Creating a nonprofit organization is a powerful way to advance your charitable cause. An engaged Board of Directors that shares passion, values, and resiliency is critical for ongoing operations and sustainability. Dr. Ron Dieckmann, Harvard ClassAct73 Board Member, is the Founder and Executive Director of KidsCareEverywhere—a California 501(c)3 nonprofit that has trained over 10,000 physicians in 25 developing countries. Ron will take you into his poignant and unpredictable world of technology, disasters, and global health to illustrate his own challenges and mistakes in building and re-building his Board over 17 years.

ClassACT HR73 offers pro bono assistance to nonprofits either founded or run by classmates as well as supporting classmates who are involved in organizations that want to change the world. In order to help these organizations to further their objectives, we plan to offer assistance via a series of webinars that will be recorded and archived on the ClassACT HR73 website for their use and access at any time.

REGISTER HERE

By Jacki Swearingen ‘73, Edited by Ryan O’Connell ‘73, Jim Harbison ‘73, and Marilyn Go ‘73

As anxieties grow for the 2024 Presidential elections, Virginia voters are preparing for a state legislature election next month observers have deemed a “bellwether.” The outcome not only will determine who controls Virginia’s House of Delegates and Senate, but also the fate of the state’s policies on abortion, gun control and climate change. In addition, winning Republican majorities in both chambers could jump-start the presidential campaign of Governor Glen Youngkin as a possible GOP alternative to Donald Trump.

This November all 140 seats in Virginia’s legislature will be up for grabs. The Republicans have a four-seat majority in the House of Delegates as well as the governorship. Democrats, who won the Senate in 2019, hold a two-seat majority that has allowed them to stop Republican efforts to weaken abortion rights and impose restrictions on some voters. This past August the Democrats’ majority in the Senate also enabled them to halt Youngkin’s proposal that would reduce taxes on corporations and high income individuals.

If the Democrats lose the Virginia Senate this fall, Republicans will have a “trifecta” that will allow them to limit or even ban abortion rights and to overturn the gun control measures like background checks that Democrats established in 2020. In contrast, winning both the upper chamber and the House of Delegates would give Democrats new leverage in budget negotiations with the state’s Republican governor.

If Republicans retake the Senate and hold onto the House of Delegates, Youngkin and GOP legislators would have the ability to enact previously unsuccessful legislation to oppose Medicaid expansion, to allow religious organizations to deny services to LGBTQ citizens, and to eliminate strict emissions controls. Republicans need to win only one additional seat to tie the Senate, an outcome that would permit the Republican lieutenant governor to cast a tie breaker vote.

The struggle for the Virginia legislature is likely to come down to a handful of toss up districts, most of them in the suburbs surrounding Washington D.C. as well as in Richmond and Hampton Roads. Five races in the Senate and nine in the House of Delegates could affect the fate of key issues like abortion on a national as well as state level.

Ten senators and 17 delegates have retired, due largely to a radical reshaping of the electoral districts that was launched by a bipartisan election commission in 2021 to counter partisan gerrymandering. When the maps put forth by that panel failed to win the legislature’s approval, a requirement, the redistricting map was sent to the state Supreme Court for review. The judges appointed an independent special master, who drew up new districts that pitted several incumbents against each other.

Just as in recent contests in Wisconsin and Kansas, Democrats are focusing on what the loss of both Virginia chambers would mean for abortion rights. Virginia currently permits abortion through about 26 weeks, the longest period in any southern state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Gov. Youngkin has said that legislating a prohibition on abortion at 15 weeks, with exceptions only for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, is a priority for him. Democrats fear that if they lose the Senate, he and Republican legislators will impose a more severe ban that resembles those of Texas and Florida. In fact, Youngkin was caught on tape during his 2021 campaign telling a supporter that he favored a stricter ban but needed to moderate his comments to win independent voters. 

Democrats also point to Youngkin’s actions to curb voting rights as an indication that the Republicans would impose even more restrictions if they won both chambers of the legislature. In April the governor reversed Virginia’s policy of automatically restoring voting rights to former felons after they completed their sentences. Former felons can now only have that right restored by the governor’s authorization. And in May, Youngkin’s chief election officer removed Virginia from a multi-state data system designed to keep voter rolls up to date, making it harder for election officials to reach out to eligible voters and encourage them to register.

Educational issues loom large in next month’s election as well. In July Youngkin put in place a K-12 transgender policy that requires, among other measures, that students be addressed with the pronoun for the sex assigned to them at birth. Republican legislators have tried previously to ban transgender athletes and to prohibit the teaching of “inherently divisive subjects.” They have also pushed to allow families to use public funds to pay for private education.

Fueled by rising prejudice nationwide against LGBTQ people and parental dissatisfaction over pandemic mandates like school closings, school board meetings in northern Virginia counties like Loudon and Fairfax have grown contentious in recent years. Parents on the right also railed against history curricula that included slavery and the civil rights movement being taught in public schools, erroneously labeling books or lessons with those subjects “critical race theory.” With school board seats across the state on the ballot this November, these fights are likely to shape legislative contests as well.

County contests for sheriffs, commonwealth’s attorneys, and superintendents touch on local issues like development, crime, and the rise of massive data centers that increase the use of fossil fuels and often leave local residents burdened with the financial and environmental costs. With Virginia’s five percent increase in crime during 2022, Republican candidates are calling to repeal Democratic changes in policing, like controls on racial profiling.

Recognizing the connection between these local contests and larger ones, both parties have worked to recruit candidates who can emerge as state and national leaders. Right-wing factions of the GOP have focused particularly on filling slots on school boards, a tactic that brings ideological struggles down to the grassroots level. Democratic activists have complained they lag behind in this latest fight because they were slow to catch on, just as they were in 2010 when Republicans began to concentrate on taking control of state legislatures.

With growing concerns that this upcoming election could determine the direction of Virginia’s policies and politics for years to come, both sides have stepped up fundraising efforts to make this potentially the most expensive midterm contest in the state’s history. Democratic candidates for both the House of Delegates and the Senate lead their Republican candidates in donations by a combined $15 million to $10.6 million for the period between July 1 and August 31. Republican hopes have been shored up by large sums coming from Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC, which took in $3.8 million during that period, with $1 million coming from Florida billionaire Thomas Peterffy.

