On election night 2014, people across party lines could rejoice in the fact that their votes were counted, even if their candidate didn't win.

However, not everyone has been so lucky.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is one organization that has worked tirelessly to protect the voting rights of Americans. The ACLU launched the Voting Rights Project in 1965 to protect the political participation of language and racial minorities since the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Since it began, it has successfully taken to court over 300 voting rights cases and upheld the rights of minorities to have their voices heard.

One such minority group in need of being able to get their votes counted are the mostly-immigrant farm workers at Fresno-based Gerawan Farming, Inc. After voting in an election in November 2013 to decertify the United Farm Workers union (UFW), the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), the state agency that oversees such matters, refused to count their votes.

This is a clear violation of the farm workers’ freedom of speech that surely the ACLU would be eager to take on, given the organization's clear passion for minority political speech rights. “No matter what one is speaking out on, we should all have the same ability to express our views,” said one ACLU spokesperson. “The unfettered ability to express one’s beliefs is fundamental for all.”

Silvia Lopez is one such farm worker at Gerawan who is desperately trying to express her views against the UFW through her vote in last year's decertification election.  Said Ms. Lopez:

“I’ve been working at Gerawan for 15 years, we don’t want to be represented by the UFW,” said Silvia Lopez, a resident of Madera. “I am not against unions, but I refuse to pay dues and not [be] heard.”

The ACLU has, in the past, however, allied with unions, inlcuding against so called "right-to-work" laws (the ACLU has filed suit against Michigan’s right-to-work law, for example).

The Gerawan farm workers, no question, need help from a freedom-fighting powerhouse like the ACLU. But the question is, will the ACLU fight to protect the priviliges of unions, or the rights of workers?