Editorial: Democracy depends on voting, even in city races
Express-News Editorial Board
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Voters turned out for the fall election, but there is less enthusiasm for local elections. Make your voice heard by voting.Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News
At the state level, the question is whether voting access for Texans, especially people of color, will be diminished due to so-called “election integrity” bills. At the local level, the question is, will this municipal election be like so many others?
Will we see a lack of civic engagement reflected in yet another paltry voter turnout in San Antonio? Will it be like the 2019 municipal election, when 13 percent of 784,245 registered San Antonio voters voted? That turnout was “high” by San Antonio standards.
In 2015, Juan A. Espinoza, a current third-year student at Harvard Law School, spent his summer participating in one of the Law Schoolâs enrichment programs. Espinoza recalled walking through a famous hall where the portraits of professors were displayed. He remembers asking himself how it was possible there was so little representation.
âHow crazy is it that there isnât a single Latino up on these walls?â Espinoza said. âI remember having a very visual image of custodial staff â two Latino immigrants â cleaning the portraits of these professors and yet, there being no one from my community or any Latino immigrants represented on the faculty.â
After almost half a century, a U.S. District Court judge recommended granting full unitary status for Tucson Unified School District, district officials announced Monday.
As a requirement, the district must complete a post-unitary status plan overseen by Special Master Dr. Willis Hawley to maintain their status, according to TUSD Governing Board President Leila Counts. The ruling would mean a full release from court supervision.
The district remains committed to the principles and practices of the Unitary Status Plan that have established our district as a national leader in culturally responsive and relevant instruction, equity and opportunity for all students, said TUSD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo in a news release.
Court Rules TUSD Free of Desegregation Case After Nearly 50 years tucsonweekly.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tucsonweekly.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nicholas Espíritu teaches Voting Rights and the Immigration Policy Clinic at UCLA School of Law.
Espíritu has served as counsel or amicus counsel on numerous voting rights related cases, including Sanchez v. Modesto, Abbott v. Perez, Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council, Evenwel v. Abbott, and Coral Construction, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco. His immigrants’ rights litigation includes challenges to governmental policies discriminating against noncitizens, including the Trump Administrations’ Muslim Ban, the discriminatory expansion of the public charge rule, and Arizona’s S.B. 1070. He was also part of the team of legal advisors to the undocumented activists who pushed the Obama administration to implement DACA.