The massive and small contributions to both parties will fund the canvassing and ad buys designed to drive the voter turnout key to victory in this election. Early voting began on September 22 and will run through 5:00 PM on November 4. Like his Democratic rivals, Youngkin is urging GOP voters to cast their ballots in advance at an early voting location. 

Registered voters in Virginia can also request a mail-in ballot before 5:00 pm on October 27. They can check their registration, locate their polling place and request an absentee ballot.

All voters need a valid driver’s license or other ID in order to vote in this critical election.

It is not too late to help register voters and facilitate voting for all citizens, regardless of political affiliation. Residents of Virginia as well as other states and the District of Columbia can volunteer for or contribute to one of the following non-partisan organizations:

The League of Women Voters protects and expands voting rights through advocacy and education. 

Virginia Legislative Elections Guide provides a nonpartisan guide to key votes. 

Virginia Civic Engagement Table supports non-profit organizations that assist at polling sites and provide voter protection hotlines. 

WorkElections recruits poll workers. 

VoteRiders offers Voter ID assistance. 

BigTentUSA gets out the vote through phone banking, post card writing, registration drives. 

BlackVotersMatter increases the voter engagement of Black citizens. Black Voters Matter is this year’s Justice Aid 2023 Grantee Partner. 

Rideshare2Vote increases voter turnout through providing transportation. 

See also other organizations listed in the Voting Activism Opportunities posted on the ClassAct HR '73 website.

Suggested End of Summer Reading

By Marilyn Go, Jim Harbison, and Jacki Swearingen

Summer has not officially ended, so there is still time to squeeze in some reading about voting rights. This article contains a compilation of articles and other writings concerning redistricting, voting and related issues that may provide insight into the current and continuing challenges to protecting our democracy.

        This past June, the Supreme Court issued two significant decisions concerning voting rights and the protections under federal and state law. In Allen v. Milligan, the Court reaffirmed the  framework of the Voting Rights Act in holding that the Congressional map drawn by the Alabama legislature violated the Act. In Moore v. Harper, the court affirmed the authority of the North Carolina State Supreme Court to protect against gerrymandering in invalidating the "independent state legislature" theory that the legislature had the sole power to impose measures suppressing voter rights. The full impact of these decisions is yet to be determined.

•   The Significance of Allen v. Milligan, from the lawyer who argued the case, (6/23/2023)

•  Thanks to the Supreme Court, Elections Are Safe from at Least One Threat, (6/29/2023)

        Notwithstanding the Supreme Court directive in Allen and a prior decision in 2022, Alabama refused to comply when redrawing its maps.  Ultimately, a three-judge federal panel, perturbed by the open defiance of the state, appointed a special master to draw maps.  See Singleton v. Allen:

        •   Alabama Defies the Voting Rights Act, (noting that Louisiana was also flouting a court order to redraw maps).

•  Federal Court Blocks Alabama Congressional Map After Republican Lawmakers Defied U.S. Supreme Ct.

        In Florida, discriminatory redistricting maps were put into place by Governor DeSantis, who refused to adopt Congressional maps drawn by the state legislature controlled by Republican majorities. A state court judge recently found after a hearing that those maps violated the State Constitution by diminishing the ability of Black Floridians to elect a representative of their choice. Alabama and Florida have filed appeals, thereby preventing implementation of properly drawn maps before the next election. 

•   Alabama again appeals to S.Ct.

        •   Florida appeals a judge's ruling that struck down redistricting map pushed by DeSantis, (9/7/2023)

Challenges to redistricting maps have been brought in a number of other states. For example, in Georgia, there is a trial (ongoing as of September 11) involving claims that Congressional maps drawn violate the Voting Rights Act. In Wisconsin, a lawsuit was brought raising claims that redistricting maps, which include a number of districts that are not contiguous, are the product of extreme partisan redistricting.  That case has recently been countered with efforts to stop Justice Janet Protasiewicz (D), who was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court this past  April by over 11% of the vote, from sitting and considering this case. 

•   Georgia redistricting trial opens with debate over federal requirements for Black representation.

  •   Wisconsin Republicans’ Nuclear Option, (9/12/2023).

  •   Fighting Partisan Gerrymandering in Wisconsin, (8/2/2023) 

        In addition, lawsuits have recently been brought challenging the validity and application of voting laws. For example, in Mississippi, a federal judge enjoined implementation of a new state law restricting the assistance that individuals and organizations could provide to Mississippi voters needing assistance due to disability, blindness, or inability to read or write. In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down Mississippi's lifetime voting ban on persons convicted of felonies, including crimes having nothing to do with voting or governance, such as theft of timber or writing a bad check for $100. This law has prevented 10% of the voting population in Mississippi from voting and is similar to laws in 11 other states.

•   Federal Court Blocks Implementation of Mississippi’s New Voting Law

• Court Strikes Down Mississippi’s Lifetime Felony Voting Ban

In Florida, a federal court enjoined a recently enacted law that imposed a $50,000 fine on organizations who have non-citizens, including lawful permanent residents, assist in collecting or handling voter registration forms on the organization’s behalf.

•   Federal Court Blocks Florida Law that Targets Voter Registration, Civic Engagement, and Political Speech.

In North Carolina, the legislature passed an omnibus voting bill in June which, inter alia, that  limits the time period for sending mail-in ballots while increasing the time to challenge such ballots. The law also gives poll watchers the ability to move to listen to conversations between voters and election officials. On August 24, 2023, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, but the veto could be overridden by the legislature which is controlled by a supermajority of Republicans. 

•   Unpacking North Carolina Republicans’ Voter Suppression Bill S.B. 747

Private individuals have also engaged in efforts to suppress the right to vote of others, such as challenges brought in Georgia to almost 100,000 voter registrations. Similarly, lawsuits have been brought to decertify election results, including a recently dismissed lawsuit brought by voters who had unsuccessfully sought to decertify certain prior election results in Arizona.

•   Close to 100,000 Voter Registrations Were Challenged in Georgia — Almost All by Just Six Right-Wing Activists.

•   Deja Vu: After Arizona Supreme Court Dismisses Fringe Lawsuit, Similar Case Seeks To Decertify 2022 Election Results.  

