Given how much politics seems to have been nationalized in recent years, I think it’s important to take stock of the state-level developments that are coming up in the near future.

One such example of this would be the ballot initiatives that will be voted on in November. In my opinion, the third ballot measure — which would add the following section to the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Declaration of Rights: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because of the race or ethnicity of the individual’’ — provides a great opportunity for the state. The vote to add this ballot question was passed on a unanimous basis in our state senate, an unfortunately rare showing of bipartisanship from Harrisburg.

It is also worth noting that states from a variety of ideological backgrounds have similar protections built into their constitutions, from Arkansas and Montana to Massachusetts and Hawaii. The opportunity lies in having all Pennsylvanians unite behind an amendment that really is hard to argue against.

Voting yes on the third ballot question in November would reinforce the accepting reputation of our state and reward the bipartisan effort from state senators.

Dominick Battistone,

Forward Township