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By Sean J. Young, Staff Attorney, ACLU Earlier this week, The New York Times published a column asserting that the American Civil Liberties Union has “seemed to take “opposite position[s]” in two voting rights disputes. This is wrong. In the first dispute, which is pending before the Supreme Court, the question is whether states should be allowed to count all persons for the purposes of equally apportioning their legislative districts, as nearly all states currently do. The ACLU filed an amicus brief answering yes, for our country has long embraced the fundamental principle that all persons, whether or not they can vote, are entitled to equal representation. Given the democratic values of inclusion and equality built into the Constitution, we reject our opponents’ argument that this same Constitution now forces all states to exclude all ineligible voters from their population counts. Millions of non-citizens are contributing members of our communities, and the vast majority of states that currently provide these individuals the same share of representation that citizens receive should be allowed to continue doing so.

“The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach . . . .” So begins Justice Kennedy in his majority opinion that history will remember as one of the defining waystations on the road to full justice for the LGBT community. After decades of struggle, the nationwide freedom to marry for same-sex couples is finally being achieved. The couples, the families, the children, the widows and widowers — today, all of them have been granted a dignity that has been denied to them for far too long. Going forward, the protections and responsibilities — and the joy — that marriage provides to so many will be available to families across the nation.

Every Election Day, when many of us take our right to vote for granted, there are roughly 1.5 million people in Florida who do not have the ability to vote because of Florida’s Civil War-Era ban on voting by individuals with prior felony convictions. But this year, you have a chance to be a part of changing that. Give the right to vote back to Floridians who have served their time! The ACLU of Florida, along with a coalition of organizations, is collecting signatures petitioning to end the lifetime voting ban with an amendment to Florida’s state constitution.