The right to register our feelings at the ballot box is a sacrosanct cornerstone of government. We ignore it at our peril

What a year it’s been.

Along with the devastation wrought by COVID-19 — the levayos, the sirens, the constant calls for Tehillim — came bigotry by politicians and the public. The Orthodox community was subjected to disproportionate lockdown in the city, with our shuls, yeshivos, and parks unfairly shuttered.

As a community, we confronted together the rapidly spreading coronavirus in the spring of last year. Together, we closed our shuls and schools. Together, we took the difficult step of walling ourselves off from each other. Together, we isolated ourselves, creating new terms like “porch minyanim” and “phone classes.”

It is now time to join together to confront the other virus — that of elected officials who took advantage of the public health crisis to mistreat our community with impunity.

Our summer camps were closed, leaving tens of thousands of children with nowhere to rejuvenate after many difficult months. We witnessed the extraordinary scene of our elected officials being forced to cut the padlocks of our parks, which were shuttered to children who wanted to play outdoors amid the lockdown.

We confronted Covid as a community, we must also confront the political crisis as a community. Together, we must respond in the only way our officials understand — through our votes. And the most important thing isn’t whom you vote for but simply showing up to vote.

Because while the Constitution does not allow anyone to know whom you voted for, officials can ascertain which districts — even which neighborhood blocks — voted in high numbers, and how many votes each candidate received in that district or on that block.

Friends, please realize that elected officials use this information when it comes to their votes in the legislature. The knowledge of which neighborhoods voted in above-average numbers and whom the residents of those neighborhoods favored governs whether they vote to raise taxes or lower them, whether to allocate funds to clean these streets or that boulevard, whether or not to support a politician who has shown animus for a community.

Citywide elections are not until November, but in our overwhelmingly Democratic city, it is virtually certain to be over at the Democratic primary on June 22. The city’s new experiment in early voting begins June 12. It is vital that everyone register to vote in this primary before the deadline on June 2 — a little under a month away.

Here’s the deal. Community activists are preparing to roll out an ambitious call for action to get people to vote this year. We must make our voices heard; our best megaphone is a vote. Please take your right to vote with the seriousness this historic time calls for.

Throughout the generations, Jews have been scapegoated and vilified with no way or vehicle for us to respond. In our home here in the United States of America, the right to register our feelings at the ballot box is a sacrosanct cornerstone of government. We ignore it at our peril.

Rabbi Avi Greenstein is the CEO of the Boro Park Jewish Community Council.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 859)