Editor:

Yesterday I did something that I had never thought of or cared to do before. My wife and I usually take advantage of early voting here in Richmond Hill. You know, avoid the crowd on voting day, and all that. 

We usually get a copy of a sample ballot before we vote so we can discuss our choices and at least we know if our votes are going to cancel each other’s vote out. This year, we were able to download the sample ballot from the state website (www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/). Then tweaked by a weird impulse, I downloaded and printed out all three sample ballots, so I could compare and learn, and I learned, indeed, that the questions on priority issues each party puts to its members for a vote represent two very different, non-intersecting realities.

For example, guess which party wants a Yes or No vote on whether “Biological males who identify as females ... should compete in female sports” (as allowed by some national unnamed national sports governing bodies)?

Now, this issue is not even on the radar or the ballot of the other party.

As for ballot drop boxes, which "are vulnerable to illegal ballot trafficking,” as evidenced in the new movie 2000 Mules by Dinesh D’Sousa, one ballot asks whether absentee ballot boxes should be eliminated.

Another ballot asks “Should the State of Georgia expand voter access by increasing early voting opportunities (currently 21 days), allow same day voter registration, removing obstacles (like requiring an ID card?), voting by mail, (what could go wrong with that?) and installing secure ballot drop boxes, accessible at all times through election day.

See again the new movie 2000 Mules, I dare you. This was a very educational experience for me, clarifying the reality each party wants to create.

I have four grandsons that are the focus of my concern for the future. I encourage y’all to check it out to see for yourself.

Thanks for listening.

Thomas Byrnes, Richmond Hill since 1995