The Salt Lake County Republican Party is worried voters will see a repeat Tuesday of the long lines that stretched up to four hours on Election Day in 2016 — and that more conservative areas will be most impacted.

Salt Lake County has 43 voting locations this year, GOP Chair Scott Miller said in a letter to Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen on Thursday. And while the more liberal Salt Lake City area has one voting center for every 11,000 registered voters, Riverton has just one center for its entire registered voter population of 21,716.

“Riverton is a strong Republican area and as I look at your file, it appears that voting locations have been strategically placed to better accommodate Democratic voters, while inconveniencing Republican voters on the west side,” Miller wrote in his letter. “As Chairman of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, I cannot help but wonder if this is a subtle but very real attempt at Republican voter suppression.”

Swensen said Miller’s claim that the voting locations are based on party is an untrue “political slam."

“I would never do anything to try to disenfranchise voters,” she said. “That’s why I implemented a vote-by-mail system. That’s why we have early voting, including in Riverton.”

She also said it’s overly simplistic to look solely at how many voter centers there are per city — an analysis that doesn’t take into consideration the number of machines, the number of people doing check-ins or the proximity of centers in a geographic area not focused on city boundaries.

“We don’t look at it in a city perspective,” she said, noting that residents can vote at any of the centers in the county. “We look at the map and we try to put them out through all the county and try to disperse them evenly.”

Riverton isn’t the only city that has just one voting location. So does Herriman, which has a population of 17,828 registered voters; Cottonwood Heights, with 19,988 registered voters; South Salt Lake, 7,961 voters; and Bluffdale, 6,351.

Polling places in 2016 saw an unexpected surge of voters on Election Day thanks to a mix of new voters, doubts over mail-in voting and people holding onto old habits.

Miller says voters in Riverton had two locations in 2016 and still saw long lines. And with the chance to weigh in on the tight 4th Congressional District race between Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Republican Rep. Mia Love, Miller says turnout is expected to be high.

“Long lines and frustrated voters negatively affect the number of votes cast,” he wrote in his letter to Swensen. “The fact that you are a Democrat, running for re-election, and Mayor McAdams is a Democrat running in the 4CD race, only heightens my suspicion and can lead to accusations of foul play.”

He and his party are, of course, backing Swensen’s election rival, Republican Rozan Mitchell, the county elections director running against her boss.

“At a time when the country is concerned about election security, aging voting equipment and access to voting, voters in Salt Lake County deserve better,” Mitchell said in a statement. “Sherrie mentioned that there is more to the process than just the number of locations. If she is applying logic as to the number of machines and staff at a location she has not disclosed that information. The 40,000 voters in Riverton and Herriman should have more options on Election Day. Geographically they are distanced from other voting locations."

Polling place issues? Southwest SLCO should have more vote centers especially in CD4. The common denominator in both 2016 and 2018 is the current clerk. Again, it is time for a change. We need a new clerk. Vote Rozan Mitchell #Rozan4Clerk #utpol https://t.co/Ri9t1vgeu1

— Rozan4clerk (@rozan4clerk) November 1, 2018

Miller requested a “clarification or justification” for the voting location “discrepancy” and said that if Riverton residents experience longer lines than those in other parts of the county, he would file a formal complaint against the office.

Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs also expressed concern about the long lines.

“It is concerning, I guess I would say, that Riverton has only one voting location given the fact there were two back in 2016,” he said. “And that is something that is totally under the purview and discretion of the county clerk, and so I would just, I guess, echo the comments of the GOP chair wanting to understand why that decision was made and if anything can be done or needs to be done to rectify it.”

Swensen said the Riverton Senior Center location will become a “megacenter” this year, with extra poll workers and machines that will make up for increased demand. She also said she doesn’t expect there will be long lines this year, blaming those on her Mitchell, for implementing a new process in 2016 to have poll workers update information on provisional voters on the spot.

Mitchell, who has taken an extended leave of absence from the office following tensions in the office, has denied making unilateral decisions about the election and said too few voting centers and machines caused the long lines.

Miller told The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday that he wasn’t convinced by Swensen’s reassurances about the Riverton center. He’s still concerned the parking won’t be sufficient and that voter volume in the area will be higher due to population growth and a number of people who still haven’t received their ballots.

“This is grossly incompetent in my opinion," he said. “And when these lines are through the roof come Tuesday, you know, there will be hell to pay.”

Utah parents and teachers will be invited to comment on what kids should learn about human sexuality — a flashpoint in this conservative state — following Thursday’s release of a draft of new health education standards.

The Utah Board of Education narrowly voted to unveil the standards for a 90-day public review after a tense debate among members who disagreed over whether the new guidelines go too far in talking about sex or say too little about abstinence. It’s the first comprehensive update to the state’s health standards in 20 years.

“I have grave concerns that comprehensive sexuality is creeping into this,” said board member Lisa Cummins, who represents Herriman and southwest Salt Lake County.

She was among five members who voted not to release the standards. She had proposed sending them back to a committee for further rewriting and review, saying they were incomplete and didn’t define enough terms, leaving teachers free to interpret what they can talk about.

“What I’m seeing is red flags all over this,” Cummins added. “Our state is a family-based state, and we need to uphold that.”

Utah state code currently permits an “abstinence-based” sex education program, which promotes abstinence as the most effective way to prevent pregnancy or disease while including limited discussion on contraception and reproduction. It also prohibits encouraging "premarital or extramarital sexual activity."

Despite concerns from Cummins and others about what the new standards might allow, the guidelines cannot change the requirement for an overall message that promotes chastity. That would break the law.

“Abstinence is always our first lesson. It’s what we would like the students to all know and understand,” said Jodi Kaufman, the board’s health and physical education specialist. “We’re not advocating for the use of contraceptive devices.”

The board of education voted to review the health standards in July 2017. They cover six sections of education, including mental and emotional health and nutrition. One of the biggest changes to the sex education section came from the Legislature, which voted this spring to have updated lessons include discussion of consent, “refusal skills” to help students decline sexual advances and the dangers of pornography.

The writing committee that drafted the standards also included lessons on internet relationships — which weren’t in the 1997 version and weren’t added during 2009 updates for middle and high schools — and information for abuse victims. And there will be a new health section on “protective factors of healthy self” that focuses on teaching decision-making and kindness, as well as an overall discussion of opioid addiction.

