Prop One debate split on party lines

ALBANY — Dutchess County voters will have one statewide measure on the back of their ballots on Election Day: an amendment to the state constitution listed as “Prop. One” and commonly known as the equal rights amendment.

Prop One amends the anti-discrimination section of the state constitution, codifying protections for “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability ... or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

New York Democrats have widely touted the measure as a key protection for abortion, while Republicans have slammed the measure, calling it a trojan horse that does little to specifically address abortion rights in the state.

Albany Law assistant professor Dale Cecka has spent her professional career in family law with an academic focus on the constitutional rights of parents. She said the New York GOP’s claims that the amendment would allow non-citizens to vote in the state and strip parent’s rights are false and have no basis in the text of the amendment.

“It’s largely symbolic,” Cecka said. “It doesn’t create any new rights.” She explained that the text of this amendment creates some useful redundancy and clear direction for state courts, but doesn’t expand on existing anti-discriminatory statutes like the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which already federally prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity and national origin.

She also said that, in New York, existing abortion protections and protections against sex- and gender-based discrimination already secure the right to an abortion in the state. This amendment to the state constitution simply adds one more layer of legal protection to prevent the government from future action that may infringe on those rights.

Prop. One will appear on the back of Dutchess County ballots. Voters can read the full text of the proposition online at elections.ny.gov/2024-statewide-ballot-proposal.

Latest News

Young journalists — the next generation

Our summer interns crowd around Anne Day for an iPhone photo tutorial at The Lakeville Journal office.

Riley Klein

Here in the Northeast midsummer is a season worth celebrating. We drive through the countryside that seems to become more lush everyday. For us at The Millerton News and The Lakeville Journal summer also is the journalism intern season when we observe a different kind of growth. This year we are hosting eight paid interns who learn from us just as we learn from them. Four are high school students (including one who was part of a student-launched newspaper at Housatonic Valley Regional High School this spring). That effort was supported by The Journal, and it will continue this fall.The four others are college students. Some came to us having experience in some form of journalism pursuit, or were simply curious about what it’s all about.

The schools represented are: Housatonic Valley Regional High School, The Hotchkiss School, Riverdale Country School, Marist University, Kenyon College, Middlebury College and the University of Virginia. All the student interns have life connections to the Northwest Corner and Dutchess County.

Keep ReadingShow less
Letter & Poem to the Editor - July 31, 2025

Thanks from the North East Community Center

On behalf of the whole North East Community Center, its staff, volunteers, and board of directors, I would like to personally thank our local community for the incredible support we have received over this past weekend. Our 2025 Chef and Farmer Brunch in Millerton was a huge success thanks to those who gathered to celebrate our work and the vital programming we provide.

Keep ReadingShow less
State Police shut down gambling wheels; four firms show interest in Millerton’s A&P store

The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn andRhiannon Leo-Jameson of theNorth East-Millerton Library.

July 31, 1975

Keep ReadingShow less