to many of our nation’s problems. He stated that we should let several states practice different policies, determine the best policies, then have all other states follow them.

Remember, our forefathers tried to set up our political system not to promote a man or organization, but to have competitive ideas and to have the best ideas adopted to better the lives of Americans.

James Muldrow, Columbia