For the first time, the new standards will include lessons for kindergarten through second grade. And they will cut out redundancies so that each year builds on what was taught before, instead of repeating modules on human anatomy or communicable diseases. Middle and high school lessons will remain largely the same.

Parents will still be required to “opt in” their kids for all health classes, including sex education.

“If a parent does not want their student to ever learn about contraceptives, they could opt their student out,” Kaufman said. “They could even opt their student out of the entire unit.”

Several board of education members expressed concern about the new standards not clearly defining “abstinence” and “trusted adult,” who students are told to report to if they experience bullying or abuse. Member Alisa Ellis, representing Heber City, argued “this draft is not quite ready for prime time.”

She said the writing committee, made up of 30 members from various health organizations across the state, completely changed the most current version from what it looked like a month ago. Kaufman defended the group’s work, saying members met more than 30 times from March to September to get the draft right.

Brittney Cummins, no relation to Lisa Cummins, voted to release the standards Thursday rather than debate a few “little tiny words.”

Our schools "desperately need updated health standards,” added Carol Barlow Lear, who represents Salt Lake City.

Nine members of the board voted to release the draft guidelines to move the process forward. With that decision, there will be five public hearings spread between November and December where residents can talk about changes they’d like to see. They can also express any concerns in a survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/2vcpnzw.

The writing committee will consider those comments for further revisions before final approval by the board of education, which is months away.

“This is a draft,” Kaufman said. “It’s going to change.”

Proposed health education s...by on Scribd

The Republican Party’s closing argument for the midterm election is a bit confusing:

“It’s all about President Trump — unless he angers, appalls or disgusts you, in which case we’ve never heard of anyone named Trump. We’ve also never heard of policies we’ve voted for repeatedly, like eliminating the guarantee of health insurance for those with pre-existing conditions or slashing vital programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Please forget that we cut taxes for millionaires and corporations but not for you. And please, please be terrified of a few traumatized refugees, mostly women and children, somewhere in southern Mexico.” The party then pulls down its pants and babbles unintelligibly before being gently led offstage.

The Democratic Party’s closing argument, by contrast, is simple and compelling: “Stop the madness.”

Just stop it. Vote to give Democrats control of the House, the Senate, governorships, state legislatures, everything. Take a stand for decency, for civility, for sanity — and, in the long run, help the GOP recover the mind it has lost and the soul it has surrendered.

Democratic candidates have been spending the final days of the campaign talking mostly about health care, an issue that affects us all. Republicans are dishonestly trying to convince voters they support the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections, despite having voted dozens of times to eliminate them. Democrats are right to keep playing offense on such matters of policy, especially where Republicans have no coherent response.

But the real issue is Trump. Midterm elections are always, at least in part, a referendum on the party in power. Tuesday’s vote is more than that. It is the nation’s opportunity to constrain and hold accountable an ignorant, egomaniacal, capricious and destructive president — and the once-great political party that cynically aids and abets him.

It is hard not to be exhausted by Trump’s outrages, but we should never become numb to them. Rare is the day that passes without a shocking demonstration of how unfit he is to be president and how much damage his self-serving antics are doing to the fabric of our society.

Here is one recent example. On Saturday, a gunman, apparently motivated by racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about immigration, killed 11 innocent worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue. On Tuesday, Trump visited Pittsburgh despite pleas from local officials to delay the trip for logistical reasons. On Wednesday, back in Washington, the president had this to say on Twitter:

Melania and I were treated very nicely yesterday in Pittsburgh. The Office of the President was shown great respect on a very sad & solemn day. We were treated so warmly. Small protest was not seen by us, staged far away. The Fake News stories were just the opposite-Disgraceful! pic.twitter.com/9B9HgCF1G9

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2018

Not a single word about the victims. Not even a word about the grieving city, except in the context of how Trump and the first lady were received and how the trip was covered by the news media. What kind of president can visit the site of such a devastating tragedy and come away thinking only of himself? What kind of person is so monumentally self-centered?

We don’t expect our political leaders to be paragons of virtue. But we need them, at the very least, to be capable of feeling empathy and shame. Trump’s supreme egotism and utter shamelessness differentiate him from all previous presidents. They allow him to deliberately divide the country by playing to white-nationalist anxieties. They allow him to warp foreign and domestic policy for short-term political gain — and to do so transparently, without the tiniest fig leaf of pretense. They allow him not to care what damage he has wrought, as long as he gets favorable coverage on the cable news shows he watches constantly instead of doing actual work.

So now he is threatening to void the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship by decree, which he cannot possibly do, and to send thousands of troops to the border with Mexico for no reason at all — except, he hopes, to inflame the anti-immigration spirits of his loyal base. This is not a normal or acceptable way for a president to act. It is like letting a spoiled teenager play around with the nuclear codes.

Vote on Tuesday. When you do, remember Charlottesville. Remember Pittsburgh. Remember how Trump snubs the leaders of friendly democracies and embraces thuggish autocrats. Remember how he always divides, never unites. Remember the need to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Remember your power as a citizen. Remember the country you love. Take it back.

Eugene Robinson’s email address is eugenerobinson@washpost.com.

Utah school districts that aren’t transparent about their dues for sports and clubs — or that don’t bring them down to “reasonable levels” — could face new penalties.

The State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to craft and enact a discipline system after it was slammed two months ago in a scathing state audit for not providing oversight and allowing schools to charge students exorbitant fees. “How heavy and how big that hammer is” is still being worked out, said board chairman Mark Huntsman.

“But we need to have something to start with.”

The board gave preliminary approval to a handful of potential consequences for districts that don’t make adjustments, including requiring them to repay “improperly charged” dues, withholding their funding and suspending their right to charge fees at all.

It’s the first big step in addressing the audit and its recommendations. Huntsman said more solutions will be voted on next month. And board members spent much of the hourlong discussion batting around other ideas.

Member Joel Wright suggested cutting extracurricular activities from schools altogether if they’re going to be “taken over by rich parents.”

“Trying to combine the two is causing this problem and degrading education,” he said.

Member Carol Barlow Lear defended sports and clubs and said eliminating them would only further deny low-income students opportunities.

“Some kids will never have the chance to play in an orchestra if it’s not offered at school,” she noted.

Member Kathleen Riebe recommended setting statewide caps for each sport to create a level playing field.

“It’s not about pay to play,” she added. “It’s just to play.”