Last, there are two upcoming elections on September 19 that may affect control of the House of Representatives in two states:  (1) a special election in Pennsylvania to replace former State Representative Sara Innamorato (D) whose resignation in July resulted in the Democrats losing a slim majority of one seat; and  (2) a special election in New Hampshire to replace Benjamin T. Bartlett IV (R), who resigned in April from the New Hampshire House of Representatives where Republicans currently hold a one-seat majority.

•   https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/for-third-time-this-year-special-election-will-decide-control-of-pa-house/

•   https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-house-democratic-majority-105c10e46ffb57c644e1818d9c30f004

•   https://news.ballotpedia.org/2023/08/24/hal-rafter-d-and-james-guzofski-r-are-running-in-the-sept-19-special-election-for-new-hampshire-house-district-rockingham-1/

CITATIONS

Further information about both elections and how to vote in these states is available from the League of Women Voters in Pennsylvania, at https://lwvpgh.org/special, or in New Hampshire at https://lwvnh.org/events/. We encourage classmates who live in the states holding elections this year not only to exercise their right to vote, but also to volunteer at organizations providing assistance to voters, as mentioned in the above articles and on the spreadsheet entitled “Voting Activism Opportunities” posted on the ClassACT HR73 website. 

We also encourage all classmates to celebrate National Voter Registration Day, which falls on September 19 this year, by participating in community voter registration efforts. Information regarding opportunities to help people register to vote is available HERE.

In sum, America is firm in its commitment to democratic principles protected in the right to vote, but we are challenged by continuing efforts to erode democracy. However, we take heart in the statement of 13 Presidential Foundations and Centers across the United States, which for the first time, issued a joint statement on September 7^th regarding the future of our nation and an urgent call to action for all Americans. The statement notes that “democracy holds us together. We are a country rooted in the rule of law, where the protection of the rights of all people is paramount.”  See HERE.

“Instead of selective humanitarianism, Europe should protect the rights of all asylum seekers and refugees.”

by Laila Khondkar 

My home country, Bangladesh, is presently hosting around one million Rohingya people who had to flee Myanmar after the genocide in 2017. Around ten million Bangladeshis lived as refugees in India during our liberation war in 1971. One of the biggest sources of income for Bangladesh is the remittance sent by labor migrants in different parts of the world. I have lived in several countries for work and studies, and have experience of working with the Rohingya population in Bangladesh and refugees from Ivory Coast in Liberia. So, the concerns related to refugees and migration is not only a matter of theories to me or something that happens to other people in the news; this is also very close to my heart.

Intensive Summer Course on Migration and Refugee Studies (7-30 July, 2023) was offered by The François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, in collaboration with the Refugee and Migration Studies Hub at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.  Attending the course has been a rewarding experience.

The objective of the course was to offer participants both conceptual and practical engagement with key issues related to contemporary forced migration. The course was organized around a multidisciplinary, rights-based curriculum that covered legal, medical, environmental and broader social-science approaches to migration policy and practice. The course included lectures, seminars, interactive class sessions and fieldwork (e.g., visits to camps, simulation on rescuing asylum seekers). It was held in four sites–Athens, Ancient Olympia, Nafplio and Lesvos. Twenty-seven students participated (half of them were from Harvard and half from other Universities across the world). Expert lecturers included distinguished scholars and practitioners from different disciplines and backgrounds:  human rights lawyers; medical doctors; social workers; psychologists; educators; child-protection officers; first responders, and national and local governmental actors.  Visits to Ancient Agora, the Acropolis, Ancient Olympia and a performance of Medea at Epidaurus theater (2500 years old) were part of the course. We covered a lot of issues during three weeks. I want to highlight a few points that struck me as important.

Having a discussion with two fishermen in Skamnia village was very inspiring, as they rescued people in 2015  when several million asylum seekers reached Greece by boat. Many ordinary people like them tried their best to support those who arrived. According to one fisherman, “We did not think of the race or religion of the person seeking asylum, we just wanted to do our best.” Even when public support to asylum seekers has decreased significantly, I appreciated the initial assistance the local communities have provided. We also met representatives of around ten NGOs that are offering legal, shelter, and other services to refugees and asylum seekers. They seemed very committed and trying to work hard despite funding constraints.

Presently there are  an estimated 160,761 refugees and 22,139 asylum seekers in Greece. Asylum seekers have to live in camps on islands. There are few camps on the mainland; those are also quite far from the cities. We visited two camps, one close to Athens and another in Lesvos. The camps are not as crowded as they used to be at the peak of the crisis a few years ago, and the people living there receive food, shelter and some protection services. The visits were guided by the staff of the camps, and we did not have any opportunity to talk to the asylum seekers or organizations working with them. It was not possible for us to verify what we have heard and so I do not know about the quality of the services, or how the asylum seekers are being treated by the staff. The mobility of the asylum seekers is very strictly monitored and there is a strong presence of security guards. In Lesvos, we learnt that the asylum seekers will be moved to another camp which is being built inside a forest. Most of the people we have spoken with consider that camp as a prison.

Those who register as asylum seekers and receive refugee status face a bleak situation. They lose all support and have to earn a living. Most refugees living in urban settings are unable to find work to support their families, as Greece continues to struggle economically in the aftermath of the 2015 financial crisis. The Greek government has been cutting back housing and financial support for refugees since 2019, which means thousands of people are facing destitution and homelessness. I have seen entire families begging on the streets of Athens.

 

High unemployment rates have taken a toll on the local population as well. A robust integration program is needed to ensure that local residents as well as asylum seekers benefit from assistance. Even when the presentations made by the government representatives emphasized integration of refugees, my observations as well as discussions with people from refugee backgrounds made me think that what is happening is cultural assimilation. Refugees, especially those from Muslim backgrounds, are not able to assert their identity in terms of food, drinks, clothes etc. due to the fear that they will not be accepted by mainstream society.

This is not a humanitarian crisis, but a political one. The European Union adopted border restrictions that have prevented people seeking sanctuary from entering Europe. The EU’s policies  mean that Greece, along with Italy, are being asked to shoulder much of the responsibility for the lives of those who have reached Europe. The European Union is giving money to these countries, but they need to do more by accepting refugees.

