Our democracy works best when we are informed and engaged on the issues that matter. As the midterms approach, this means researching candidates, policies, and what’s at stake for our communities and country. Preparation starts with knowing what’s on your ballot and using reliable, trusted resources for information. As we do our due diligence and become educated voters, we must remember voting is just one way to influence decisions that affect our lives; it’s not the only one. Voting cracks open the door, but to open it wide, we need to use other civic engagement tools year-round to hold elected officials accountable.
Although most of the attention for the general election this November is focused on the Pennsylvania governorship race and 17 Pennsylvania congressional seats up for election in the U.S. House, across the commonwealth there are also hundreds of state-level legislative races on the ballot that will determine the balance of power in Harrisburg. In Pennsylvania, we have 203 House seats in our state legislature, and all are up for election along with 25 of the 50 Pennsylvania Senate seats.
The good news is, there are voter tools that can help us stitch together a full picture of what our vote can move forward. Voters can look up information about what is on their local ballot using nonpartisan sites like Ballotpedia.org or Vote411.org.
» LIVE CONVERSATION: Join the ACLU of Pennsylvania and Spotlight PA for a live, sponsored discussion on what you should know about your voting rights and the laws and programs that keep our elections fair, safe, and secure. 12:30 p.m. Oct. 13 on Zoom. RSVP for FREE here.
Nonpartisan organizations like the ACLU of Pennsylvania also have you covered when it comes to tracking where Pennsylvania lawmakers stand on vital civil liberties issues in the commonwealth. From voting rights to privacy protection and so much more, the ACLU-PA Legislative Scorecard is a useful guide to how your state rep and state senator have voted when it comes to defending our rights and freedoms from government overreach. Using the scorecard to research incumbent candidates can be a starting point for voters and a tool to help hold whoever is elected accountable throughout their time in office.
Life is busy. We have jobs, families to care for, and quality-of-life concerns like cost of living and affordable housing. It can be difficult to think about the issues that require ongoing engagement to create real change. Yet, the issues will not disappear. And although it may be hard to see, many policies are interconnected – for example, if our legislature were to address criminal legal reform issues, it could reduce wasted spending on incarceration, freeing up money for other community needs like better schools or public transit.
When we stay engaged in politics, we win on the issues that matter most to us. This involves petitioning our elected officials, attending town halls, and plugging into organizations that are organizing so that newly elected officials have the political capital they need to pass good legislation; and to hold them accountable when they teeter towards bad legislation.
There’s so much that we need to fight for in Pennsylvania. We need to continue the fight to repeal the death penalty. We need to continue to fight for reproductive health access. We need to remain vigilant in preventing mass surveillance of our DNA. We need to win adequate state funding for Pennsylvania’s public defenders so that justice doesn’t seem like an illusion in the commonwealth.
With federal attacks and rollbacks of our rights, it’s never been more important to get off the sidelines and understand the progress we can work toward at all levels of our government, together.
About the scorecard
As an interactive scorecard, scores update as new votes are taken throughout a legislative session. The ACLU of Pennsylvania is a nonpartisan organization. While we lobby state legislators as part of our 501(c)(4) work, we do not endorse or oppose candidates for elected office, nor do we make financial contributions to candidates.
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