The state audit, released in September, looked at middle- and high-school programs in 20 districts across the state, including seven charters. In one school, it cost $2,500 to be a member of the cheerleading squad. In another, students paid $2,795 to participate in show choir.

The State Board of Education and local districts, the auditors concluded, have created barriers for involvement by levying these fees that can disadvantage students with less money. Often, too, they’ve ignored fee waivers for low-income students. And the “cycle of noncompliance” is breaking state law.

“We found a lot of violations,” said Jake Dinsdale, audit supervisor, to the board of education Thursday. “This is systemic.”

Utah’s constitution permits secondary schools to charge fees for activities. But a 1994 injunction from the state’s 3rd District Court said those dues must be “reasonable” in price to not bar students from participating. (At the time, $1,000 was deemed excessive.)

Schools have not adjusted much since then, Dinsdale said, and “the state board of education has not fulfilled its obligation to oversee the system adequately.” It has not checked to see if schools are disclosing fees to parents or if school boards are setting fees in public hearings, which it is supposed to do.

Only 50 percent of the schools investigated for the audit regularly submitted their required annual compliance form.

Under the discipline system outlined Thursday, a school district would receive an initial notice that it is not complying with the board’s standards for fees. If it develops and works on a corrective plan, it will be taken off the watch list. If it doesn’t, it will receive a second notice — which it can appeal — and then face financial consequences to be decided by the board.

The penalties will take effect after annual trainings with Utah’s school districts about school fees and restrictions.

The board intends to investigate complaints from parents and teachers, while also randomly checking on different districts and schools. It has also independently completed its own internal audit on school fees in April that came to many of the same conclusions as the state’s review. Out of that, the board voted to create a School Fees Task Force (which started meeting in June) to study how to resolve the issues.

“There is a lot of water going under the bridge since your audit,” Huntsman told the auditors Thursday.

Audit manager Brian Dean approved of the penalty system for schools that don’t make changes, suggesting it’s like the threat of a speeding ticket — it might scare schools away from charging high fees.

Board member Janet A. Cannon said she worries that the discipline might affect students more than schools. Suspending a district from charging fees, for instance, might mean it cancels activities.

“That doesn’t feel quite right,” she said.

Member Laura Belnap, who serves on the School Fees Task Force, suggested it’s “just one piece in a giant puzzle” and that the board could change the punishments in the future — or choose not to use one at all.

“There is a lot to come.”

This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday, Nov. 2, 2018. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:

• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/31/bagley-cartoon-all-best/" target=_blank><u>All the Best People</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/31/bagley-cartoon-scary/"><u>Scary Times</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/29/bagley-cartoon-best/"><u>Best Health Care System in the World!</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/26/bagley-cartoon-whats/"><u>What’s Driving the Violence?</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/25/bagley-cartoon-its-mans/"><u>It’s A Man’s World</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/25/bagley-cartoon-critiquing/"><u>Critiquing the Saudis</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/23/bagley-cartoon-we-dont/"><u>We Don’t Not Need Education</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/22/bagley-cartoon-friends/"><u>Friends with Emoluments</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/20/bagley-cartoon/"><u>Proposition 2</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/10/18/bagley-cartoon-campaign/"><u>Campaign Cash Carpet Bombing</u></a>

Want more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.

Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes holds a public meeting to discuss the medical cannabis compromise legislation he crafted with proponents and opponents of Proposition 2. Also, due to high drug costs, a Utah health insurance group is paying for public employees to fill prescriptions in Mexico. And the local faith community responds to the recent shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

At 9 a.m. Friday, Salt Lake Tribune reporters Erin Alberty and Benjamin Wood as well as columnist Robert Gehrke join KCPW’s Roger McDonough to talk about the week’s top stories. Every Friday at 9 a.m., stream “Behind the Headlines”at kcpw.org, or tune in to KCPW 88.3 FM or Utah Public Radio for the broadcast.

In the team’s only exhibition game, Utah displayed everything that will make this basketball season interesting.

The Utes were alternately entertaining and maddening, engaged and disinterested in phases of a 96-76 victory over NAIA member College of Idaho at the Huntsman Center.

Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak's players gave him equal reason to be encouraged and disgusted. That's probably healthy at this stage, as the Utes prepare for next Thursday's season opener vs. Maine.

The breakdown of the exhibition is basically as simple as the first half vs. the second half. Utah outscored the Yotes 57-29, appearing focused and consistent on both ends of the court, in the first 20 minutes. After halftime, the story changed. College of Idaho had a 47-39 edge in the second half with an initial 10-2 run and later an 11-0 burst that led to Krystkowiak's angry timeout with six minutes left, even as he used using his same 10-player rotation most of the way.

“I don't think we have an immature group,” Krystkowiak said. “I just think there's certain lessons that need to be learned.”

Anyone who has followed his program for seven-plus season could have scripted Krystkowiak's postgame analysis. “When you play the right way, it was easy; when we chose not to, it was a grind,” he said.

This team is deeper and more athletic than the Utes of the recent past, with an ability to quickly turn defensive stops into offensive success. Without that defensive effort, though, scoring becomes more difficult. As Krystkowiak said, “When you're taking the ball out of the net because you're not guarding, you get into the grind mode.”

So there's work ahead for the Utes in the coming week and beyond, but they certainly showed their capability. Freshman forward Timmy Allen led Utah with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 28-minute performance that will make this phrase standard stuff all season: He doesn't play like a freshman, or sound like one in interviews.

His takeaways Thursday included “a lot of room to grow, a lot of stuff to look at in the film, a lot of ways to get better,” he said. “But it was good overall.”

Sophomore forward Donnie Tillman and freshman Both Gach each scored 12 points for Utah. Novak Topalovic, a senior center who transferred from Idaho State, posted 11 points and 11 rebounds and senior Sedrick Barefield added 10 points. Senior guard Keun Palu-Thompson scored 19 for the Yotes.

“We're still growing, simple as that,” Barefield said. “I think you'll see us take a lot of big jumps as the season goes.”

There was a lot to like about the way the Utes shared the ball and scored in bunches. Allen's behind-the-back pass to Gach for a fast-break dunk and Gach's lob to Riley Battin for another dunk came on unselfish plays in the first half, when the passers could have scored themselves.

Even as scoring became more difficult in the second half, Brandon Morley two nice passes for baskets, Allen fired a quick pass to Vante Hendrix for a layup and Gach drove and fed Topalovic inside. The Utes showed they’ll be fun to watch this season, with players who should keep improving.

