I’ve always been interested in how our government functions, but during the covid lockdown in Pennsylvania I asked a lot of questions of our public officials as to why we were being shut down and why seemingly nothing could be done about it.

I contacted my state senator, Kim Ward, who said she had heard from many small businesses in our area and was working on an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution so that the Legislature could have a voice in future discussions. This amendment appeared on the ballot as a referendum in the May primary of this year. It seemed a real conundrum that the governor was the only person able to call a state of emergency as well as be the only person to end one.

I proudly voted for her amendment, which I was happy to see pass. I felt like we were living in Cuba or Venezuela since the pandemic started with the governor being able to control so many aspects of our lives. No single entity should be able to have such sweeping unilateral authority, especially not in the United States.

I’m glad to see that our democracy still works and that our elected officials are listening to the people and taking action.

Juliana DeStein

Hempfield

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