voting
The 19th
October 29, 2020
Voting during the 19th Amendment’s centennial wasn’t supposed to be this way
“The moment was supposed to be a bright spot in an otherwise chaotic and uncertain year,” wrote Errin Haines, The 19th’s editor-at-large. “Instead, it would leave me feeling that chaos and uncertainty more acutely than ever.”
We’re the only newsroom dedicated to writing about gender, politics and policy.
As the pandemic rages and voter enthusiasm is at a record high, Americans are being urged to make a plan to cast their ballot in the most consequential election many of us will ever live through.
My plan was to vote early, something I did frequently in my native Georgia before moving to Philadelphia five years ago. Because of the pandemic, Pennsylvania allowed voting before Election Day for the first time this year.
[…]
On Monday, I emerged exhausted, demoralized and enraged after four hours of standing in line.
How, in the city where the Constitution was written and signed, where we celebrate the founding principles of democracy, is this happening? I was angry not for myself, but on behalf of the Philadelphians who could be disenfranchised this election. I am someone who had four hours to stand in line; there are too many who live in this city who do not.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
I wondered how many people passed by, saw the line, and kept walking or driving.”
Full read:
https://19thnews.org/2020/10/voting-long-lines-philadelphia-19th-amendment-centennial/
Voting, gerrymandering, the 2020 census, and a train wreck.
April 12, 2017
The intersection of voting, gerrymandering and the 2020 census. Three stories lay out an oncoming train wreck in Trump’s administration.
“In January, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) added the 2020 census to its ‘high risk’ list of programs and agencies. We could be headed for a train wreck if the Census Bureau doesn’t get the resources it needs. The census affects every corner of America, determining where hundreds of billions of federal dollars flow annually, where businesses open new stores and which states gain—or lose—seats in the House of Representatives in 2020 reapportionment.” [Politico]
- HBO TV host John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, condenses the complex issue of gerrymandering in context of democracy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-4dIImaodQ
- Voting Rights and Texas, Alabama, too. And what heavy political right-winger and newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch could undo. https://www.thenation.com/article/a-big-win-for-voting-rights-in-texas-and-a-big-loss-for-trump/
- Trump’s census threat. http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/04/trumps-threat-to-the-2020-census-000404