Letters to the Editor | April 3, 2026
Inquirer readers on the SAVE America Act and the dilapidated, unsanitary conditions at Southwark Elementary School.
What a joke
Dave McCormick’s April 1 letter to the editor about the SAVE America Act is either an April Fools’ joke or the senator foolishly doesn’t understand the Constitution. The SAVE America Act — a euphemistic name that’s designed to make the unobservant believe that it’s a positive thing — is essentially an illegal poll tax on Americans.
The cost to voters who will be required to pay for passports, etc., to register is a disincentive to voting. If married women will have to prove citizenship to vote, but can file taxes under their married name, why isn’t the IRS asking for proof of citizenship?
The data about the Pew Research Center’s findings about voter ID are misleading. Voter ID is favored because we already have it.
The Republican Heritage Foundation’s Voter Fraud Database reports that, in 30 years of voting in Pennsylvania, they have noted only 32 cases of voter fraud.
Indeed, this is a solution in search of a problem.
Judy Gelzinis Donovan, Philadelphia
. . .
Sen. David McCormick’s recent letter in The Inquirer purports to defend the SAVE America Act as both a) necessary and b) popular. Unfortunately for him, his letter proves that the goal of the act is to make voting harder for nonwhite, non-male voters. He cites “alternative pathways” for citizens without access to a passport or birth certificate, and touts “sworn statements, supporting evidence, and an election official certifying their citizenship” as alternatives for women whose current IDs don’t match their birth certificate names.
He neglects to mention what the pathways are and what “supporting evidence” entails, and overlooks the fact that a) it takes months to obtain a passport or renew an expired one (thanks in no small part due to Department of Government Efficiency cuts), b) election officials don’t grow on trees and aren’t available at the snap of a finger, and most importantly, c) his hero in the White House, Donald Trump, stated that the goal of the SAVE America Act was to ensure Republicans maintain control of Congress in the November elections, since women and nonwhite voters tend to vote Democratic.
McCormick also fails to point out that no one can register to vote without proper ID in the first place. Lastly, in his letter, he cites three individuals who voted illegally. According to nonpartisan statistics, that leaves out about four more individuals out of one million voters, proving that the act is a “solution” to a nonexistent problem. If Sen. McCormick is being honest, he should refer to the proposal as the SAVE Trump Act. It doesn’t save anything else.
Scott Chelemer, Mount Laurel
. . .
Dave McCormick’s letter to the editor on April Fools’ Day is a full-throated defense of the SAVE America Act, claiming that The Inquirer’s editorial against it is “long on hysteria and short on facts.”
Clearly, the junior senator doesn’t live in the same world we do.
The “alternate ways” for the half of American citizens who don’t have a passport are onerous, expensive, and, in some cases, impossible. But since McCormick lives in the billionaire bubble, those “pathways” might as well be 30-foot-high fences for the rest of us who can’t find our marriage licenses, birth certificates, or other official documents that could still be challenged.
One case of a noncitizen voting does not prove overwhelming fraud.
Proof of citizenship is required “only at registration.” Never mind the fact that, without registering, you cannot vote. Of course, that means you can’t register online anymore — so some people have to travel tens to hundreds of miles in order to “only register.” Maybe not in Philadelphia, but certainly in some rural counties.
And finally, we come to the reason for McCormick’s cause: He lost his first statewide election by 950 votes. If he could have disenfranchised those 950 voters, he’d have won.
Meg Berlin, Philadelphia
. . .
I am inclined to think the letter published on April 1 by Sen. Dave McCormick is his April Fools’ joke. Sen. McCormick cites one named and two unnamed voters with a total of nine instances of fraud over an undetermined time period. If he were to refer to the Heritage Foundation’s own election fraud data study, he would find that from 1982 to 2025, it found only 1,620 cases of voter fraud of any sort. In the election of 2022 in Pennsylvania, only five cases of fraud were found. This would hardly affect the outcome of his election. This bill will disenfranchise 21 million eligible voters. It must be voted down.
William Fair, Yardley
Helping retired educators
I bet you still remember an educator who helped shape your life in a lasting way. That was a big reason why I chose a career in teaching, one I held for 28 years before retiring in 1999. I now find myself standing shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of other educators and support staff who, like me, have not received an increase in our retirement income for nearly 25 years.
I’m specifically talking about a group of us who retired before 2001, when George W. Bush was still a new president, and Netflix was sending folks DVDs in the mail.
That was the year the Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 9 of 2001, a law that boosted pensions for active educators and public-sector workers, but not those of us who had already retired.
So, we started out with pensions smaller than those of post-2001 retirees. And in the nearly 25 years since that pension boost passed, the legislature has not once approved a cost-of-living adjustment for us.
Today, “pre-Act 9ers” are trying to live on pensions that, on average, are less than $20,000 annually, while the cost of food, housing, and healthcare has shot through the roof.
The good news is that there is momentum in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania House approved a pension COLA bill for retired educators in April 2025, and a bipartisan group of state senators is sponsoring similar legislation.
Now, we need state Senate leaders to get out of the way and let the Senate hold a vote on the bill.
We shaped our communities, guided our students, and helped prepare them to be the leaders and innovators of today. There should not be one retired educator or support staffer out there forced to make decisions like whether to put food on the table this week or pay for medications.
Lynne Kaye, member, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania State Educators Association (retired)
Unacceptable conditions
I read the recent article about the disgusting conditions at Southwark Elementary in South Philadelphia. I can’t stop thinking about the situation and the fact that it won’t be corrected for six years. I do not even live in Philadelphia, but I am appalled that children can go to school under such circumstances. How can these children feel valued if the adults don’t show them more consideration? Then I read stories about money being spent to improve the city for the upcoming World Cup soccer games. Where are the priorities? I’m sure that if the children of any of Philadelphia’s leaders attended this school, they would want better for their own children. Please keep this story alive.
Susan Williamson, Gladwyne
NATO withdrawal
Of all Donald Trump’s misadventures and flawed policy initiatives, none seems more irresponsible and dangerous than his threat to withdraw from NATO, an alliance that has kept us and our allies safe for four generations. It is arguably the most effective, enduring, and valuable alliance in history. But Trump — the whining, pouting, needy toddler that he is — would throw it to the winds because our allies will not support his stupid war with Iran. Remember his campaign promise: “No more stupid wars.”
The dissolution of NATO would make us and our former allies immediately weaker, and Russia and China stronger. Smiles in the Kremlin and Beijing.
Even though the sole authority to enter into or dissolve treaties lies with Congress, irreparable harm has already been done. Our allies no longer trust us.
Thwarting Trump’s toxic ambitions and rebuilding that trust is one great challenge of our time.
Doug MacAdam, Media
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