The refugees from Ukraine were given temporary protection immediately by various European countries. This demonstrates that it is possible to address an issue if there is a political will to do so. Why were Ukrainian refugees treated differently than people from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq? All were fleeing from dangerous situations. The media reporting of the Ukrainian crisis clearly showed biases towards “white Europeans.” Roma people from Ukraine faced discrimination in various countries while seeking asylum. Every human life is equally valuable. Europe should be more consistent in protecting human rights.

During various discussions, it was apparent that it is due to Islamophobia that asylum seekers from Middle Eastern countries face discrimination in Greece. Greeks have memories of the Ottoman empire for almost three hundred years, which is deep rooted in their collective psyche. Many still equate Muslims with Ottomans/Turks, and they do not like the Muslims or are “afraid” of them! What bothered me was that this narrative is so normalized as if it is “justified.” One academic said, “Greek people need more time before they can accept Muslims.” This type of attitude is quite alarming, as xenophobia and Islamophobia may increase with time if those are not addressed in a proactive way through policy, legislation, public awareness, etc.

Migration is as old as human history. However, some passport holders travel more freely than others in the present world.  It is worth remembering that more than 75% of all refugees and asylum seekers live in neighboring countries in the Global South. Do Western people realize this? Climate crises, conflicts etc. will make many people flee their own countries. There has to be a process to support them. With declining fertility rates, Europe will need more migrant workers. People try to reach Europe illegally, as going there legally is almost impossible for most people. Having regular migration may be beneficial for all concerned.

The rise of right-wing politics in Europe is a matter of grave concern. The process of “othering” that they do regarding refugees and asylum seekers is dangerous. Is Europe trying to send a very strong signal to the asylum seekers (especially those from Muslim backgrounds) that they should not try to reach Europe? Will Europe continue to practice selective humanitarianism?

The writer is grateful to ClassACT HR73 for funding her participation in the Intensive Summer Course on Migration and Refugee Studies.

**It should be noted that Laila’s opinions do not necessarily reflect those of ClassACT HR73.

By Marilyn Go '73

Edited by Jim Harbison '73, Ryan O'Connell '73, and Jacki Swearingen '73

Much attention has recently been focused on a Special Election in Ohio on August 8 to amend the Ohio State Constitution. On the ballot is the question of whether to raise the voter threshold for approving amendments to the Constitution, a change sought by the Republican-led legislature. Critics of the proposal say that it is actually designed to curb current efforts by Ohioans to protect abortion rights in their Constitution, as well as to strengthen the power of the Ohio GOP lawmakers, who currently hold  super-majorities in both the House and Senate.

We encourage you to participate in the upcoming election in the following ways.  If you live in Ohio, we suggest you familiarize yourselves with the issues raised and make every possible effort to vote in this off-cycle election. This will help to ensure that the outcome reflects the will of the majority of Ohio voters, not a small minority with targeted interests. If you are already registered to vote in Ohio, you may vote by mail, but must request an absentee ballot by August 1 from the Ohio Secretary of State. See instructions here.

We also encourage you to support or volunteer at organizations that will assist voters in Ohio, including the following:

• Common Cause 
• League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland 
• Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates 
• Ohio Voter Rights Coalition 

You can also provide support virtually: :

• VoteRiders August 3, 7:00 - 8:00pm - Virtual text bank to provide information about new Ohio voter ID laws

Although Ohio is currently viewed as a "red" state, the political landscape in Ohio is complex. In recent Presidential elections, Barack Obama won Ohio in close contests in 2008 and 2012. Donald Trump then won the vote of Ohioans by around 8% points in 2016 and 2020, a far higher margin than in any prior presidential election in Ohio. Notably, since 1896, Ohio has voted for the winning presidential candidate, except in 1944 (Franklin D. Roosevelt), 1960 (John F. Kennedy), and, most recently, Joe Biden in 2020.[1] The state has often been viewed as a key barometer of public opinion on presidential candidates.

Data from the Ohio Secretary of State for 2021 indicates that of the almost 8 million registered voters in Ohio, about 6.2 million voters were listed as unaffiliated. Registered Democrats who generally reside in the urban, northeastern areas of the state outnumber registered Republicans, who primarily reside in the rural areas of Ohio, by about 100,000. The U.S. Senators elected from this state come from both parties: Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and J.D. Vance, a Republican. So do the U.S. House Representatives: 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats. Sen. Brown, who is up for re-election next year, is likely to face a serious challenge in a race that may possibly affect political control of the U.S. Senate.

At the state level, the Republicans control both the House of Representatives and Senate with super-majorities. According to several political commentators, they have achieved this dominant position through extreme gerrymandering, despite a prohibition against extreme partisanship in redistricting contained in an amendment to the Ohio Constitution. Voters overwhelmingly passed the amendment in 2018.

Notwithstanding this constitutional directive, both state and congressional maps that Republican mapmakers drew have been challenged and found to be in violation of the State Constitution a number of times. In 2022, Republican lawmakers chose twice to ignore orders by the Ohio Supreme Court to revise the overly partisan maps. By letting the clock run out, the legislators used a congressional map previously found inadequate.

Voters have again brought challenges to districts drawn by the Ohio legislature for the current election cycle. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld those challenges and the legislators appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 30, 2023, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider the case in light of Harper v. Moore, a case in which the Court invalidated partisan maps drawn by North Carolina legislators. Rejecting the view forwarded by Ohio Republican legislators that they can ignore an Ohio Supreme Court order to redraw the state’s congressional district map for the 2024 election, the U.S. Supreme Court emphasized that state lawmakers cannot make congressional redistricting decisions unchecked by state law and courts. Republican leaders have said that maps will be redrawn this summer.

The state legislature has engaged in other efforts to limit the rights of voters. In January 2023, Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, signed a sweeping package of election law changes that, among other things, imposes the state's first (and very stringent) photo ID requirements, shortens the time to request and return an absentee ballot, and narrows the windows after Election Day for returning and curing ballots.

On the ballot for the special election is a proposal to increase the requirements for amending the state Constitution. Ohio is one of 24 states that gives its citizens the power of initiative, which, in Ohio, includes the right to initiate new laws or to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. In 1912, voters approved an amendment to the Ohio Constitution to give citizens initiative and referendum powers, a measure championed by the late President Theodore Roosevelt as a way to force an unresponsive government to address the public’s concerns.

