Thousand took to the streets to celebrate President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory. It was definitely a party in the USA. However, the presidency isn’t what we need to focus on. Local government is more important, and it has a more immediate impact on us than the presidency does.
Crisis Pregnancy Centers are funded by Florida taxpayers’ money. These organizations are usually religious, anti-abortion locations that attempt to convince women not to get abortions by using manipulation tactics and threats. They give medical advice to women but aren’t licensed medical centers. They aren’t held to the same HIPPAA laws and usually push pro-life agendas on patients that are seeking their help. Why is this happening? Well, on March 19, 2018, Gov. Rick Scott signed House Bill 41, which was introduced by Florida’s Rep. Jackie Toledo
Governor Ron DeSantis was narrowly voted into office by 0.4% in 2018. He’s a Trump fanatic and insists on defending Trump’s claims that voter fraud was committed during the 2020 election.
DeSantis wants to expand the Stand Your Ground Law. This will, protect drivers who “unintentionally killed or injured protesters who block traffic, and withhold state funds from local governments that cut law enforcement budgets.” This would also allow people to shoot anyone they suspect of looting or other “criminal mischief.”
In Miami-Dade, people voted Daniella Levine Cava as Dade’s first female representative. As a Miami-Dade commissioner, Levine Cava signed the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination for Women, which ensures equal pay for women. Making Miami-Dade the first county to do so in the United States.
Local elections are also important because of the Amendments citizens vote on. Florida just raised the minimum wage to $15 and in 2016, Floridians voted to legalize medical marijuana.
If you would like to see any criminal justice reform, you need to vote in your local elections. Local elections are the reason Oregon decriminalized drug possession.
Not only that, but because Floridians voted on Amendment 4 in 2018, thousands of former felons were able to vote for the first time in the 2020 election. However, local politicians and lawmakers tried to undermine that vote by stating felons need to pay off fines before they’re allowed to vote.
Yet, politicians didn’t have a system put in place where felons can check how much or if they even owed any money.
Judge Robert Hinkle determined felons would be too poor to pay what they owed and that the law created an unconstitutional voting tax. An appeals court in Florida ruled it unconstitutional.
A Federal appeals court then reversed Hinkel’s order. When it was taken to the Supreme Court, the SCOTUS sided with the appeals court. Had DeSantis not won by 0.04%, people who voted during the 2020 primary election wouldn’t have been stripped of their right to vote in November.
DeSantis’s 0.04% is part of the reason Floridians are calling for Florida’s Democratic Party leadership to resign.
“The party infrastructure either isn’t there or is pieced together at the last moment,” writes Steven Lemongello and Gray Rohrer for the Orlando Sentinel.
Many complain about the Democratic party’s lack of outreach to Hispanic and Black communities. Calls to resign came after Dems lost seats in the US House, state House, as well as two state Senate seats in Seminole and Miami-Dade.
If local elections weren’t important, people wouldn’t be this angry.
In 2022, we’re voting on who will be sitting in the US Senate, which is currently held by Marco Rubio. We’re voting on who will be our governor as well. Unfortunately, voter turnout is usually much lower during Midterm elections. We put so much focus on the presidential election, that it’s easy to forget there’s an election every two years.
So go vote! Your voice matters. If it didn’t matter, why do Florida’s politicians care whether or not felons vote? Because their votes count, and so does yours!
Register to vote, volunteer to campaign with your favorite politicians and educate yourself on your state’s amendments. Vote for yourself and all those who can’t. Vote because you can, and so many people have fought for that right.