By Andy Brack, editor and publisher   |   In these pandemic times, the state doesn’t want large groups of people to congregate.  Yet it hasn’t expanded rules to allow people who want to shelter in place to vote by absentee ballot on June 9.

This makes absolutely no sense for anyone who has stood in long lines on election day, particularly now that there are more barriers to voting with identification requirements and new electronic machines still unfamiliar to many voters.  More absentee voting would limit human contact — and potentially thwart the spread of coronavirus.