As was stated in the Aug. 3 lead editorial (“Our View: Voting Rights Act needs attention now”), Maine Sen. Susan Collins voted with all the rest of the Senate Republicans to filibuster the For the People Act, keeping it from coming forward for debate in the U.S. Senate.

This vote is shameful, and a blatant contradiction to Collins’ oft-repeated mantra that she is a “moderate” and votes independently of political considerations. This vote can only be seen as a purely politically motivated act, intended to help ensure that Republicans can continue unfettered in their efforts to significantly disadvantage minority voters, whom they view as potential Democratic voters.

The efforts by Republicans in states like Texas and Georgia (enumerated in the editorial and documented elsewhere) to decrease access to voting, and to enable state legislative majorities to throw out legitimate election results are disgraceful – and should be repugnant to, and rejected by, all Americans who value true democracy and equity in our society.

I urge my fellow Mainers, who (apparently, unlike Collins) believe in the sanctity of the right of all Americans to have equal access to the ballot and to have their votes counted to write and call Sen. Collins and tell her to support the For the People Act (HR 1/S.1). Her actions on this issue constitute a true test of whether she is indeed a “voice of moderation” and fairness – or simply, as she appears to be in this instance, a tool of the worst elements of the Republican party.

Robert C. Foster
South Portland