Two bills are before the Maine House on voter ID and residency verification requirements: L.D. 121, submitted by Rep. Bradley Farrin, R-Norridgewock, and L.D. 155, submitted by Rep. Kenneth Fredette, R-Newport.

They claim that our elections are vulnerable to fraud, and these bills will help. What is frustrating is that these bills did not come up from our representatives working to find solutions to problems here in the state and implementing them. Instead, these representatives are taking marching orders from a larger out-of-state group to fake-solve a problem that just doesn’t exist.

I generally try to avoid guessing people’s motives. One judges by what they do, and assumes they mean the best – it keeps me happier. Except there is no illegal voting in Maine. Our deputy secretary of state, Julie Flynn, found four cases … in her 22 years in the office.

So since the bills aren’t fixing a problem, all they accomplish is to make voting more difficult. And if Farrin and Fredette know that there isn’t a problem, they really can only be trying to make voting more difficult.

I think voters in Maine believe that elections should be won by strong candidates with convincing ideas. Enacting these measures would be more like letting air out of the tires of the opposing team’s bus so they can’t show up, and you win the game by forfeit.

These two legislators could really find ways to better serve the state’s citizens and show themselves in a better light.

Max Treitler

Blue Hill