Democrat-Supported Effort To Alter Amendment Description Fails
Written by on September 1, 2024
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On August 23, 2024, a trial court judge upheld the ballot language pertaining to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that had been prepared by the New York State Board of Elections. This ruling marks a defeat for New York Democrats, who went to court to try to add the word “abortion” and the acronym “LGBT” to the ballot language that voters will see on Election Day. The Democrats may well have had an ulterior motive in filing their lawsuit, as the inclusion of the word “abortion” in the ballot language might have helped draw Democratic and Democrat-leaning voters to the ballot box this fall.
The ERA[1] is a proposed amendment to the New York State Constitution that is scheduled to appear on the general election ballot in New York this November. If approved, the ERA would ban discrimination by government and by private businesses, organizations, and individuals on the basis of “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” To put it simply, the ERA is an attempt by liberals to place New York’s extremist policies on abortion and transgenderism beyond the reach of any New York State Legislature that might someday wish to remove them. The ERA is also a self-serving gimmick by New York Democrats; by placing the ERA on the ballot, Democrats hope to mobilize voter turnout amongst populations that will likely vote for Democratic candidates.
The ERA has been the subject of multiple lawsuits in recent months. Most recently, Democrats went to court to argue that the Board of Elections’ ballot language regarding the ERA violated a 2023 law requiring the use of ballot language that is easy to understand. According to the Democrats, the inclusion of the word “abortion” and the acronym “LGBT” in the ballot language “would make the amendment’s purpose clearer to voters.”
One major problem with the Democrats’ case was the fact that the ERA itself does not contain the word “abortion” or the acronym “LGBT.” In fact, the ballot language directly quotes the language of the ERA. In essence, the Democrats were arguing that the language used by members of their own party in crafting the ERA was not clear enough for voters to understand and needed to be changed.
Hon. David A. Weinstein declined to rule in the Democrats’ favor. While Judge Weinstein did direct the Board to make some minor changes to the ballot language, he did not order the Board to add the word “abortion” or the acronym “LGBT” to it.
The ERA will be referred to as Proposal Number One on the general election ballot. A “no” vote on Proposal One is a vote against the pro-abortion, pro-“transgender” radicalization of the New York State Constitution.
[1] The Equal Rights Amendment is sometimes referred to as the Equality Amendment. Some opponents of the amendment refer to it as the Gender Amendment or the Parent Replacement Act.
The post Democrat-Supported Effort To Alter Amendment Description Fails appeared first on New York Families Foundation.
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