Their immediate task is preparing for a game that counts next week. College of Idaho, a high-level NAIA team, was just good enough to remind the Utes they have work to do.

Provo • Perhaps the BYU basketball team should insist on shooting into a bent rim every night.

The Cougars shot miserably in the first half of their 72-43 win over visiting Westminster College on Thursday night, then turned it around in the second half, especially from 3-point range.

That’s notable, because at halftime the basket BYU was warming up on became slightly tilted. Players jarred it and hung on it, but nothing seemed to work. BYU has a backup basket and support, but the shot clock on it doesn’t work. So coach Dave Rose, knowing his team had just shot 43 percent from the field, 23 percent from 3-point range and 62 percent from the free-throw line, told the referees to start the second half anyway.

“I said, ‘Hey, come on, we’ve all played on bent rims before,’” Rose said.

The Cougars proceeded to shoot 50 percent from the field, 44 percent from long range and 75 percent from the free-throw line in the second half and pushed a 35-18 halftime lead to 33 points before the reserves took over in the final minutes.

“We shot better on the broken rim than we did on the good rim,” Rose said. “We played better in the second half all the way around.”

Yoeli Childs posted a double-double — 14 points and 14 rebounds — and TJ Haws, Dalton Nixon and Jahshire Hardnett also reached double figures for the Cougars.

Westminster played well in spurts, but had trouble finishing at the rim against BYU’s superior size. The Griffins shot just 18 percent in the first half, 33 percent in the second. Former Highland High star Brandon Warr led Westminster with 12 points and Westlake High product Jacob McCord added 10.

“Coach wasn’t very happy with us in the first half,” Childs said.

Rose said the Cougars were in too big of a hurry.

“We can get out here and not look anything like ourselves, and that’s what happened in the first half,” Rose said. “We don’t practice like that.”

The Cougars missed their first nine 3-point attempts before Childs hit back-to-back treys and freshman Kolby Lee added another.

“Thank goodness for Kolby,” Rose said. The Boise, Idaho, product missed the win over Saint Martin’s last week with a sore foot, so he can always say the first shot he took and made in a BYU uniform was a 3-pointer.

“It was surreal,” he said.

Both teams had a better offensive flow in the second half. McCord and Jake Connor, a Utah transfer, made 3-pointers for the Griffins, while Hardnett canned two for BYU in the first eight minutes of the second half.

Rose was happy with the way his team responded after halftime, even on a damaged rim.

“This is going to be a coachable team,” he said.

The Cougars play for real on Tuesday when they open the season at No. 7-ranked Nevada.

The last car of a northbound TRAX train leaving West Valley City derailed Thursday night, hitting a power pole and an oncoming train, according to Utah Transit Authority.

The derailment happened about 7:30 p.m. as the northbound train turned a corner leaving West Valley Central station, 2750 W. 3590 South. The last car fishtailed into a power pole, which fell on top of the train car, and then it hit the southbound train, UTA spokesman Carl Arky said. The southbound train was also derailed in the collision.

“It’s amazing how it happened just as another train was passing it,” Arky said.

No one was riding the northbound train, which completely derailed onto the opposite tracks. Nineteen people were aboard the southbound train. No one was injured, though passengers had to wait about an hour to exit because officials wanted to make sure the broken electricity pole and been powered down, Arky said.

Arky said UTA will investigate the cause of the derailment. He expects the review to take a few weeks.

The derailments caused delays in the area, and UTA officials set up a bus bridge to carry passengers between Redwood Junction and West Valley Central while the train system was down. Arky said passengers would likely need to use the bus bridge through at least Friday morning.

TRAX Update 9:50 pm: The Bus Bridge between Redwood Junction and West Valley Central will remain active until the end of service, tonight.
Please note, the Bus Bridge will be active during tomorrow's AM commute. We advise that riders add extra time to their trips, if possible.

— UTA (@RideUTA) November 2, 2018

UTA tweeted that riders should prepare for a longer commute.

The House, most pollsters agree at this point, will flip to Democratic majority control. Panicked Republicans realize that they have tied themselves to the mast of a sinking ship. Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report writes:

"Every midterm is about the sitting president, even ones who are more traditional and less unorthodox than the one currently sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The better a president's approval ratings, the better his party does in the midterms. The weaker his ratings, the more losses his party suffers.

"This president has always wanted the election to be about him. And, in these final hours he's made sure to put the focus back on himself. He's ramped up the rhetoric on illegal immigration, ordered the military to the southern border and floated the idea about doing away with birthright citizenship with an executive order."

On a daily basis, President Donald Trump is infuriating all but his narrow base, descending into the depths of racism and reminding voters why it would not be a good idea to give him a free hand. He has once more focused all attention on himself.

"What is worrying Republicans today, is that in this last week before the election the spotlight has moved from Trump's strengths (he fulfilled his promises and got another conservative on the Supreme Court), to his biggest weaknesses (his temperament, his over-heated rhetoric and undisciplined tweeting)," Walter says. "GOP strategists have told us that they are seeing slippage in Trump's approval rating similar to the drop we saw this week in Gallup's tracker (Trump dropped from 44 percent to 40 percent). This is why many of them are more worried about big losses in the House than they were just a week or ten days ago."

It sure doesn't help when Trump is publicly scolding House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for popping his unconstitutional trial balloon to repeal birthright citizenship by executive order, nor does it help when the House Republican campaign committee is denouncing Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, gives him a pep talk over the phone.

Meanwhile, Democratic enthusiasm is sky-high. Gallup reports:

"In a departure from Republicans' usual lead on midterm turnout indicators, Democrats appear to be on par with or possibly ahead of Republicans in eagerness and intent to vote this year. Three-quarters of both party groups, 74%, say they are 'absolutely certain' they will vote on or before Election Day. Republicans and Democrats are also about equally likely to report feeling "more enthusiastic than usual" about voting. At the same time, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they have given 'quite a lot of thought' to the election."

If "quite a lot of thought" means time fuming about how to put a stop to the descent into pure nativism, that sounds about right.

For all these reasons, as well as a big advantage in money and strong candidate recruitment, Walter's colleague Dave Wasserman tweeted Wednsday:

"New: based on the past week's evidence, we're revising our House outlook to a Dem gain of 30-40 seats (was 25-35 last month) at @CookPolitical. This could change again before Tuesday."

