Danitra Sherman: Your rights are on the ballot Nov. 4

Everything is political — and pretending that our political choices don’t have consequences for our family, our friends and our community is an act that we can no longer afford to keep up.

With our Constitution, our democracy and the rule of law undermined and under daily attack by the Trump administration, just keeping track of the chaos often feels as challenging as finding a way to fight back in a meaningful way.

But the most fundamental point of participation in a democracy costs nothing and usually takes less than 20 minutes (especially if you do it by mail): that’s voting.

As the 1787 Constitutional Convention concluded, Benjamin Franklin was asked what type of government had been agreed upon by the founders — a republic or a monarchy?

“A republic, if you can keep it,” was Franklin’s famously quoted response.

Exercising our right to vote is the keystone that safeguards our civil liberties and our Constitution. It’s how we keep it.

And this November, “keeping it” in Pennsylvania means understanding what’s actually on the ballot.

On Nov. 4, three state Supreme Court justices face a yes-or-no retention vote. A “yes” vote would extend those justices’ tenure on the bench for another decade. A “no” vote removes a justice, leading to a temporary appointment by the governor that must be confirmed by the Senate. If the Senate does not confirm a nominee, the seat will remain vacant until the next scheduled election in 2027.

The reality is, a vote not to retain the state Supreme Court justices this November could very likely set up a 2-2 deadlock on Pennsylvania’s highest court at a time when it could be asked to consider critical civil liberties and voting rights questions.

In recent years, the current court has ruled on the side of civil liberty in some significant ways.

The state Supreme Court ruled to expand access to reproductive health care by declaring Pennsylvania’s ban on Medicaid funding abortion presumptively unconstitutional. The court ruled to provide overtime pay and sick leave to more Pennsylvania workers and to uphold mail-in voting in Pennsylvania and strike down gerrymandered partisan maps.

Let’s be clear: Being politically active doesn’t mean partisanship. Being politically active means engaging with our government to protect our lives and those we care about. It’s about taking a stance against overreach into our personal choices and defending our freedoms. It means participating in our democracy — or risk waking up one day to find that democracy is lost altogether.

And in Pennsylvania right now, all of it hangs on a November ballot question many people have never heard of.

Off-year elections — when there isn’t a president or a member of Congress on the ballot — trend towards low turnout from registered voters. The 2025 primary in May only saw about 1 in 5 Pennsylvania voters show up to the polls or send in a mail ballot.

To keep it, we have to do better than that.

That’s why the ACLU is spending $800,000 on a voter education campaign to ensure that voters across the commonwealth understand how important their vote in the state Supreme Court election is to protect our civil rights and our fundamental freedoms.

In the era of Trump 2.0, can Pennsylvanians really afford to effectively go a year without a functioning state Supreme Court?

The state Supreme Court retention race may not have the glitz of a presidential election. But the stakes couldn’t be higher. When it comes to how you are allowed to exist and pursue happiness — that is what’s on the ballot.

Voting is the exercise we must all commit to, no matter how low-profile the election, in order to defend and protect ourselves, our communities, our republic, our democracy, our Constitution.

It’s how we keep it.

Danitra Sherman is the deputy policy and advocacy director at the ACLU of Pennsylvania.