None of us should be surprised that Trump is promising to pay every American adult $5,000 if the Republicans win the House and Senate in November.

But we should all be outraged. It’s not just the $1.2 trillion price tag for what Trump is calling a “dividend.” It’s that he’s so afraid of losing power after the midterm elections that he’s willing to do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. Like lying, repeatedly, about alleged voter fraud without a shred of evidence.

I know people are afraid of all the dramatic ways that Trump is threatening to mess with our elections — like bribing people to vote Republican or ordering ICE to show up at the polls — but sewing doubt and confusion amongst us may be the most insidious form of sabotage.

In a matter of milliseconds, Trump’s malicious nonsense can be spread like a cancer to millions of Americans. Like his repeated attempts to smear mail-in voting.

But here’s a fact that I hope you’ll share as widely as your networks allow: unless the Supreme Court decides otherwise, mail-in voting remains one of three ways that we New Yorkers are legally allowed to vote.

If voting by mail is the best option for you, please apply for your absentee ballot now! Ballots will be sent out starting on Sept.18. I urge you to fill your ballot out and mail it back right away — or drop it off, M-F, 9-5, at the Ulster County Board of Elections, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston. You can also drop your voted ballot at any poll site in Ulster County during the nine days of early voting (Oct. 24-Nov 1), or on Election Day, Nov. 3.

Charlotte Adamis

Kingston