Democrats must still turn out in strong numbers on Election Day, but barring an unforeseen turn of events, Democrats look set to win the House majority — and with it control of committees and subpoena power. No wonder Trump sounds more hysterical than usual these days.

Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion from a center-right perspective for The Washington Post. @JRubinBlogger

I fail to understand what is going on. Utah is a very religious state, and most of the residents have a high moral value and try to live their lives in the best way possible. We are notorious for trusting people too much and allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of by people who think money is so important you can lie to get more.

We now are subject to presidential "leadership" that exemplifies dishonesty, corruption, financial conflicts, infidelity and many other issues that fly in the face of our values. We have six national "representatives" who supposedly espouse the values of our state but, when it comes to supporting the president, they seem to be in lockstep with his constant diatribe and lies.

We have an opportunity to send a message to Washington that enough is enough, so this November please vote Utah values and not for our current "representatives" who seem to get lost in personal agendas and forget who they really represent.

Paul N. Davis, Logan

Submit a letter to the editor

Several recent developments in Salt Lake prove that there is a problem with the county’s public safety budget and the operating plan of Operation Rio Grande.

The ACLU released a report that questioned the 5,000 arrests from Operation Rio Grande. The operation has led to many homeless people being arrested hundreds of times for low-level misdemeanor crimes and further criminalized homelessness. The many arrests and tickets have made it more difficult for the homeless to try to leave their situation.

The Salt Lake Tribune also reported that the two candidates for sheriff expressed concern about the lack of jail space for arrested criminals. Sheriff Rosie Rivera was quoted in the story saying, “We’ve been at capacity for over five years, but nobody wanted to admit it.”

The recent release of the Salt Lake County Jail Dashboard shows that the average prior bookings is 11. More than nine have had more than 100 bookings, and two inmates have had more than 180! The current jail population is 2,194, and 60 percent are classified as unemployed; 363 are felony 1 offenses; 643 are felony 2 offenses; 838 are felony 3 offenses; 289 are misdemeanor A; and 62 are misdemeanor B charges.

The Oxbow jail has had 380 free beds for the past 10 years due to funding cutbacks. Although the county budgeted for opening all of the free beds this last year to help with Operation Rio Grande, the sheriff did not have enough jailers to open the two free pods and was only able to open one pod at Oxbow after closing another pod at the main county jail. There is an 18 percent turnover, and 20 percent are involved in assaults by jailed criminals.

Many officers watch the person whom they just booked walk out of the jail while the officer is doing the paperwork. This results in frustration on the part of the officers, which can lead to significant turnover, lack of officer retention and recruitment challenges. Sheriff Rivera and her predecessor, Jim Winder, have asked for more funding to provide more beds in the jail for many years. Law enforcement in Salt Lake Valley has been complaining for years about the revolving-door Salt Lake County jail, which is now, again, implementing jail booking restrictions.

County Mayor Ben McAdams released his recommended county budget last week that provides more funding to try, again, to open up all of Oxbow jail. It shows that only 22.5 percent of employees in the district attorney’s office are properly compensated. This leads to high turnover that some say is 30 percent. Contributing factors are the heavy workload and increased caseloads that are near 20,000 cases this year. The DA is asking for five more prosecutor positions (which will go unfilled if compensation is not adequate) and three more investigator positions.

“Not only have cases increased,” says the county budget report, “but violent crime and sexual assault cases in particular have increased.”

McAdams keeps saying every year that public safety is his top priority of the budget. But his recommendations do not resolve the jail and DA issues that allow criminals to keep victimizing citizens. His recommendations are much less than recommended by the DA and sheriff. The budget needs to have increased funding to not just open up all jail beds in the county, but continue to pay for the 300 out-of-county jailed inmates, which will provide the 600 jail beds that the DA recommended for Operation Rio Grande. Without sufficient jail beds, there is no threat of long-term incarceration if the individual does not stay in addiction treatment.

We are way beyond “We can’t arrest our way out of this.” The revolving-door jail and booking restrictions have to stop. Criminal behavior should result in jail. Please consider these facts and vote.

George Chapman is a former candidate for mayor of Salt Lake City and writes a blog at georgechapman.net.

Los Angeles • Maybe there was something in the air. Or on the field.

Just minutes before Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles Football Club face off Thursday at Banc of California Stadium, Columbus Crew FC pulled an upset with its win over D.C. United in penalty kicks. Columbus was a sixth seed that knocked off a third seed. RSL was a sixth looking to knock off a third.

RSL pulled it off. It scratched and clawed its way to a 3-2 win over Los Angeles Football Club and advanced to the MLS Cup Western Conference semifinals. Real will host Sporting Kansas City at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

“It was a great performance for us,” Damir Kreilach said moments before head coach Mike Petke kissed him on the cheek in the middle of his postgame interview. “Every one of us was in. It was the best (away) game of us this season.”

Kreilach scored two goals and added an assist in the win. RSL overcame being outshot 21-4 by Los Angeles, which also had nine corner kicks.

But it was Real’s defense that came to play against an LAFC team that had manhandled it in two regular-season matchups.

Petke opted to start Nedum Onuoha, Luke Mulholland and Marcelo Silva, all of whom started against New England when Real had five starters out due to suspension or international duty. Salt Lake won that game when it needed it most.

“He was a star tonight,” Petke said of Onuoha. “He really was.”

RSL amassed 41 clearances to just 10 for Los Angeles.

Kreilach’s first goal came in the 21st minute. Right back Brooks Lennon, after getting a pass from Jefferson Savarino, dribbled the ball into the attacking third. He crossed the ball clearly to Kreilach, who controlled the pass off his chest and blasted a right-footed strike into the back of the net from right around the penalty spot.

Los Angeles equalized just 10 minutes later. After Aaron Herrera committed a foul and earned a yellow card, Carlos Vela had a free kick a few yards from the 18-yard box. He sent a cross into the box to Danilo Silva for a header goal.

Moments after Danilo Silva’s goal, the referees suspended play for five minutes due to fans throwing objects on the field.

Los Angeles started the second half with two good chances. Nick Rimando dove and stretched to save the first, and Latif Blessing’s shot missed over the crossbar.

Christian Ramirez, who entered the game to start the second half, scored in the 55th minute off an assist from Lee Nguyen for a 2-1 LAFC lead.

