LETTER: Implication that voting caused Covid cases is a ‘logical fallacy’

To Ozaukee Press:

 This is a response to the letter to the Editor written by Donald Harvey, M.D., and published in your April 30 issue.

I would remind the good doctor that correlation does not imply causation. In statistics, this phrase refers to the inability to legitimately deduce a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables solely on the basis of an observed association or correlation between them.

 He stated that there were “40 Covid-19  cases reported among people who voted in person at Wisconsin polls,” the implication being that the two events occurring together have established a cause-and-effect relationship. In the absence of a control group, for example, a similar sampling of people who voted by mail, his argument is a logical fallacy.

Dr. Harvey further asserted that “the Republican refusal to postpone the election … was made callously and with malice aforethought.” In point of fact, Gov. Evers could and should have postponed the election, which typically involves most people physically going to the polls, when he issued his safer-at-home order on March 25.  Instead, he waited until virtually the last minute to try and delay the voting process.

It seems clear to me that certain elements, the same people who are forecasting a resurgence of Covid-19 in the fall,  see voting by mail (rather than risking infection by voting in person) as a way to circumvent the voter ID requirements they despise.

James Taylor, Ph.D.
West Bend