In a vote divided along partisan lines, the Republican-led legislature has scheduled a special election in August to vote on raising the current simple majority threshold (50% of the votes +1) for passing constitutional amendments to 60%. (However, the Legislature did not suggest changing voting requirements for passage of its bills or for voter referendum - i.e., the right of voters to reject legislation passed). The ballot will also include a vote on a proposal to double the number of counties from which signatures are required in order to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, from 44 counties (50%) to all 88 counties (100%). In addition, the proposed change would eliminate an existing 10-day cure period to fix any errors in signatures collected. If the proposed constitutional amendment is approved, Ohio would become the only state to require citizen campaigns to collect signatures from all of its 88 counties.

Critics of the proposed amendment include bipartisan groups of former governors and attorneys general and more than 240 other groups. They note that the increased requirements may make voter-initiated amendments practically impossible and would greatly enhance the gerrymandered legislature’s power over the Ohio Constitution to the detriment of Ohio voters. The amendment would effectively give 40% of the population a veto power over any contemplated change to its Constitution.

A reason the Legislature seeks to increase requirements for constitutional amendments is, among other things, to thwart contemplated efforts to amend the Ohio Constitution to protect abortion rights. In 2019, the Ohio Legislature passed a law banning abortions after any embryonic cardiac activity is detected. This short time period was highlighted in news reports when a ten-year old girl, who was pregnant after being raped, had to travel to Indiana to get an abortion after the Ohio law went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

A lower state court subsequently stayed implementation of the Ohio law. Nonetheless, abortion rights activists in Ohio have collected over 700,000 signatures to place on the November election ballot a constitutional amendment to protecting a woman's right to an abortion.[2] Polls show that a large majority of Ohio voters support the right to an abortion, particularly for victims of rape and incest.

Despite having acknowledged that the turnout for elections held in the summer is usually low, the Legislature has scheduled the special election for August 8, 2023. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled on June 16, 2023, in a 4-3 decision along party lines, that the proposed constitutional amendment may be placed on the August 8 ballot even though the legislature had, earlier in January, outlawed scheduling summer elections.

[1] However, the number of Ohio's presidential electoral votes has declined from a high of 26 in 1964 and 1968 to 16 votes following the 2020 census.

[2] In Ohio, before citizen-initiated measures for constitutional amendments may be placed on the ballot, proponents must meet a signature requirement of 10 percent of the vote for governor, or 413,487 for 2023. See here. The language of the proposed amendment is available here.

Did you miss the Harvard Allyship Series event honoring the legacy of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on June 21? We have you covered! Watch the video recording here, and learn more about the event below.

Allyship Series: Honoring the Leadership Legacy of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto AB ‘73

On June 21, 2023, Benazir Bhutto, the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan would be turning 70. Her life was cut short by an assassin on December 27, 2007. Benazir believed in democracy, equality for women, reconciliation of religious and cultural differences and education, without gender or religious bias and she was a beloved and admired member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1973.

To honor her and promote her legacy, her classmates, through their organization, ClassACT HR73 founded the Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program which provides fellowships to support scholars enrolled in the Edward S. Mason Program (MC/MPA) of the Kennedy School of Government Program.

In this Allyship Series Forum we will honor Benazir Bhutto by exploring her legacy. Peter Gabraith AB ’73, former US Ambassador to Croatia and Benazir’s life-long friend and advisor will speak about Benazir’s life, commitment to her people, and courage. Marion Dry AB ‘73 chair of ClassACT HR’73 will share the story of the creation of the Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program and its impact to date, and, Leigh Hafrey AB ’73, a ClassACT board member, will speak with this year’s Bhutto Fellow, Laila Khondkar of Bangladesh, about her mission, her work and her year as the Bhutto Fellow at HKS.

This Harvard Alumni Allyship Series event is being held in in partnership with Class Act 73 and the Harvard Clubs of Ireland and Pakistan.

50TH REUNION RECAP BY DICK FRIEDMAN '73, AND THE CLASSACT HR73 COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE Amazingly, our 50th reunion has come and gone. Like a wedding, a battle or a coronation, it was months in the planning and anticipation, and over in the blink of an eye.

Click here for full photo gallery of classmate photos

The numbers were eye-popping. Some 484 classmates attended. Total attendance was 722. That is a lot of old people with time on their hands! Longtime friendships were renewed, new ones were made. People scrutinized and caught up with one another. They ate, drank and danced. People took naps. (As ClassACT media maven Rick Brotman said: “It was exhaustive…and exhausting.”) As good a time was had as could be had at this age.

“Cordiality was in the air,” said ClassACT communications committee member Jacki Swearingen. “We all struck up conversations with people we did not know or with their spouses and partners. We all wanted to make each other feel welcome, appreciated and remembered. We used the time to laugh at the follies of youth as well as to reach out to reconnect decades later.”

Classmates and guests were able to sample from a banquet of provocative activities that would do credit to a Gen Ed curriculum. There was news, weather (or at least climate change) and sports. What did we hear, and what did we see? On Tuesday evening, early arrivals were treated to a showing of classmate Donna Brown Guillaume’s heartrending film Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. Following the release of the Report on Slavery at Harvard last year, this film and the accompanying panel discussion brought home the unspeakable barbarism of America’s Original Sin.

The panel included Guillaume, Vincent Brown (Harvard’s Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African American Studies) and classmate Catherine Clinton, the Denman Professor of American History at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Sitting together in Sanders Theatre and watching Oprah Winfrey and Samuel L. Jackson intone the piercing words of formerly enslaved people reminded us all how we had hoped in our youth to redress past injustices and cruelty. “I was honored to be a part of this film when HBO first approached me, and am extremely grateful to classmates who, in planning the 2023 reunion, raised the idea of screening it,” said Donna. Wednesday morning brought a reunion mainstay: the report on the Class Survey. Ever-jovial classmates Walt Mercer (co-chair with Stan Mark) and Therese Steiner took us through a PowerPoint presentation. (The survey results are available here.) Many thanks for their hard work go to the chairs and Therese, plus classmates on the Survey committee: Marilyn Go, Rich Kelly, Manuel Monteiro, Walter Morris and Rick Weil.) Most of the 481 respondents were happy with how their lives and careers turned out. Looking back at our time at Harvard: “If we could have had a mulligan, 30% said we would have liked to have studied more.” (Three cheers for we of the 70%!) One thing we all seem to want to do in the time left to us: “travel, travel, travel.” This session was followed by an all-classmate panel titled “What You Believe About Aging Might Not be True,” moderated by Patty Potter and including experts Greg Hinrichsen and Robert Waldinger. (None of whom seemed to have aged very much.) The biggest myth? “Aging is not what we thought,” says Patty “The awareness of having our time being limited leads us to pay attention to what is important, particularly relationships. This can lead to greater happiness and satisfaction than our previous focus on accomplishment.”

