New petition calls for crucial change in PA mail-in voting application

Guest Commentary: Permit Them Vote

Ii high school history teachers urge all who care about our democracy to sign a letter today to permit all eligible voters—like the twenty,000 youth in our city—to vote by mail

Apr. sixteen, 2020

The high school students of the Rush Votes Team at Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush Loftier School had already registered 90 pct of eligible students to vote when schools got shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic last month.

They soon realized that most Pennsylvanians would have to vote by mail. But when students attempted to apply online for mail-in ballots, they were in for a disappointing surprise: Due to the stipulation that applicants must possess a PA commuter'southward license or state-issued ID, many would-be voters were blocked from receiving the ballots. As youth in an urban area, many do not bulldoze or accept the requisite class of identification.

Blitz senior Bri Ramberg explains the frustration:

Nosotros never knew our right to vote would go taken away if we didn't have an ID, and getting an ID right now isn't that prophylactic anymore. Nosotros know more than than adults take usa for and accept been counting the days until we tin merits our own phonation. Corona has already taken a great deal from the states; we can't permit it take abroad our chance at accessible voting too.

The only culling is to print out a paper application for a mail-in ballot, because it allows voters to apply the last four digits of their social security number in lieu of a state ID. This actress step helps some, but non all, students who, with schools and libraries airtight, lack access to a printer, or fifty-fifty envelopes and stamps.

After the students discovered the problem, we partnered to draft an open letter to Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar, asking her to immediately change the online mail-in election application so information technology does non unintentionally disenfranchise hundreds of Philadelphia students, and thousands effectually the state.

The ratification of the 26th Amendment in 1971 guaranteeing the "The right of citizens… 18 years of age or older, to vote…," and the overturning of Pennsylvania's Voter ID Law in 2022 were victories for republic. The passage of Deed 77, Pennsylvania'south Balloter Reform Bill, this by autumn, held the aforementioned hope of increasing electoral participation in the Commonwealth.

All voters now have the right to vote by mail. But sadly, the application that the Department of Country created inadvertently leaves out disadvantaged groups of people, young and quondam, that don't have PennDOT IDs. This is problematic under normal circumstances. But the pandemic and the uncertainty we're living with during this important primary season has created an urgent state of affairs.

The online mail-in ballot application in its current form is having the affect of suppressing the votes of thousands of youth and older people.

18-year-old Joshua Barufaldi, a Rush senior, knows that every vote counts. "We have seen what complacency can practice to a republic, and we know the importance of a unmarried vote," he says. In improver, because of economic and systemic factors, the voters most likely to be disenfranchised will exist from families who are low-income, immigrant, and from communities of color.

The Covid-nineteen pandemic is robbing the Course of 2022 of many rituals and milestones equally they transition to college, work and adulthood. They are losing their college signing days, proms, graduations, and their last leap semester with high school friends.

There are almost twenty,000 teens in Philly who become eligible to vote every yr. Imagine if they could show upwardly to vote and build a habit of civic participation at a young age.

At that place are almost 20,000 teens in Philly who go eligible to vote every year. Imagine if they could show up to vote and build a addiction of civic participation at a young age.

Barufaldi represents the voice of young voters across Pennsylvania waiting to bandage their first ballot. "We've spent then long waiting to get a chance to exercise our part, and we won't allow an unfair technicality keep us from doing it," he says. The state needs to show that their voice is important, and they are a key part of the electorate.

The Department of State is listening and considering changes to the ballot application. In the meantime, the city commissioners are stepping up to fill the gap by mailing paper applications to whatever voter that requests one. To be very clear: All eligible teens can nonetheless vote; what we're working on is batting down the hurdles that tin can get in the manner. (See footstep-past-pace guide to the right)

Despite the physical distance at present between them, Rush students are standing their efforts to annals the last 10 percent of their classmates. Without the small but essential change to allow access to the online postal service-in ballot awarding, their effort to register and engage their classmates, and the similar work of students in high schools beyond the city and state, may end in frustration.

Blitz seniors have spent this school year studying democracy in America and eagerly look the opportunity to bandage their first ballot. "Nosotros learned about voting and all the changes in our history that an engaged community can reach; we want to take role in our elections and shape our environment, and a vote by post will finally give u.s. an opportunity to in the midst of this pandemic," explains Barufaldi.

We must prove them that nosotros've all learned the value of every citizen'southward right to vote, and we won't let them exist disenfranchised in 2020.

And and then nosotros inquire all citizens to please bring together Philly Youth VOTE! by signing our alphabetic character to Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar asking her to fix the online mail-in election application earlier the June ii primary election.

Rhonda Feder is a civics teacher at the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush and sponsor of the Rush Votes Team. Thomas Quinn is a civics teacher at Central Loftier Schoolhouse and organizer of Philly Youth VOTE!

Photo courtesy Phil Roeder / Flickr

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/mail-in-voting-petition-pa/

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