Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2020
ISSN
0046-8185
Publisher
American Bar Association
Language
en-US
Abstract
Elections have consequences—especially for civil rights, social justice, and human rights.
The year 2020 brings another round of elections for president, legislators, governors, secretaries of state, attorneys general, district attorneys, mayors, city council members, school committee members, and even judges. Our elected officials and their appointees decide who pays how much in taxes, what our taxes pay for, what kind of education our children get, what counts as a crime, what agricultural products are subsidized, what the minimum wage shall be, how to conduct the census, who is eligible for Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC benefits, who is admitted into the country, where hospitals, factories, and wind farms are located, and where toxic waste is dumped.
They decide whether the water supply is safe, whether workers are protected from danger, whether new drugs should be approved, whether internet companies can collect and sell personal data, whether employers are free to discriminate against employees and on what grounds, whether those suffering from substance use disorder will be treated or imprisoned, whether people fleeing gang violence will have a day in court or be caged or turned away at the border, whether people will have affordable housing and health care, whether women have access to reproductive health care, and whether people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community or different religions can exercise the same rights as other Americans.
Most important, in practice, our elected officials decide who can vote for them and how to conduct elections. Who is elected matters, and it matters who votes.
Recommended Citation
Wendy K. Mariner,
Voting Matters
,
in
45
Human Rights Magazine
ii
(2020).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1847