Many think that if there’s one event that should be mandatory at every reunion, it’s the Memorial Service—difficult to sit through and for all that, necessary and restorative. There were stirring readings by classmates including Louise Reid Ritchie, Ellen Denniston and Stephen Madsen, and exquisite musical performances by ClassACT HR73 Chair and Co-Founder Marion Dry, Katharine Flanders Mukherji, Yeou-Cheng Ma, Thérèse Steiner, Ken Sullivan and Jerome Harris, plus the reunion choir coordinated by classmate Christopher Fletcher. Most somber, of course, was the reading of the names of the 153 classmates who are no longer with us.

Then it was on to the steps of Widener for some needed sunlight and levity—the taking of our class photo. The embattled photographer must have been wondering which group was harder to handle: us or a bunch of second-graders? The afternoon’s activities closed with an experiment called “Open Mic: Me in Three.” The idea was for each participant to give a talk—limited, supposedly, to three minutes—on “passions, experiences and perspectives that are close to [his or her] heart.” This was the brainchild of Louise Ritchie. It turned out to be charmingly whimsical, thanks to the bravery and talents of, among others, classmates Winifred Creamer, Elaine Denniston, Ned Notis-McConarty, Sarah Ulerick and Ray Urban.

After dinner, where we were serenaded by the Kuumba Singers (introduced by classmate Linda Jackson Sowell), we enjoyed a showing of “Love Story,” which of course was filmed on campus during our freshman year. Classmate Joe Bertagna, who was an All-Ivy goalie for Harvard and doubled as a netminder in the movie, was the master of ceremonies. The highlight was the appearance of ageless former Crimson star and coach Bill Cleary ’56, wearing the same helmet he used while serving as Ryan O’Neal’s stunt double. Spoiler alert: Love still means never having to say you’re sorry. (Sorry!) Thursday brought out some big guns. ClassACT HR73 sponsored symposia on two of the most critical issues of our time: democracy and the environment. “Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century” included classmates Roger Ferguson, Al Franken, Bill Kristol, Patti Saris and moderator E.J. Dionne. They were joined by Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard. Professor Allen presented three key proposals for reinvigorating American democracy: expanding the House of Representatives by adding more members, setting term limits of 18 years for Supreme Court Justices, and taxing social media-targeted ad revenue in order to invest those funds in local journalism.

Asked about the gap between public support for gun control and abortion rights and recent court decisions and legislation, former Senator Franken (D-MN) pointed to the ways that the gerrymandering of state legislative and House districts has skewed laws and policies in the years since 2010. Later, he got back into comedian mode. When an audience member asked him if he planned to run for president, Al indicated he would not, because if he won, he would then have to take the job. The second ClassACT panel was “From the Charles River to Half-Earth: 50 Years to 50 Percent,” a continuation of the Environmental Committee’s efforts to support the ideas of the late Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson. Moderator John Kress welcomed the contributions of ten classmates: John Adams, Jesse Ausubel, Kimball Chen, Lindsay Clarkson, Robert Dreher, Henrietta Wigglesworth Lodge, Michael Mayer, Anne MacKinnon, Roger Myerson and Sharon Shurts Tisher. Each offered concrete plans for preserving and restoring natural habitats to benefit the Earth’s creatures, and the group announced two new initiatives that classmates are invited to join. John sees this as just a beginning. “Members of ClassAct HR73 are bursting with ideas on how to improve our environments and solve some of the problems that we as humans have created on this planet,” he said. “We welcome everyone’s input and encouragement.”

At the same time that the environmental session was held, Arthur Feinsod was leading five fellow classmates—Kavery Kaul, Marie House Kohler, Sandra Mathews, Louise Reid Ritchie and James Snyder– in a discussion of “The Role and Responsibility of the Arts in Today’s Culture.” Classmate Brian Butler hands the envelope for best performance to Marie for her “dramatic reading, recreating the young girl finding the smutty book in the family library.” After lunch and before the afternoon symposiums, several classmates walked across the Common to the Radcliffe Yard where there was an Open House. Buildings of interest included the Schlesinger Library which had on display many artifacts from the Class of 73 and other reunion classes. Yearbooks, photographs and strike posters could be viewed. In addition, if you didn't remember your college phone number, you could look it up in the directory of students! Thursday afternoon’s session—on ”Sports and Society”—promised some literal fun and games. Instead, Sanders Theatre became an arena for a discussion of how sports have changed since we were in school—and generally not for the better. The moderator was yours truly, a classic ink-stained wretch. Intrepid Joe Bertagna was joined on the panel by former All-Ivy basketball player turned sportscasting superstar James Brown, and Radcliffe and U.S. Olympic team rower Charlotte Crane. All spoke with humor and heart, especially when it came to the hijacking of youth sports. The heavily recruited JB (we are referring to James Brown here) was most affecting when he recalled how when as a high school senior he began to have second thoughts about his commitment to Harvard, his mother (nickname: “The Sarge”) told him that he had made a promise to come to Cambridge and he was going to honor it, by gum! Would that happen today, when student-athletes can negotiate ever-higher compensation? (On a personal note: Moderating this panel was one of the most meaningful assignments of my life.)

