Select an issue concerning voting rights or practices and briefly tell us your thoughts about it.
By Eva Jessup, U-32 Middle & High School
Human rights operate entirely free of external bias; regardless of your sex, race, or religion, you have fundamental rights granted to you as a U.S. citizen. However what happens when the right to one compromises your right to another?
The right to vote in the U.S. Constitution is protected by numerous amendments. We declare that as a democratic country all citizens should be given the resources and ability to vote for who they choose, and individuals will be elected to office only through public action.
Similarly, the World Health Organization states “the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being.” Toward this end, Eleanor Roosevelt took the Second Bill of Rights, originally created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to expand upon and turn the right to healthcare (as outlined in this bill) into an international standard. The United States, alongside many other nations, adopted the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). However, in the year 2020, the United States still refuses to guarantee healthcare as a human right.
Recently, Wisconsin voters were presented an unthinkable choice: to potentially risk one's life by going to the voting polls or stay home and forfeit the right to fill out a ballot. Governor Tony Evers declared that all polling booths were to be shut down until further notice, postponing the state’s voting day. The Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned this ruling hours later, stating that citizens should be provided the opportunity to vote regardless of the current health crisis.
As for the future, this scenario poses new questions during this time of stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19. How will voting be impacted moving forward? How will states decide how to proceed with upcoming primaries? If the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Governor Evers’ ban to open polls, why wouldn’t other states attempt the same thing?
I believe U.S. citizens should never have to choose between their right to vote and their right to good health. However, alternative voting options must become readily available if we wish to prevent more U.S. citizens from being put in the same position as Wisconsin voters.
A secure online service could offer a potential alternative to the paper ballots that have been used for absentee voting in the past. Due to the “new age of technology” and the majority of people’s easy access to a phone or computer, this option may particularly help increase the number of young voters.
This demographic of citizens typically has one of the lowest turnout rates at polling booths, with the percentage of voters ages 18-29 declining to approximately 35 percent in the 2018 U.S. Midterm Election. By contrast, those aged 65 and up had a voter turnout of near 65 percent. If voting simply required an app on a phone, the younger generation may be much more likely to vote. At the same time, it is important that any online option does not replace the option to vote by mail. The goal should be to increase - not limit - voting.
As we head into the 2020 election, it is of utmost importance that the right to vote need not come at the expense of the health of our nation. We can and must be able to do both.