How Can the Local Government Protect us from COVID?

COVID was the topic of the 2020 election. It became a battle between Trump’s ignore it, and it will go away strategy, and Biden’s focus on science. Although not on the same scale, this year’s elections will once again focus on the response to COVID, as we have seen local government consistently make clear its stance on COVID.

The response to COVID is perhaps best on display in Texas and Florida, where the governors have chosen to follow Trump’s freedom first, safety much lower than second, strategy. Both Abbott and DeSantis banned mask mandates. As the school year began, school districts began to fight back, mandating masks. And then other local government officials joined in. Judges like Clay Jenkins and Lina Hidalgo from Dallas and Harris County have been highly vocal about masks and have set mask mandates for schools.

Abbott and DeSantis have both threatened school boards that have created mask mandates, but for the most part, districts have stood firm. These people are elected as well, and several are up for election this year. Houston, Aldine, and Spring ISDs are all requiring masks and have elections this November. Many others had elections in May.

Local governments have been extremely active during COVID, working to support citizens, regulate businesses, keep citizens safe, and helping the most vulnerable. Although every city, county, and state have responded differently, and some have had very different strategies for combating the virus, it has been a strain on them all. 96% of cities face budget shortfalls, counties expect a $30 billion increase in expenditures, and 88% of cities expect revenue shortfalls.

It would be impossible to run through or explain all the actions local governments have taken, but I will give it a try. They have:

• Enforced physical distancing measures
• Imposed passenger limits on public transportation
• Increased cleaning of facilities
• Provided PPE for staff
• Set up COVID testing centers
• Set up vaccination centers, and coordinated the effort, including promotion of the vaccine
• Set hours for restaurants, bars, and nightclubs
• Required masks
• Attempted to address racial disparities in COVID response
• Conducted contact tracing
• Provided PPE for schools

Local government has further:

• Allowed taxpayers to defer property tax payments without penalty or interest
• Rolled back planned property tax increases
• Permitted the deferral of bills for water, wastewater, sewers, and waste collection
• Created eviction moratoriums
• Prohibited rent increases
• Increased homelessness prevention programs
• Provided grants to small businesses
• Required paid leave for COVID
• Protected employees with COVID from adverse action
• Required some businesses to rehire workers laid off due to COVID

All of these actions came to be because local government chose to prioritize the health and well-being of its citizens. Unfortunately, most of these actions were not taken by all cities, so if one of these applies to your city, you have your elected officials to thank. Show up this fall when they are up for election and thank them for helping out with your vote. Or show them the consequences of not protecting their citizens and vote them out. We need strong local governments that prioritize their constituents.

Often, local elections are overlooked by services that help people vote. Rideshare2Vote is determined to break this mold and runs every year in local elections. In May, we ran in the Texas municipals and are running in 6 states this fall for local elections across the country.

by Betsy Zalinski