In the 58th minute, an Albert Rusnák shot was blocked and then cleared by LAFC. The ball ricocheted to Kreilach, who leapt in the air and scissor-kicked it off the right post and into the goal for a 2-2 tie.

Beckerman said someone made a “Karate Kid” reference to him when describing Kreilach’s equalizing goal.

“It was unbelievable,” Beckerman said of Kreilach’s goal.

In the 69th, RSL held possession in the attacking third. Kreilach passed to Savarino, who flicked it to the near post and into the goal for a 3-2 lead. The goal was officially credited to Walker Zimmerman of LAFC as an own goal.

Washington • The White House is growing increasingly concerned about allegations of misconduct against Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, according to two senior administration officials, and President Donald Trump has asked aides for more information about a Montana land deal under scrutiny by the Justice Department.

Trump told his aides that he is afraid Zinke has broken rules while serving as the interior secretary and is concerned about the Justice Department referral, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. But the president has not indicated whether he will fire the former Navy SEAL and congressman and has asked for more information, the officials said.

Earlier this month, Interior's Office of Inspector General referred the inquiry - one of several probes into the secretary's conduct - to the Justice Department to determine whether a criminal investigation is warranted. That referral concerns Zinke's involvement in a Whitefish, Montana, land development deal backed by David Lesar, chairman of the oil services firm Halliburton.

The business and retail park, known as 95 Karrow, would be near multiple parcels of land owned by Zinke and his wife, Lola. The inspector general is looking at discussions Zinke had with Lesar and others about the development that could indicate he was using his office to enrich himself.

Interior has played no role in the Montana project, but congressional Democrats asked for an investigation in June because the department issues regulations on oil and gas development that has financial implications for companies such as Lesar's.

No decision about Zinke's tenure has been made, said the officials. But the shift within the West Wing highlights the extent to which the interior secretary's standing has slipped in recent months.

Both the White House and Interior declined to comment Thursday. Zinke has indicated that he intends to stay in his post, according to an individual who talked to him recently and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

White House officials' trust in 57-year-old Zinke - a vocal proponent of the president's push to expand coal, oil and gas production in the United States - began eroding at the start of the year, after he traveled to Florida to meet with Gov. Rick Scott, R, and announced that he would exempt the state from the administration's new plan to allow drilling off the state's coasts. The move, which was not coordinated with the West Wing's political shop, exposed the five-year leasing plan to legal challenges and sparked pushback from governors in other states.

But administration officials' concerns have intensified as multiple allegations have mounted against Zinke, who has denied any wrongdoing. Earlier this month, Interior’s watchdog unit issued a report finding that Zinke’s travel practices and efforts to designate his wife as a department volunteer had raised red flags among Interior ethics officials.

Zinke is the second member of the Trump Cabinet to come under scrutiny from the Justice Department. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general referred a case involving then-Administrator Scott Pruitt's rental deal with lobbyist Steve Hart and his wife, Vicki, to federal prosecutors. That inquiry appears to have lost momentum after Pruitt resigned in July, according to two individuals apprised of the probe who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

A referral to the Justice Department means prosecutors will explore whether a criminal investigation is warranted. An agency's inspector general refers cases to the Justice Department only when it has determined that there could be criminal violations, and regularly does so even before completing its own investigation.

New York University public service professor Paul Light, who wrote a book about inspectors general, said in an interview that they regularly notify prosecutors about potential wrongdoing within the agencies they oversee. But he said it is far less common for them to refer cases involving a Cabinet member.

"It's unusual," Light said. "A Cabinet officer, that's a big-ticket issue."

Interior's acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, is conducting at least three separate probes connected to Zinke. One involves his decision not to grant a permit to two Connecticut tribes to jointly run a casino, despite the fact that career staff had recommended the move, after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Another focuses on whether Interior officials redrew the boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to benefit Utah Rep. Mike Noel, R, who owns property in the area.

The Montana project is another. When the referral to the Justice Department was reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, it was not yet clear which of the probes had been turned over for possible criminal investigation.

A senior White House official said the White House understood the investigation was looking into whether the secretary "used his office to help himself."

Last year, Zinke's wife, Lola, signed an agreement that would allow the 95 Karrow development to use land owned by the Zinkes' foundation, Great Northern Veterans Peace Park Foundation, as a parking lot. The proposed hotel, retail and microbrewery site is near several properties owned by the Zinkes.

Details of the land deal were first reported by Politico.

Zinke stepped down as the foundation's president after joining Trump's Cabinet, and his wife took over in that capacity. But federal records show that the interior secretary continued to discuss the project with Lesar and his son, along with local developer Casey Malmquist.

On Aug. 3, 2017, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, Zinke met with all three men in his Washington office, took them on a private tour of the Lincoln Memorial and had dinner with them. The next month, Malmquist emailed Zinke blueprints of the development and solicited his input.

"I want you to know that whatever assistance you need to protect and promote your vision for the park, please let me know and I will make sure that it's communicated and executed," Malmquist wrote in an exchange that Zinke forwarded to his assistant.

The Zinkes own two companies, Continental Divide International and Double Tap, that have several parcels of land near the proposed project. According to Zinke's most recent financial disclosure form, he received between $15,001 and $50,000 in rental or royalties from Continental Divide International last year and between $5,001 and $15,000 from Double Tap. Zinke stepped down from his leadership posts at both companies in March 2017.

The Continental Divide's properties' assessed 2018 tax value stood at $858,160, while Double Tap's properties were $467,400.

In an interview Thursday, Whitefish city planner David Taylor said the secretary's involvement in the project was limited to the parking and access agreement his foundation struck with the developers. Zinke had expressed an interest in opening a brewery in Whitefish in the past, Taylor said, but 95 Karrow's site plan did not say who would run the microbrewery.

"They never said who was going to own the brewery," Taylor said.

At the moment, the Peace park - whose land is valued at just over $501,000, according to the foundation's 2017 tax returns - is mainly used for sledding during winter. There is no way to directly drive into the park because the Zinkes have put up a gate at the request of neighbors living along Murray Avenue, Taylor said, so as not to disturb them with additional traffic.

"It seemed like, 'We'll help you do this if you help us do that,' " Taylor said, noting that the additional parking would benefit visitors to the development and the foundation's park.

