Why should blue-state Democrats roll over and allow red-state Republicans to steal elections?

There’s going to be a lot of ink about the redrawing of voting district lines in Illinois, so please keep a larger issue at the forefront of your thinking. As a nation, we increasingly are ruled by a minority of Republican voters. They are the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and continue to make excuses for those criminals. They are the people who hold fast to the Big Lie about election fraud, in deference to the Big Liar, and seem to still lead their political party.

Until there is a national law that requires fairly drawn legislative districts and voter representation, blue states like Illinois must provide a counterbalance to the Republican efforts in other states to thwart the voting will of the majority of Americans. This majority voted Democratic in seven of the last eight presidential elections, yet their vote was thwarted twice by a minority.

John Powers, Rolling Meadows

Enough already: Get vaccinated

There should be a law that requires people to either get the COVID-19 vaccine or pay a fine. And if they still don’t get the shot, maybe they should be banished to some island where they can’t spread the virus to anyone else. Why anybody with brains still refuses to get the vaccination is impossible to understand. Too many people have died already.

It is better to be safe than sorry. Get the vaccine today. Or we will never be free from this disease. We’d all like to live again in a safe world, without masks or disease, with our loved ones. When we get the vaccine, we protect not only ourselves but also others.

Margaret Seiders-Metz, Burbank