Vote Today to Protect Your Right to Vote

This is the opinion of Scarsdale10583 site founder Joanne Wallenstein:

As a former Senate Page, a daughter of a member of the ACLU and a longtime member of the League of Women Voters, I must admit that I took my right to vote for granted. When I read about election fraud, voter intimidation and tampering with the results in other countries, I never imagined that those issues would come home to roost. It turns out it can happen here.

All it took was one crafty President to undermine what I believed was a secure election system. Trump stole the playbook from corrupt leaders and launched a campaign to redistrict, scour valid voters from the roll, limit the right to vote, intimidate local election officials, intimidate voters and even throw away ballots in order to secure his own victory.

In a talk hosted earlier this year by the LWVS of Scarsdale, Lauren Miller, a lawyer with the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program documented how false claims about the “Big Lie,” and the 2022 election have prompted the passage of anti-voter laws and mistrust in the election process.

According to Miller:

-One in six election officials have experienced these threats – and they are in association with the big lie.

-One in five election officials are preparing to resign before the 2024 election.

In order to combat challenges to our election system, the Brennan Center advises people to get involved in their local government, and the first place to start is to vote.

Though Trump was ultimately unsuccessful in swinging the election, these same tactics, fueled by changes in the law, will undoubtedly be used this week to cast doubt on our elections.

Of course there are many issues to consider when you decide whether or not to vote this year, and who you will vote for, but I think securing your right to vote should be paramount in your decision.

Why? Because if we permit these national trends to invade New York, by electing candidates who are not committed to free and fair elections, we will lose the right to pick the best leaders, now and down the line.

And your vote does matter. As a Congressman, Lee Zeldin, now the Republican candidate for Governor of New York, actually stood with President Trump and 146 Republicans in his effort to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. After the attack on the Capitol on January 6, Zeldin voted to block the creation of an independent commission to investigate the violence.

Zeldin has tried to change the debate from Trump to crime and inflation, but it’s important to recognize what he stands for. As a voter, the key issue in this election should be retaining your right to vote in a free and fair election.

I urge you to safeguard our rights by voting for candidates and justices who will uphold our democracy and protect your right to vote. That’s what is at stake on November 8, 2022 in New York and around the country. Nothing less.

(Pictured at top: a movie theater in Oakland, CA)