Trent Barkus, West Fargo

In the recent letter by Lois Ivers Altenburg, she presents what appears to be a summary of Measure 3 being brought to us by the North Dakota Voters First (NDVF). She discussed four of the five components conveniently omitting the most onerous – changing how we vote in North Dakota. Think about it; fundamentally changing the voting system is an absolutely monumental shift yet she didn’t mention it. Why?

This continues to show how disingenuous NDVF are being with this measure. The list of the five detached elements of the measure starts with a very general attempt to help the military by providing more time to vote when stationed overseas. The people gathering the signatures reportedly used the military angle to get the signatures while not mentioning the other four, more controversial aspects of the measure. This is disgraceful. North Dakota does an amazing job helping our military vote and I’m not aware that it’s a current issue. I voted out-of-state during my enlistment and it didn’t present any challenge to me.

The other deceitful element with the NDVF campaign is that it’s mainly funded by out-of-state interests.

In the 1976 film “All the President’s Men,” we first heard the catchphrase, “follow the money.” The phrase suggests that political motivation can be exposed by knowing who is paying the bill. NDVF claim to be a grassroots North Dakota operation but, if you “follow the money” you will find a completely different story. The primary instigator is an organization called Represent Us whose board members include donors to the supporters of the anti-DAPL protests. They are based in Massachusetts and have been very successfully raising money to support their North Dakota effort. Represent Us seeks to upend our North Dakota political institutions and remake us in their Massachusetts image.

This constitutional measure needs to be defeated. We need to develop policy here in North Dakota not in a Massachusetts meeting room of a wealthy activist group. Follow the money! I will vote no on Measure 3.