The multiple inquiries surrounding Zinke's conduct are taking place as he is searching for someone the president can nominate as the department's inspector general. Kendall has served in an acting capacity since early 2009.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Kendall declined to discuss any pending investigations but said that she supports the idea of Trump nominating someone to serve in a permanent capacity.

"The bottom line is, I think the organization needs a properly nominated and confirmed IG," Kendall said. "The time is right. It might have been right some time ago."

- - -

The Washington Post’s Magda Jean-Louis, Alice Crites and Ashley Parker contributed to this report.

Last week, 92 percent of you knew about the lucky — and rich — South Carolinian who won the lottery, but only 47 percent knew about the proposed state park near Grand Staircase-Escalante. Think you kept up with the news this week? Take our quiz to find out. A new quiz will post every Friday morning. You can find previous quizzes here. If you’re using The Salt Lake Tribune mobile app, click here.

For clarification and fact checking — but hopefully not cheating — purposes, you can find the stories referenced in each question here: Question 1, Question 2, Question 3, Question 4, Question 5, Question 6, Question 7, Question 8, Question 9, Question 10, Question 11, Question 12.

To this point, state lawmakers have focused on mid-November when considering potential dates for a special session on medical marijuana.

But now, officials are saying there could be a hitch with the original scheduling plan.

November is still in the cards if Proposition 2 founders, but if the cannabis measure passes, the special session will probably have to wait until the following month.

The reason is somewhat technical: If Prop 2 succeeds, lawmakers will want to reshape it to line up with the consensus proposal rolled out by officials and advocates last month. However, they can’t start tinkering with initiative language until it becomes law.

That wouldn’t happen immediately. Election officials will be counting ballots until late November, and even after the results are certified, there is a five-day period before the proposition would take effect. In other words, the initiative wouldn’t become law until Dec. 1.

“For this reason, the anticipated special session will likely either occur on our regularly scheduled interim day, Wednesday, November 14th, if the proposition fails, or Monday, December 3rd, if the proposition passes,” House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, explained in an email Wednesday to lawmakers.

A special session in early December would come a few weeks before legislators would convene for their annual session. Christine Stenquist, president of TRUCE Utah, said she doesn’t understand the need to cram in a special session before the year’s end.

She believes the freshman class of lawmakers, many of whom will arrive in January fresh off the campaign trail, will have a better grasp of the public sentiment on medical cannabis.

“They’ve heard firsthand from [constituents] where they stand on Proposition 2, so I think they’re just better equipped to deal with this issue,” said Stenquist, a strong supporter of the initiative.

Connor Boyack, another medical marijuana advocate, said he wants to get a cannabis bill on the books in Utah as soon as possible.

“If we wait a couple months, that just delays implementation and access,” said Boyack, a leader in the Utah Patients Coalition.

Boyack was part of formulating the medical cannabis agreement unveiled last month by legislators and advocates on both sides of the Prop 2 debate. Supporters and opponents of the initiative came together over draft legislation that calls for a more tightly controlled medical marijuana program, and officials initially said they would present the measure to lawmakers in a November special session.

Over the past week or so, Boyack said, legislative analysts informed state leaders that the session would have to wait if the initiative wins voter approval.

The affirmative defense provision in Prop 2 fuels some of the desire to call a special session without delay. Opponents of the ballot initiative believe this defense would enable almost anyone to carry marijuana without facing criminal prosecution, up until July 2020.

“Around the affirmative defense provision, we feel we need guardrails put on sooner rather than later in terms of trying to prevent having cannabis diverted into a black market in the state,” Paul Edwards, spokesman for Gov. Gary Herbert, said.

Edwards also noted that Hughes and Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, will be out of office by the time January’s general session rolls around. Since they were involved in crafting the cannabis compromise, Edwards said, they should be the ones to shepherd it through the Legislature.

“They see it as quite a monumental legislative achievement," he said, “and we want to be able to honor their leadership.”

Commonalities between Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump: Neither won a popular election and both share authoritarianism, racism and dehumanizing language.

Deeds against humanity: persecution of Jews (Hitler), child detention centers and separation of families (Trump). Trump tolerates modern Nazi groups, epitomizing this by his “blame on both sides” comment during the Charlottesville demonstrations.

Trump’s demonizing of a free news media is dangerous. His disdain for facts and his disregard of science and knowledge are appaling. Trump caters to unhappy demographic voters, as did Hitler.

Germany’s Weimar Constitution toppled and Hitler established a totalitarian state.

Thankfully, our Constitution is based on a system of checks and balances that Trump disregards. For example, he tried to influence criminal investigations and undermines law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Trump’s governance by “executive orders” subverts normal legislative processes of governance disorienting the opposition.

The Democrats are not without blame: For years they failed to acknowledge the degradation of jobs and lives for many, sending them to elect a demagogue who packs the pockets of the rich, including his own.

The GOP and Trump want to remain in total power to save Trump’s agenda and prevent potential impeachment.

Go vote and save our democracy and standing in the world!

Maria Roberts, Park City

Submit a letter to the editor

If for some reason you've been wondering whether President Donald Trump would sink even lower into racist provocation with the midterm election only a few days away, here's your answer:

Trump tweeted “It is outrageous what the Democrats are doing to our Country. Vote Republican now! Vote. GOP”

I’ll leave it to our intrepid fact-checkers to document the lies in the ad, other than to note that just about every word in it is false. What’s more important is the president’s objectives and tactics, not to mention the fact that he put out this rancid poison just five days after a gunman killed 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, the worst anti-Semitic massacre in American history, in part because he believed the conspiracy theories propagated by the president and his supporters about immigrants threatening America, then joined it to his hatred of the Jews he thought were responsible. Five days.

If you have a long memory, you’ll recall that in 2016 many Republicans assured us that once he beheld the majesty of the Oval Office and its awesome responsibilities, Trump would become “presidential.” The bombastic, dishonest race-baiter we watched during the campaign was really just an act, and in office he’d become more serious and responsible.

What actually happened was just the opposite. It’s true that Trump isn’t the same man we saw on the campaign trail in 2016. He’s worse.

Because it lacks even the subtlety your average racist demagogue musters in 2018, this ad is particularly Trumpian. From the moment he became a candidate, Trump would say explicitly what others would only imply, in ways that some found thrilling and others found appalling. Sometimes it was because saying it explicitly would make you sound like a toddler; for instance, while regular candidates might find ways to persuade you of their intelligence, none but Trump would come out and say “I’m, like, really smart,” and if they did you’d immediately conclude that smart is the last thing they are.

