BUFFALO, N.Y. — Both Republicans and Democrats alike are hoping that a proposed amendment to the New York State Constitution will drive voter turnout as Election Day nears on Tuesday.
The state currently bans discrimination based on race, color, creed, or religion.
Officially "Proposal 1" on the ballot, the amendment would expand that to "protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes, as well as reproductive health care and autonomy."
Groups devoted to a number of topics have driven support and opposition to the ballot proposal.
If it passes, the measure would harden abortion rights in New York and provide more protections against discrimination to women and the LGBTQ community.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion back in June of 2022. Then days later, Democratic lawmakers in Albany created the proposed amendment, allowing Gov. Kathy Hochul to celebrate "the passage of a resolution to enshrine equal rights into the New York State Constitution, which will solidify the right to abortion access."
It's not just abortion rights on the ballot with Proposal 1.
Participation of trans athletes has become a hot topic nationwide, including Nassau County, which attempted to enforce legislation banning female transgender athletes. The state and the Long Island county have gone back and forth in the courts since spring over "gender expression" issues.
Grassroots groups are fighting for and against the proposed amendment across Western New York.
2 On Your Side's Nate Benson recently spoke with the Bernadette Gargano, the director of clinical legal education at the University at Buffalo Law School, about Proposal 1.
"These protections are things that are already enshrined in New York law, but it allows constitutional protection for these things, rather than just by statute," Gargano said. "So in other words, a statute could be amended or rescinded, and the Constitution protects the rights to a greater extent."