Although it may seem like the world has stopped because of COVID-19, there are critical issues that require attention but are being overshadowed by a repetitive media cycle. This is not to say that we should not talk about the pandemic, but we must not lose sight of what happens after we are through this. Philanthropists must consider supporting causes centered around protecting our democracy, there is too much at stake in 2020 and 2021 to put this issue on the back burner.
Out of any time a pandemic could hit, this is an especially unfortunate time for our democratic system and institutions. The pandemic will likely have a negative impact on voter turnout for our presidential election in the fall and decrease response rates to the 2020 census. These issues are serious, and the result of both the 2020 election and census will have a meaningful impact on our communities and our country for at least a decade.
For those who may be unaware of the importance of the census, the census is essentially a survey used to count every person residing in the United States. Census data is collected by the Federal Government once every ten years. The data is used to determine how hundreds of billions of dollars of funding are distributed, the amount of representation allotted to states within the House of Representatives, and both Congressional and state legislative district lines. Simply put, getting an accurate count is a big deal.
The deadline to answer the census has been pushed back, but isolation presents a different kind of challenge for the Census Bureau. Usually census takers would knock on the doors of people who hadn’t filled out the survey in order to follow up, but this type of action is not possible due to social distancing ordinances. In addition, student populations have returned home and are not residing on college campuses, where they would have likely been informed about their need to fill out the census using their student address. All of these factors will impact the final count and thereby affect the funding and representation that these communities receive for a decade.
In addition, the federal government has fallen short of providing state governments with adequate funding for the upcoming election. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, an additional $4 billion dollars is needed to administer pandemic-friendly elections in November (Norden, et al., 2020). This amount would fund the development of online registration and hopefully bolster vote by mail efforts. Unfortunately, there is no way to be sure that Congress will provide adequate funding to protect our elections, but philanthropy may be able to help.
While philanthropists are unable to directly pay for election expenses, philanthropy can support nonprofit organizations already working on census education, voter education, digital organizing, voter mobilization, and monitoring elections to prevent voter suppression at the ballot box. Prior to the coronavirus turning our world upside down, there were huge movements by non-profits, foundations, and independent philanthropists to support free and fair elections, as well as an accurate count of the census. Much like many other systemic problems in the U.S., the underlying issue existed before COVID-19; the virus only brought it to the surface and amplified the problem.
The pandemic caused a paradigm shift in the way these nonprofit organizations work towards their mission, and the way they are able to raise money. Without the ability to hold fundraising events as they normally would, these organizations are limited in their ability to acquire resources, meaning vital services may not be available.
Now is the time for philanthropy to focus on supporting nonprofits focused on advocacy. Digital organizing via social media campaigns, phone banking, texting campaigns, or ads can be a useful but costly way to reach people. Working to make sure state governments administer safe and accessible elections to all voters will also require large amounts of resources. In the absence of federal attentiveness to this issue, it is up to philanthropy and the nonprofit sector to ameliorate barriers in the way of our democracy.
-Sophia Geringswald
References
Norden, L., Howard, E., Ramachandran, G., Cortés, E., & Tisler, D. (2020, April 18). Estimated costs of covid-19 election resiliency measures. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/estimated-costs-covid-19-election-resiliency-measures
Hi Sophia! If I am being completely honest, I did not recognize the significant impact the Census would face due to COVID-19. However, after stating your argument I see why it is crucial that philanthropists donate their resources to democracy as well. I think you stated it perfectly, the census determines what communities need what for the next decade. If numbers become skewed due to the restrictions placed upon us, this could potentially lead to several serious implications for the decade to come. As you mentioned this will also apply during elections, our vote is crucial, but who is to say everyone will have access to that vote with the regulations in place. I think it was important that you raised this argument, I found myself focused on so many other things besides the Census or elections, but this has centered my mind again on the issues that our community will face if others don’t help. Hopefully we see a shift soon of philanthropists devoting their resources towards causes like these!
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is that people refuse to accept that there are other ways to do one's civic duty that don't involve being at a physical polling station in person. I don't simply mean the everyday person who is concerned about their safety if they leave their homes to vote, I'm also talking about a federal scale. The Supreme Court decided recently to postmark thousands of Wisconsin absentee ballots, forcing people to vote in person if they wanted to have their voices heard. I fear that due to COVID-19, the federal government is going to realize just how much power they can abuse, forcing people to not vote in order that they may stay in power. I believe finding a safe, reliable alternative to in-person voting is critical to maintaining our democracy and allowing everyone to fulfill one's responsibility as a citizen.
ReplyDelete(Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/supreme-courts-hypocrisy-going-get-americans-killed/609598/)
Hi Sophia. You've highlighted many important points about the ins-and-outs of our system! Firstly, I do agree in part that the pressure of educating and advocating for democracy falls into the hands of philanthropists, who hold a level of social and economic power. However, I think we all hold the same sense of power. You posting this and advocating for our democracy has educated some of the class! Last semester, I took Professor Campbell's class about civic engagement and we learned how to create power within our systems and in our individual political, economic, and social status. (Highly recommend reading Eric Liu's "You're More Powerful Than You Think) You do a great job exemplifying how to use our own power in these situations, just through this blog post!
