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More Reasons to Vote

Even if you're uninformed or uninterested

There are a bevy of reasons to cast a ballot every single year. In 2021, you get to help choose the city’s top prosecutor, and decide who will oversee courtrooms from here to the state Supreme Court, and vote on ballot questions that can affect the future of our city.

You should also care because if you don’t, politicians won’t care about you: They may not know how you vote, but they can know if you vote—and if we want our electeds to do right by Philly, then we need to let them know we’re paying attention. Need more reasons? We’ve got them here and here (different elections, same idea).

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RISE UP

The real truth about voter apathy—and how to prevent it

It’s not that people don’t care about voting. It’s that our electoral system continuously puts up barriers to do so. Here, Jen Devor and Megan R. Smith offer ways we can all do something about it, including …

Becoming a poll worker during in-person voting on November 2

Starting and hosting a voter registration drive

Doing a host of things in your everyday life to inspire and encourage potential voters to cast a ballot

GET YOUR VOTE ON

Great resource links for PA voters

Our general election is coming up—in fact, you can vote now if you signed up to receive a mail-in ballot. Among other things, Philadelphians will be deciding on district attorney, city controller, and a slew of judges running for seats in state and local courts. There are also four ballot questions concerning changes in our city charter—including one vote on cannabis legalization.

For more on the candidates and ballot questions, check out our voter guide. And keep in mind these important dates:

Register by October 18, 2021

Request a mail-in ballot by October 26 

Voting in person? Polls will be open on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, from 7am to 8pm.

Guest Commentary: Unions Are On the Ballot This Election Season

Judicial elections, a local union head notes, can have lasting impacts on labor in Pennsylvania. That’s why everyone needs to cast a ballot.

Guest Commentary: Unions Are On the Ballot This Election Season

Judicial elections, a local union head notes, can have lasting impacts on labor in Pennsylvania. That’s why everyone needs to cast a ballot.

After a huge election year like 2020, many of us are not even thinking about the next election cycle. And if we are‚ it is because we are being bombarded by campaigns gearing up for the 2022 midterm elections. We have an election happening in November here in Pennsylvania that is crucial for voters to keep their eyes on, especially if they are part of organized labor.

Like the ones happening this November, judicial elections have an outsized effect on everyone’s lives here in the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania voters this year will elect new judges to the Commonwealth’s three statewide appellate courts.

There are four Democrats and four Republicans vying for four open seats in a 10-year term. Additionally, there are open seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, two on the Commonwealth Court, and one on the State Superior Court.

Some of the country’s most controversial decisions are coming out of courts and affecting states across the nation. Decisions on mask mandates, election audits, and school funding are expected to come down the pipeline soon, putting everyone in the Commonwealth’s future on the line.


PHILADELPHIA VOTERS’ RESOURCES


Crucially, we elect judges to make decisions on human rights and our rights as workers. As a union member, the outcome of judicial elections means the difference between a potentially unfriendly judge to labor and labor practices and a judge who recognizes that human rights extend into the workplace.

After Janus v. AFSCME, a Supreme Court decision allowed public-sector employees to discontinue paying their union dues or fees, leading to “some public-sector employees benefitting from the wages and conditions their unions negotiate without paying for the cost of that work.”

The Janus decision is just one example of how judicial decisions can have lasting impacts on labor here in Pennsylvania. Since that decision, over a dozen cases have been brought against unions representing Pennsylvania public employees. Moreover, while many of them have been ultimately unsuccessful; this sets a dangerous precedent for unions.

We have to stay focused and turn out if we want to keep not only our rights as workers strong, but if we want to uphold the values and rights that mean the most to us as Pennsylvanians.

As the president of the largest health care union in Philadelphia, District 1199C, I know firsthand the impact that judicial elections can have on the rights of our members. After the Janus decision, like many unions across the country, our union was afraid that this decision would impact our ability to fight for workers’ rights. Instead, it has helped to motivate our members, and our membership has increased since this decision.

RELATED: Want to help get out the vote? Here’s how to host a voter registration drive. 

With all this in mind, it is a shame that only 20 percent of voters turn out for judicial elections, compared “with more than 70 percent turnout in 2020’s record-setting election.” For us union members, we must turn out this November to make sure judges are making decisions that keep unions strong.

Even if you are not a part of organized labor, these upcoming judicial elections in Pennsylvania are crucial. Elections do not have off years, and with the news cycle constantly bombarding us with national stories, it is easy to forget what is happening here at home. We have to stay focused and turn out if we want to keep not only our rights as workers strong, but if we want to uphold the values and rights that mean the most to us as Pennsylvanians.


Chris Woods is the president of AFSCME District 1199C, where he represents more than 13,000 workers in all fields in major health care institutions in the region.

The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who stipulate to the best of their ability that it is fact-based and non-defamatory.

MORE PHILLY ELECTION NEWS

Is Ranked-Choice Voting in Philly’s Future?

Guest Commentary: Can We Make Philly a “City That Works?”

Will State Legislators Roll Back Voting Access?

Guest Commentary: Help Voters Vote

 

Header photo by Chelsea Bland / AFGE / Flickr

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