Originally published as a Letter to the Editor in the West End News Oct.-15 – 27, 2010 Edition

Resident Voting Rights: Another Argument In-Favor

The most pertinent argument I’ ve heard as yet in opposition to Question 4 (the municipal
ballot item that asks voters to extend voting rights to all legal city residents in purely
municipal elections) is this: if you want to vote, you must be a citizen. It’ s an argument
of tradition. It’ s the way most of us were born and raised. Simple enough, right?

Not really. I’ d like to supply a counter-argument: the concept that voting rights go hand-
in-hand with citizenship is an ideological construct. It’ s a system of belief, to which our
culture has subscribed. But, ideological constructs are arbitrary. They don’ t exist in
any form, shape, or verifiable substance. They exist only because we have conditioned
ourselves to believe in them.

For example, during expert testimony in the Charter Commission’ s deliberations on
the subject, we learned that for the majority of the nation’ s history, voting rights were
not tied to citizenship. Rather, voting rights were tied to other classifications: property
ownership, gender, and skin color, for example. Didn’ t that seem natural at the time?
Or, could it have been an ideological construct?

Lesser known, is that the same wave that swept the nation at the turn of the 20th
Century replacing “ corrupt government” with “ professional government” (or, in other
terms, “ elected mayors” with “ non-elected managers” ), also swept the nation with anti-
immigrant, reactionary sentiment, and, for the first time, tied voting rights to citizens
only.

In Portland, this November, we have the opportunity to confront and move past outdated,
ideological constructs. Rather than through the lens of tradition and comfort, I prefer to
approach Question 4 through the lens of the latest suffrage movement. This November,
please join me in building a new, more ethical ideology, which enhances our local
Democracy, and includes all of our neighbors in questions of how to run our city and
school department. Join me in voting Yes on Question 4.

Anna Trevorrow
Congress St.