Your vote matters: Local advocates urge voting, civic participation

“Your Vote Matters.”

That was the title of United Way of Lancaster County’s online forum Tuesday morning. And it was indeed the overarching message, as leaders of four local organizations made the case for everyone who is eligible to register and make a plan to cast their ballot.

They offered resources for learning about issues and candidates and called for increased civic engagement, dialing down polarization and promoting mutual respect and civility across the political divide.

In less than a month, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, Americans will head to the polls to choose the next president: Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump. Also on the ballot are all U.S. House seats, one of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seats and more. Lancaster city voters will weigh in on whether to adopt a home rule charter.

The forum was part of United Way of Lancaster County’s “Conversations About OUR Community.” The organization typically posts the forums on its YouTube channel; due to a technical malfunction, Tuesday’s livestream was not recorded.

To kick things off, Kat DeSantis, the public policy coordinator at the Lancaster Chamber, summarized the chamber’s 2024 voting guide. It is nonpartisan and Lancaster County-specific and includes information on mail-in and in-person voting, the offices at stake and so on. QR codes in the downloadable PDF version lead to additional information.

Another comprehensive resource: Vote 411, developed by the League of Women Voters. It has information on races and regulations nationwide; by entering your home address, you can see information tailored to your circumstances.

“It’s essentially a one stop shop for all things voting,” said Carolyn Hernandez: vice president of the League of Women Voters’ Lancaster County chapter.

Given all the races and issues to keep track of, you may want to take some notes or a voters guide with you to your polling place. That’s perfectly permissible, said Kate Zimmerman, president of United Way of Lancaster County and the forum’s moderator.

While employers are not required to provide any leave to employees for voting, they may choose to, DeSantis said. Employers can offer nonpartisan election information but should not advocate for particular candidates or causes or pressure employees to vote one way or another.

DeSantis noted that Pennsylvania offers emergency absentee ballots for voters whose Election Day plans to vote encounter last-minute obstacles.

United Way of Lancaster County plans to offer employees an hour off to vote on Nov. 5, Zimmerman said.

The panelists agreed both that voting is essential, and that it’s understandable why some people might think it’s not worth the trouble.

Especially toward the end of a protracted, exhausting campaign season, “we’re all sick of politics,” said Melissa Gizzi. But that feeling, she said, “prevents us from working together to solve the problems.”

Gizzi is co-chair of the Braver Angels Lower Susquehanna Alliance, part of the national Braver Angels organization. She represents the Red side; her counterpart is Blue co-chair Nita Landis.

Gizzi said Braver Angels works to encourage respectful dialogue and reduce polarization “so that we can have productive conversations with each other again and with our elected officials.” It holds regular nonpartisan meetings, debates on current issues and “Depolarizing Within” workshops, in which people examine their own ways of engaging with politics and political adversaries and whether they themselves contribute to polarization, perhaps without realizing it.

John Maina is the founder of the Black Voter Outreach Network of Pennsylvania. Black and Latino communities have limited trust in a system that has historically marginalized them, he said.

“There is a sense of hopelessness at times,” he said. Outreach efforts like his aim to counteract that, by convincing people to empower themselves by registering and turning out to vote, and doing so in large enough numbers to make politicians pay attention and be accountable to their interests.

“American democracy is always strongest, throughout its history, when we have let everybody be a part of the process,” he said. “… History shows that. So, getting that sense of hope back into everybody that looks like myself, that is how we push through.”

Hernandez said the Lancaster League of Women Voters has conducted eight voter registration drives at college campuses in the past month and one at a high school last week. The organization is trying to “make voting fun again,” she said.

Last week, it relaunched the Kenderdine Lecture, an annual civics lecture at Millersville University, and it will be holding a First Friday event at the Ware Center on Nov. 1, “The Art of the Vote.”

Echoing Gizzi, Hernandez said the level of acrimony in today’s politics has made many people disengage, but “people need to care. There is impact to their lives.”

Attend a municipal meeting or school board meeting, she said. Join a civic organization. Write a letter to the editor.

“If everyone does a little, we will have so much more participation and engagement,” she said, “and that’s just going to make a stronger democracy.”