After a long day, those with energy could relax at a wine tasting conducted by classmate William Nesto. Thursday night we let our hair down. (What is left of it, anyway.) Our class dinner began with entertainment from the Reunion Choir and continued with old reliable Sundance, which was its usual smash hit. You never saw so many septuagenarians boogying to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash!” (And how many times have we heard “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,,” anyway?) We hope chiropractors were at the ready. Friday morning, those with extra energy could avail themselves of a small group tour at the Harvard Art Museums of Edvard Munch prints and paintings from the collection of the parents of classmate Phil Straus. Phil says, “The Harvard Art Museums gave seven small groups fantastic docent tours of 24 Munch works on paper. I hope this taste of beauty, emotion, and experimentation will convince you to join us for a show of the whole collection in 2025.” Friday also brought the final symposium, this one on “Race, Reckoning and Repair: Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery—What’s Next.” Classmate Sylvester Monroe moderated a panel that included classmates Rebecca Sykes and Seth Waxman as well as Richard Cellini, the inaugural director of the Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program, and Alden Fossett ’21. The panelists took up questions posed in the Report on Slavery at Harvard to discuss the possible ways that Harvard University and its alumni can redress the crimes of slavery that existed from the institution’s founding in 1636. Facing a Supreme Court ruling in the near future that could upend affirmative action, Seth, who argued Harvard’s case before the nine justices, explained the best-case and worst-case scenarios and what they might mean for Harvard’s admission process. “Panel discussions like these are a small but important step toward racial reconciliation because only by listening to each other and learning from each other can we ever get to know each other,” said Sylvester afterward.

Then it was on to the Yard, where we assembled outside University Hall and joined the Alumni Day procession, a joyful and mercifully short stroll in the heat to our seats of honor in front of Memorial Church. There we heard speeches, including the final public remarks by outgoing president Larry Bacow and an excellent oration by NPR’s Mary Louise Kelley ’93 on the primacy of reporting in journalism.

And then…it was all over but the shoutin’. Farewells were exchanged, as well as many a “See you on Facebook.” Anyone who attended every event will receive the Croix de Réunion, awarded by the French government. Félicitations!!

A rumor swept the gathering that after the 50th there would be no more five-year reunions. Taking Mary Louise Kelley’s words to heart, we checked and found that this was not true. The 55th reunion will take place as scheduled in 2028. Optimistically we say: See you there! But first it’s time for a nap.

By Jim Harbison ‘73 

North Carolina is a battleground state, with the political affiliations of voters split roughly equally among Democrats, Republicans, and non-affiliated voters.  Democrats held a slight lead in voter affiliation as recently as 2020.   Despite this political alignment, Republican lawmakers were able to draw gerrymandered voting maps after the 2010 census, and they obtained a disproportionate number of seats in and control of the state legislature and its Congressional delegation. They did so again after the 2020 census.

Advocacy groups challenged those 2021 redistricting plans as partisan gerrymandering that violated North Carolina’s Constitution. In February 2022, the North Carolina State Supreme Court, then with a 4-3 Democratic majority, rejected the maps and mandated a fairer, court-drawn interim map for the November 2022 elections.  However, after Republican judges were elected to the Supreme Court from newly drawn districts to constitute a 5-2 Republican majority following the 2022 partisan judicial elections, the Court agreed to rehear the case.

On April 28, 2023, the new majority reversed the Court’s earlier decision, ruling that courts have no jurisdiction over such redistricting disputes.  The new majority remanded the case to give the General Assembly the opportunity to enact new redistricting plans, “guided by federal law and the objective constraints in the state constitution.”  The decision opens the door for passage of gerrymandered maps in North Carolina, which would remain in effect until the next census in 2030 (See here).

In another blow to voting rights, on April 28, 2023, the State Supreme Court overruled a lower court decision that had invalidated a law disenfranchising individuals who were on felony probation, parole, or post-release supervision. The lower court had ruled that the law violated the North Carolina Constitution because it discriminated against Black voters and denied people the right to vote. As a result, disenfranchisement of felons who have been released from prison remains in place in North Carolina.

Both the NC House and Senate had Democratic majorities from 1999 to 2010, but that switched  in 2011, after the Republicans successfully gerrymandered districts in the state (See here) as part of the Republican Party’s country-wide REDMAP project.  The state House and Senate have remained under Republican control ever since.  What has helped keep balance in the government from a political point of view is that Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has served as Governor since 2017.

That balance is now threatened because a Democratic state representative, Tricia Cotham, switched to the Republican party in April. Republicans now have a veto-proof supermajority in the state House as well as in the state Senate, which enables the legislature to override any veto by the Governor.  A sign of what may come is legislation relaxing gun law requirements, which passed through a veto override in March.

A bill limiting the governor’s appointment powers is likely to become law as well because of the new supermajority. And on May 4, 2023 the legislature passed a bill that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy from its current 20-week period, setting the stage for a test of the Republican Party’s new, but slim, supermajority.

With their supermajorities, Republican legislators have also begun assembling and enacting bills that would limit or suppress voting access.  The legislature has already passed funding for a Voter ID law; such measures may, and often do, disproportionately affect Black and younger voters.  Although the prior Democratic majority on the Supreme Court rejected that law as discriminatory, the new Supreme Court Republican majority reversed the previous decision.

Among the bills under consideration is a proposal to scale back absentee voting (Senate Bill 88/House Bill 304) with a floor vote likely to be scheduled in the near future.  The bill would allow absentee ballots to be counted only if received by 5 p.m. on election day.  Under current law, ballots are counted if they are postmarked by election day and received within three days thereafter.

The bill would also require voters to mail or deliver their absentee ballots in person to the county board of elections office and would prohibit the use of one-stop voting sites for ballot drop-offs.  These provisions could impose onerous burdens on many voters who are homebound, have physical limitations, inflexible work schedules, pressing familial obligations, and/or lack the ability or means to travel to their county board of elections office.  Such concerns led Governor Cooper to veto a similar bill in 2021. The fate of this current bill will most likely be different because of the legislative supermajority’s ability to override such a veto.                 

For those of you who live in North Carolina, write or otherwise contact your representatives to let your concerns be known.  You can also express your views on this and a series of other proposed voter suppression bills under consideration on the website of Democracy North Carolina.

In addition, we can all help voters or prospective voters by volunteering for or donating to organizations that provide guidance on registration as well as other voting information and assistance to residents in North Carolina.  Such organizations include VoteRiders, a 501(c)(3) entity helping North Carolina residents deal with voter ID laws and exercise their right to vote, and the League of Women Voters of North Carolina.  We need to be vigilant and work together to protect the right to vote in North Carolina.

