Dr. Shanté Hanks is a resident of Bridgeport and a civic engagement advocate who believes informed and engaged citizens are essential to a healthy democracy.
Why do we continue to debate voter registration, early voting, absentee ballots, election integrity, voter suppression, ballot access, redistricting, campaign spending, endorsements, and voter turnout?
Why do political parties, special interest groups, and candidates spend so much time, money, and energy trying to persuade voters?
The answer is simple. The ballot is power.
Not the power of politicians. Not the power of political parties. Not the power of consultants, donors, special interests, or political insiders.
The ballot is the people’s power!
If voting did not matter, why do so many people invest so much time, money, and energy trying to influence it?
It is a question I find myself returning to as events and issues repeatedly emerge that remind us of both the power of the ballot and the state of our democracy.
Look around.
At the national level, we debate voter registration rolls, election laws, ballot access, and election integrity. At the state level, gubernatorial races are already taking shape, congressional campaigns are organizing, and candidates are working to earn support. At the local level, we see debates over development projects, housing, education, public safety, taxes, absentee ballots, and the decisions that shape our daily lives.
The issues, communities, and personalities may differ, but the underlying truth remains the same. The ballot is power.
The ballot was never intended to be currency.
Yet too often, our political culture treats it as something to be traded, leveraged, negotiated, accumulated, or exchanged. We see people seek influence, endorsements, access, and credit. Democracy was never intended to be transactional.
The ballot is a tool of self-governance, not a commodity to be exchanged.
Democracy works best when votes are earned, not negotiated.
I often say that Connecticut, and more specifically Bridgeport, serves as a microcosm of what is happening throughout the nation. The names, personalities, and circumstances may change, but the underlying questions remain remarkably consistent.
Who holds power?
How is it exercised?
Who benefits from it?
And perhaps most importantly, who is paying attention?
Bridgeport has found itself at the center of conversations about absentee ballot controversies, local elections, gubernatorial races, congressional campaigns, Success Village, and the broader national debate over voting itself.
These issues may appear different on the surface, but they all point back to the same underlying truth…the ballot is power.
These conversations are not unique to our city. They are playing out across Connecticut and throughout the country.
What encourages me is not the controversy itself. Democracy has always been messy. What encourages me is that more people are speaking up, asking questions, demanding transparency, attending meetings, challenging decisions, and refusing to remain silent when they believe something deserves scrutiny.
What gives me hope is that more people are paying attention between elections, not just during them. They are paying attention to school boards, zoning decisions, housing policy, economic development, and the decisions that affect their neighborhoods, families, and future.
That is not a sign of a broken democracy. It is evidence of a functioning one.
As the saying goes, success has many fathers while failure has none, which is why voters must look beyond claims of credit and pay attention to who is doing the work before, during, and after Election Day.
The answer to controversy is not disengagement. The answer is participation. The answer is showing up, asking questions, holding leaders accountable, and casting informed votes.
As we navigate another election season, we would do well to remember a simple truth.
The ballot was never intended to be currency.
It is a tool of self-governance.
It is the people’s power.
It belongs to the people.
And protecting it is the responsibility of us all.
Another in a series of open ‘conversations’ will happen at 8 AM at Wood’s End Deli. One hour. No mikes. No video. No agenda. No minutes. No food unless you buy your own coffee or breakfast. Just another CASUAL CIVICS CONVERSATION for Bridgeport neighbors to gather peacefully, listen to each other, and ask questions about municipal governance issues, for example. Civics is the study of citizen rights and responsibilities.
The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution is called the “Bill of Rights”. But voting rights are not included there, along with freedom of speech, religion, peaceful gathering, the press, and more. Elections are covered in the Constitution itself and it is necessary for voters to be assumed if there are elections to be held. But care must be paid to who, when, how, where, and what limits are present in the laws of each state.
Were you to review the YouTube showing the City Council meeting in Bridgeport from two weeks ago, June 1, 2026, you might be startled to hear statements from your representatives calling previous votes, advocacy actions, or comments to be “political”. Politics is the environment for the exercise of “power” to follow the rules set for governance which serve “the common good”.
Do the Council persons follow the new Charter they met to review, subsequently approved after dividing it in two parts for the citizens of Bridgeport to approve in November, 2025. Both parts were approved. But specific language strengthening the size of the Commission, with specific expansion of duties, and enforcement power was approved but not close to action at this date. Why is this? Isn’t it a waste of their power to participate as a Council last year in the formation of the new Charter and then to have the final Charter left for the City Council to approve in their “political” fashion of setting aside special treatment for the offices of sheriffs ( who receive no support from the City but whose activity may risk a suit and settlement to be paid by city taxpayers) and Town Clerk and City Clerk, two part time positions that are elected currently but may change a few years from now.
When voters fail to cast informed ballots, in person or by absentee, they become voiceless. Do you want your neighbors to be voiceless when they see an auto accident, spot a fire, or can see conflicts of interest, right before their eyes? Where is community formed, but through conversations, with good questions, and a search for great answers. Doesn’t that serve the common good? Time will tell.
“No food unless you buy your own coffee or breakfast.”
Damn! Can’t we just bag our own Peanu Butter and Jelly Sandwiches; sit outside and sip on some Kool aid? Bring your own beer?
Many ‘meetings’ or hearings in each of our two CITY HALLS are accompanied by pizza, sandwiches, or other refreshments funded by someone, and not infrequently from stipends to Council persons or City departments from taxpayers without any thanks or acknowledgement.
I have tried to locate conversations where water or coffee is available but not as part of the attraction while conversing about municipal governance, issues seeking a solution, or informal questions and answers.
Joel, certainly you can determine your own beverage or food, but don’t you wish to comment on the silence of voters who are registered, but inactive? Isn’t that one reason as a younger man you disfigured yourself publicly? What was the point? To advocate for peanut butter and jelly nourishment?
This morning at Wood’s End deli. Three of us learning about how the West End of the city cares for itself and opened up a new initiative, CASUAL CIVICS CONVERSATIONS on PORCHES while the weather favors us. Look for the signs. Join in an informal gathering. Time will tell.
JML,
I have enjoyed our conversations in the past and would love to join you in the future for Casual Civics Conversations on Porches. I’ll be sure to fill my Yeti with coffee.
Shante,
Greetings to you and your comments on a citizen’s right to vote. When a City Council uses more of its own minutes to allege that comments from fellow Council persons are “political”, isn’t that a waste of time. The Charter Review Commission discussed and approved a thorough strengthening of how Ethics issues can be considered in the future. There were public hearings at which Council members were recorded.
The revised Charter was passed to the City Council next in a process with more hearings, but basically little was said about Ethics reform. But the Council used its editing knife to slice the recommended Charter into two parts: including the majority of recommended and a smaller slice to deal with “political issues” like unsupervised sheriffs who put the taxpayer at risk for dollars from a suit and two elected part time offices of City and Town Clerks.
Voters approved both parts of the pie in an underwhelming municipal total vote. But now City officials are finding new ways to stall the results. Civics is the study of citizen rights and responsibilities. Where is that being maintained around the city at vaious tables for in person speaking and listening? Time will tell.Please reach out to me, Shante, for a PORCH Conversation soon.