The following is a letter I forwarded to my newspaper for publishing. It is doubtful they will as I had something published last month, but please feel free to adapt and use.

It is disappointing to this independent and former Republican voter that too many Republican candidates feel obligated to pretend the former president’s bogus and universally unproven election fraud is not a falsehood. It also disappoints me some are beating a resulting drumbeat that the upcoming election might be problematic to sow doubt.

From where I sit, I see a misuse of Trump’s Big Lie to perpetuate a fraud on the American people by restricting voting by certain manipulators who are making a fuss. I encourage all eligible Americans to vote and ignore the noise from these manipulators. We should make it easier for people to vote, not harder in my view.

And, for those who still want to believe the former president bogus election fraud claims, he has lost every recount, audit and review and all but one court case out of 65 or so to overturn results. To be frank, he cannot lose any more than he has time and again. Perpetuating the Big Lie to sow doubt is disservice to the American people.

We deserve better than this. Please vote.