Evidence makes a compelling case that many Republican-led state legislatures have modified the electoral process to make it more burdensome for certain demographic groups to vote in this fall's state and federal elections. The targeted groups, of course, are those that have a history of voting mostly Democratic.

Scoundrels from any political party who plot to suppress fellow citizens from voting should be treated for what they objectively are: infectious pathogens attacking the vital center of America's democratic ideal.

Suspected offenders should be charged with sabotage, given a fair trial, and, if found guilty, confined in prison long enough to earn an advanced degree in the history of the American civil rights movement. Prison life will include daily meditations on the dog bites and bloody beatings, the poll taxes and burning crosses, the killings and other sins of hate suffered by the multitudes in the seemingly never-ending battle for essential freedom and equality as asserted and protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Unfortunately, no amount of learning and meditation will change some hearts. Rather than the expense of lifetime detention for these anti-democratic incurables, compassion rules they be repatriated to an autocratic nation where they will feel most at home.

Jerry Lesniak

Bellingham