But whether Trump is, like, really smart is to some degree a matter of opinion and interpretation. At other times, when Trump says explicitly what others only imply, he moves right toward claims that are factually false and utterly horrific.

Let’s compare this latest case to its famous precursor, that of Willie Horton. When George H.W. Bush used that story to turn voters against Michael Dukakis in 1988, he would tell the lurid tale and then conclude, in the politician’s common idiom, that it raised serious questions about Dukakis’ judgment. Since it wasn’t as though prison furlough policy was going to be a serious issue for the president to address, Bush at least maintained some plausible deniability by allowing the audience to make the most racist conclusions themselves. He didn’t have to say out loud what he wanted voters to believe, because they’d do it all on their own.

Had Donald Trump been the Republican nominee that year, he would literally have said, “Michael Dukakis wants scary black men to kill you and rape your wife.”

We all know he would, just as he now says, “A vote for Democrats is a vote to liquidate America’s borders and it’s a vote to let fentanyl, heroin and other deadly drugs pour across our borders,” and claims ludicrously about a deranged killer who was deported once under Bill Clinton and once under George W. Bush that “Democrats let him in. Democrats let him stay.”

But please, let’s not get ourselves into a debate about whether Trump is “really” a racist in his heart. I happen to think the evidence on that score is at this point beyond dispute, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters are the things he says and does: the way he encourages his supporters to nurture their own racism, the way he promotes resentment and division at every opportunity, the way he absolutely, positively believes that hate is what got him to the White House and hate his what will keep him there.

Trump is the most racist president in modern history, not because of what is or isn't in his heart but because of the despicable way he has acted. There is little doubt that there is no depth to which he will not sink. Seriously: Try to come up with the most horrific dirty campaign trick or piece of demagoguery you can think of, then ask yourself: Would Trump do this if he thought it would help him win the next election, or would his ethical compass prevent him? The answer will always be: Yes, he would do that. He would lie, he would cheat, he would steal, he would promote racism and misogyny and anti-Semitism and xenophobia and every other hatred imaginable if he thought it would get a few more of his supporters to the polls.

We know he would because he has already done all those things. And he’s not finished yet.

Paul Waldman is an opinion writer for the Plum Line blog. @paulwaldman1

Albuquerque, N.M. • Native Americans are running for high-profile seats this year in New Mexico, Kansas, Minnesota and Idaho in what could bring historic gains for a population once excluded from electoral politics.

Indian voters also could swing important races in Montana, Arizona and North Dakota.

The midterm election Tuesday comes 70 years after Isleta Pueblo member Miguel Trujillo's landmark court challenge against a New Mexico law that had prevented Native Americans from voting.

And 50 years ago, Native American voters were credited with helping Robert F. Kennedy win a historic victory in South Dakota's Democratic presidential primary.

Here's a look at how the Native American vote has become a key bloc in the U.S. after decades of exclusion:

The Long Fight

Written into the original U.S. Constitution was a clause that said Indians who didn't pay taxes could not be counted in the voting population of states. That prevented Native Americans living in tribal communities — considered sovereign nations — from becoming U.S. citizens and voting members of the new democracy.

Like African Americans, Native Americans were excluded from voting and public accommodations long after the Civil War and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 in South Dakota.

The Indian Naturalization Act of 1890 finally granted citizenship to Native Americans by an application process, but many weren't allowed to vote until President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924.

Still, a number of states such as New Mexico and Arizona barred many Native Americans from voting.

That changed after World War II veteran Marine Sgt. Miguel Trujillo Sr. sued New Mexico when a county clerk refused to allow him to register to vote because he lived on tribal land.

Trujillo won his case, clearing the way for Native Americans in New Mexico and elsewhere to vote.

Remaining Barriers

In 1975 under President Gerald Ford, the Voting Rights Act was amended with changes that mentioned Alaska, Arizona and parts of South Dakota as places that discriminated against Native Americans through ballot language. The federal law required that polling locations offer information in Spanish and various Native languages.

As late as the 1990s, some New Mexico counties were subject to U.S. Justice Department consent decrees for violating the Voting Rights Act by not providing information in Native languages.

Meanwhile, voters began electing Native Americans to seats in state Legislatures. In 1992, Democrat Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado became the first Native American elected to the U.S. Senate. He later switched to the Republican Party.

The 2018 Election

A new Republican-backed ID law in North Dakota upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court prevents Native Americans without a residential address from voting.

Opponents say the law is intended to disenfranchise Native American voters who historically have used post office boxes as addresses.

Supporters of the law say it's meant to combat voter fraud.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, won a close race in 2012 in the state with the help of Native American voters. She is now facing a strong challenge from Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer.

Elsewhere, Democrats Debra Haaland in New Mexico and Sharice Davids in Kansas are vying to become the first Native American women elected to the U.S. House.

In Idaho, Paulette Jordan , a Democrat, is vying to become the nation's first elected Native American governor.

Voters in Minnesota will elect the state’s first Native American lieutenant governor. Both candidates — Democrat state Rep. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Donna Bergstrom — are members of tribal nations that are bands of Ojibwe.

Hate speech is being normalized in this country. We simply cannot let it happen.

Since 2016, hate crimes are rising, and it is a sad trajectory. Most Americans are not violent hatemongers. Yet normalization creeps into our society when our national leaders fail to condemn intolerant behavior.

We normalize hatred with our silence. Too often, we are witnesses to behavior that is unacceptable. If we are not the target of intolerance, it is easy to look the other way.

We normalize hatred when we excuse the troubling rhetoric of leaders who scapegoat and troll others. Complacency sows the seeds of normalization, because complacency is viewed as tacit acceptance by perpetrators of hate. Stopping the spread of extremism begins by standing up to intolerance and aligning ourselves with its common targets.

I urge everyone reading this letter to commit to stopping hate today. It starts with acts of kindness and empathy. Step into someone else’s shoes for a small part of your day. Become an ally to marginalized people. Reach beyond your family and church to help someone in need. Do something kind for a stranger. Support organizations that expose the spread of hatred. Teach your children to respect others. Share this message with others.

The best defense for ignorance is propagating love in the world. Domestic terrorism and hate crimes are on the rise. Make kindness and tolerance the new rising pattern in this country. Be the change.

Diane Walker, Salt Lake City

Submit a letter to the editor