By Marilyn Go, Jim Harbison and Ryan O’Connell We highlight below the results of two elections that we have mentioned in the past few months as presenting opportunities to volunteer to promote voter engagement.

WISCONSIN: SPECIAL JUDICIAL ELECTION FOR SEAT ON WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT

Judicial elections in the United States rarely garner much interest. However, the special election for Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice held on April 4, 2023 was closely followed by political pundits, politicians and voters nationwide. Although this was ostensibly a non‐partisan election, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will be evenly split between liberals and conservatives 3 to 3 after the retirement of conservative Justice Patience Roggensack. The result: Janet Protasiewicz, described as a liberal County Circuit judge from Milwaukee, defeated her conservative challenger, Daniel Kelly, by almost 11 percentage points (54.5 to 44.5 percent). Kelly, a former prosecutor, had previously been appointed by Governor Scott Walker to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to serve the remainder of a ten-year term of another judge. However, he did not win re‐election in 2020. Political commentators have opined that this election may be a bellwether for the 2024 presidential election, because Wisconsin is a battleground state and because voters have increasingly viewed judicial elections through a more partisan lens. President Biden won the Wisconsin vote over former President Trump by only a 0.63 percent margin, far less than predicted, while Trump carried the state in 2016 by 0.77 percent over Hillary Clinton. The importance of this election is perhaps best reflected by the stunning amount of money raised and the voter turnout. The two candidates combined spent about $45 million. That amount was almost triple the previous $15.2 million record spent for a judicial election, in a race for the Illinois Supreme Court. Significantly, more than 1.7 million Wisconsin voters cast their ballots, surpassing the 1.6 million citizens participating in the 2020 Presidential election. The change in the make-up of the Supreme Court may have an impact on a number of significant issues that are currently or will be brought before it. These issues include abortion rights, voting access, redistricting, and legislation enacted by Gov. Walker effectively eliminating collective bargaining for most public employees. The right to an abortion was a major point of contention in the election. Protasiewicz and Kelly took conflicting positions on Wisconsin's 1849 law banning abortions, which was automatically reinstated after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That law permits abortions to save a mother’s life, but does not allow exceptions for rape or incest. The redistricting maps drawn by the Republican legislature have also been challenged. Wisconsin is a “purple state,” with voters evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. However, the state electoral districts drawn have been described as “among the most gerrymandered in the nation, a result of aggressive cartography from the Republican majority elected in 2010,” which, despite “a Democratic sweep of statewide elections,” enabled Republicans to retain a 19-to-14 majority in the State Senate and 63-to-36 majority in the Assembly. ( Liptak, Adam. “Supreme Court Sides With Republicans in Case on Wisconsin Redistricting.” New York Times. 23 March 2022.) Republicans also hold six of the eight Wisconsin seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican State Senator Dan Knodl, who also was elected on April 4, indicated before his election that he was open to impeachment of Protasiewicz. With Knodl’s election as State Senator, Republicans now have a super-majority in the State Senate. (Roche, Darragh. “Janet Protasiewicz May Be Impeached by GOP After Wisconsin Election Win.” Newsweek. 5 April 2023.)

VIRGINIA: SPECIAL ELECTION FOR 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Democrat Jennifer McClellan won the special election on February 21, 2023 for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District. She will succeed the late U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin, who died in November at age 61 after winning reelection. McClellan, a state senator, is the first Black woman to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in Congress and will serve the remainder of Rep. McEachin’s fourth term.

Latinos Still Lean Heavily Democratic By J. Ryan O’Connell ‘73

Hispanic Americans overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party rather than the Republican Party. Sixty percent of Latinos say the Democrats “represent them well”, compared to 34 percent for Republicans. That split is consistent among age groups, education levels and gender (but not all groups of national origin). Furthermore, the Republican Party has a serious image problem with Hispanics, with two-thirds saying the Republican Party “does not really care” about them. The numbers cited here are drawn from Most Latinos Say Democrats Care About Them, Pew Research Center, Sep. 29, 2022. However, the Democratic Party cannot take Latinos’ support for granted. A third of Hispanics think the Democrats do not represent their interests well. And close to 50 percent don’t see much difference between the two parties. Nonetheless, although former President Donald Trump won a larger share of the Hispanic vote in 2020 than in 2016, the talk about a big shift of Hispanics to the Republican Party in the 2022 midterms appears to be hype. Latinos are attracted to the Democrats because of the party’s more liberal approach toward immigration, of course. But most Hispanics also share Democratic positions on key cultural issues such as abortion and gun control. Almost 60 percent of Latinos say abortion should be legal in some cases, which is close to overall public opinion in the U.S; 40 percent oppose it. That 60/40 split holds true for Hispanic Catholics, who represent almost half of Latinos. Not surprisingly, 70 percent of Hispanic evangelicals oppose abortion rights. However, evangelicals constitute only 15 percent of Latinos. Hispanics firmly oppose the expansion of gun rights. This is not a group that on the whole supports permitless carry or eliminating background checks. A striking 73 percent of Latinos want more stringent gun controls, while only 26 percent favor greater gun rights. This is in sharp contrast with the overall public, which is divided roughly 50/50 on this issue. Cubans are a distinct political group among Latinos. About 60 percent lean Republican, probably because many families suffered under the Communist regime in Cuba (Most Cuban American voters identified as Republican in 2020, Pew Research Center, Oct. 2, 2020). The Cubans are concentrated in Florida, where they are very influential politically. They hold conservative views and abhor anything labeled “socialism.” Still, Cubans represent only five percent of Hispanics in the United States. Mexican-Americans, the dominant group, are 56 percent of Latinos. In the 2022 midterms, they preferred Democratic candidates over Republican by 58 to 25 percent. Puerto Ricans are the next largest, at 14 percent. Dominicans, Salvadorans, and other national-origin groups represent less than five percent of Hispanics. About half of Latinos say it is very important to establish a way for most immigrants who currently live in the United States illegally to stay here legally. However, 42% think that increasing border security is also very important. Sixty percent of Cubans give priority to increasing border security rather than finding a pathway to legal status for current illegal immigrants.