ReplyDeleteI also think you highlighted something very important: non-profit organizations cannot run as they normally do because of this pandemic, and it is impossible for government funding to solve each of their issues as individual entities. Although I can see your point that this should pressure philanthropists to bring change, and they definitely have the power to do so, I ultimately think this points to systemic issues that must be addressed through radical change. We can now clearly see the flaws within capitalism that hurt the working and middle classes, which consists of the same people who hold up our economy and society, who have only now been recognized as "essential" workers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW_8MNBHzWc
(video of Eric Liu talking about his book!)
Hey Sophia, this is an awesome post! You actually convinced me to go fill out the Census in the middle of reading it (with my school address of course)! I never really took into account how important it is to each and every community. Thank you for shining a light on both how important it is and what an impact COVID has and will continue to have on the census. It is really unfortunate to think about how many college towns such as Binghamton rely heavily on the student population for economic stimulation, and how everyone going home is going to negatively impact these college communities. The lack of students filling out the census at their college residences is definitely going to bring down numbers for these college towns and it sucks to think about how Binghamton may not receive the funding they need, especially with all the downtown renovations they have been doing lately. Communities like Binghamton may not be able to make the quality-of-life improvements that they want to because of COVID's effect on census numbers. I definitely never considered the massive impact that philanthropists have on our democracy. It is in times like these where the census numbers may be lacking that we need philanthropy to pick up the slack. Thank you for such an influential post, it was a great read.
ReplyDeleteSophia, one thing that you noted stood out to me, and I have had a few conversations about this: the act of signing underneath a school address. Yes, I think that when it comes to the increase in funding for census purposes, it is great and very beneficial for the Binghamton community. However, when it comes to voting on behalf of the Binghamton community, I think there are some more ethical dilemmas. As a freshman, I had many classmates who would go on about Broome County being one of the most highly contested counties in the state, nae, the country with such a tie between the red and the blue. If only we as college students could rise up and tip the scales in our favor. I realized it was problematic that we are only residents of this community for about four years, but we are trying to represent and push for policies that affect the people who have been and will continue to be living here for decades. We are simply visitors. Yes, vital and legitimate visitors, but not as legitimate as the “townies.” Understandably, it really seems like an invasion that people would be upset about. Why are we trying to change this area by erasing it? I have a solution, or rather Dianne Brown does— become a “townie” and infiltrate them from the inside. Become a legitimate resident. Get a house, start a family, contribute to and diversify the local economy, and then vote blue. I used to think that getting stuck here would be such a nightmare compared to moving back to New York City. However, my internalized superiority complex was checked while quarantined here. Peace, beautiful nature, and an appreciation for Wegmans are all things that I’ve come to understand here. It’s not so bad! So, I say to the college student, make your vote count by making it count for something more than four years of your life. Make it worth the decades that people spend contributing to this community and reaping the benefits.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this blog post! You make a very good point about the importance of philanthropy in the face of the pandemic disrupting our democracy. Due to social distancing, the normal voting process is being heavily disrupted. Many states have delayed their primary elections, pushing them back months. Some states have even had to delay them twice. Other states, like Alaska and Kansas, have fully canceled in-person voting and are encouraging mail-in voting instead. (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/24/coronavirus-update-states-that-have-postponed-2020-primaries.html) In all states though, mail-in voting will most likely become a much more widespread practice. Other precautionary efforts in some states include initiatives to clean polling places more rigorously, and replacing older poll workers with younger ones to prevent endangering vulnerable employees with potential contact to the virus. (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/10/coronavirus-states-take-precautions-to-prevent-disrupted-elections.html) All these efforts to prepare for the primaries cost money. And due to our current struggling economic situation and, to your point, the potentially unreliable results of the caucus leading to insufficient funding, there is an increased need for funding. While philanthropists may not be able to directly help with those expenses, they can use donations to help out in other ways like voter education and other campaigns. This election is a momentous and polarizing one, and we all need to play our part, whether that be voting, donating, campaigning, etc, to make sure it goes as smoothly and as accurately as possible.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Sophia! I applaud you for your work on campus with the CCE to make sure students are voting and censusing. Having you in class has definitely kept us all more informed and on top of things.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point that more or less philanthropy can greatly affect the capabilities of non-profit civic engagement organizations to mobilize people and help democracy prosper. I know you sound optimistic about the impact of philanthropy in your post, but I find it really concerning. As you said, there is an “absence of federal attentiveness to” bolstering our systems to make sure everyone who is eligible can vote and everyone gets counted in the census. In that absence, we must depend on volunteers to work at those nonprofits, depend on regular people to have disposable incomes that they can donate, and depend on rich people to care enough about preserving our democracy in order to support the initiatives of civic engagement. It is scary that we have to stake our hopes for democracy on that, especially when things like people’s availability to volunteer or have disposable income are less likely during the pandemic.
But I don’t want to leave this comment completely negative. I think recognizing how difficult it is for these systems of nonprofits to function is a good reminder to get involved. Although I consider myself politically engaged, I have found myself multiple times making excuses for not actually volunteering for things, saying I’m “too busy.” But I can’t deny that it is a lot easier for me to get involved than it is for other people. Your post emphasizes the gravity of these democratic issues, and that is my push to stop making excuses and actually get involved. I think you have been a great example of a civically engaged person, and I hope to emulate your drive.