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Laura Merrifield Wilson

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    Leadership

    For women, the time to run is now

    Laura Merrifield Wilson
    February 15, 2022
    Michelle Lujan Grisham, women in government

    New Mexico's Michelle Lujan Grisham is the only woman of color currently serving as govenror.

    Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

    Wilson is an associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis and a public voices fellow at The OpEd Project.

    Start your engines, organize your campaign and submit your filing paperwork, ladies, because now is the time to run. Women are critically underrepresented in government, regardless of the level or branch.

    We are mere months away from the congressional midterm elections, which gives us the opportunity to vote on federal races, but there are many statewide elections that coincide with the Senate and House candidates at the top of the ticket. Even with the presidency not up for election this year, the Covid pandemic, rampant inflation, and Russia’s involvement in Ukraine give voters plenty of motivation to get to the polls.

    Female candidates should be motivated, too. The last two election cycles marked record-breaking numbers of women running for office and ultimately winning. Research in political science (like the work of Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox) shows that when women run, they win — but they do not run as often as men do. This disparity in declaring candidacies leads to the gender gap in politics.

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    Voting

    There's an urgent need to increase voter participation

    Laura Merrifield Wilson
    January 12, 2022
    Virginia voter; low turnout

    A Viriginia voter casts a ballot in November's election. Off-year turnout is especially low in the United States.

    Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Wilson is an associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis and a public voices fellow at The OpEd Project.

    Senate action on voting legislation is stalled in 2021, even though governors across the country urged the U.S. Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. This postponement came at a time when voting rights are under siege in many cities and states, potentially blocking many who can vote from voting at all.

    In a recent interview with CBS’ “Face The Nation,” Vice President Kamala Harris said, “And right now, we're about to take ourselves off the map as a role model, if we let people destroy one of the most important pillars of a democracy, which is free and fair elections.”

    Recently New York City activists worked to give noncitizens the right to vote in local elections while Massachusetts is considering same-day voter registration. Meanwhile, the Justice Department recently announced its lawsuit against the state of Texas for violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    National questions involving voting seem more politicized and polarized.

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