Trump intends to cheat - he is illegally calling for voter fraud: #voteblue #voteBidenHarris2020

Opinion published in The Winchester Star, a Virginia newpaper located in Frederick County:

Dump Trump #vote

 Our vote is our power to return to decency, fairness

As I sat down to write this Open Forum letter, I considered compiling a list of some of the lies, illegal actions, and immoral attacks on our democracy promulgated by the president of this country, and by his enablers, in just the last few weeks. But then I thought, why waste the words? Everyone who values unifying our country vs. dividing it and who believes in empathy vs. cruelty already knows the outrages being committed by the Trump administration and their Republican cronies.

Instead, then, I'll focus on the single action we can all take, soon, that will give us the power to make the pendulum swing back towards decency and compassion, towards valuing, once again, the constructs of our Constitution, and towards re-establishing the true meanings of justice and law and order — OUR VOTE!

If you believe that equality under the law – with decency, empathy, and compassion — are the bedrock of our democracy, it's completely clear who we in the Winchester/Frederick County area should elect and re-elect.

At the national level, vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Senator Mark Warner, and Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. At the state level, vote for Irina Khanin (Virginia House of Delegates 29th District). If you live in the Shawnee District of Frederick County, vote for Richard Kennedy for Board of Supervisors. There are also a host of fantastic candidates in Winchester and Stephens City; their information is available at https://wfcdc.org/the-candidates/.

Finally, the Trump administration has made it crystal clear that they will cheat in order to win re-election in November, and the Republicans will do all they can to suppress legitimate votes by those of us who are likely to support Democratic candidates. 

Indeed, they have already attacked the postal service. So it's EXTREMELY important that we make sure that ALL of our votes are counted. The best way to do that is to vote early and in-person, beginning on Friday, September 18th, in both Winchester and Frederick County. 

You can get all the information you need about the voting process from these websites: https://www.fcva.us/departments/office-of-elections-voter-registration and https://www.winchesterva.gov/vote.

Mark Zimmerman is a resident of Frederick County.