If we’ve learned anything in the year since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, it’s that voting is vitally important. Defending the vote, and the nation’s commitment to honor the results of elections, is a bedrock principle of democracy.

It may be a bedrock, but events of the last year make it evident that the power of voting can be surprisingly fragile, too.

This is a national issue with huge repercussions. It’s also as local as the size and shape of state legislative districts, and the protections required for each voter in each state, county and city to be able to exercise their rights securely, safely and with equal say in the result.

One person, one vote: That’s the aim.

Read more at chicagotribune.com.

David Greising is the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, joining the BGA in 2018. For nearly a century, the BGA has fought for honest and effective government through investigative journalism and policy advocacy.

Greising’s career started at the City News Bureau of Chicago, with stops at the Chicago Sun-Times, Business Week magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Reuters. He was a co-founder of the Chicago News Cooperative and worked briefly as a consultant to World Business Chicago. Today, Greising writes on government issues in regular columns for the Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Under Greising’s leadership, the BGA has played a key role in uncovering public corruption amidst the wide-ranging federal probe, starting with an in-depth report about Ald. Ed Burke’s conflicts of interest before the federal charges against Burke. The BGA also has exposed waste and fraud at O’Hare and the proliferation of corruption and poverty into Dolton, Lyons and other Chicago suburbs. The BGA’s policy team has led calls for ethics reform in Chicago’s City Council and in state government.