voter suppression

Election Connection: NO OFF YEARS

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Vote Save America has a new campaign, and it couldn’t be more urgent for us to get involved. It is definitely not too early. In this climate of gerrymandering and voter suppression, there is no too early.

And EVERY YEAR is an Election Year!

In 2022, we need to hold the House and expand our majority in the Senate so one of two egocentric Senators can’t hold us hostage with the fantasy of bipartisanship. They couldn’t even muster bipartisanship for an investigation into an Insurrection we witnessed before our eyes that could have left some Members of Congress dead. That noose in front of the Capitol wasn’t a prop and they weren’t cosplaying. By their own admission and video confessions, they were out for blood.

Go to Crooked Media’s No Off Years and sign up to be notified of what you can do to keep our republic, to ensure our democratic values for another generation. And if you’re the praying type, pray that it isn’t too late.

Election Connection – Voter Reform NOW

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Visit these websites and keep the vote free and fair for EVERYONE.

Stop Jim Crow 2

Brennan Center – Voter Reform

Fair Fight

Vote Save America

Democracy Docket

Election Connection: Voter Suppression

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Across this country, at least 43 states have over 250 laws proposed by Republicans to limit voting access (source: ACLU mailing), and these predominantly negatively affect minorities and lower income voters.

One of these bills that recently became law in Georgia is SB202, and when asked in Congressional committee about what it does, Stacey Abrams was cut off by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), so she released a video on Twitter that explained it.

We cannot rest while Republicans continue to keep eligible voters from casting their ballots. Voting is a right and should be accessible to all eligible voters.

Follow Democracy Docket for more legal challenges to these proposals and laws as well as Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight.

The below video of Stacey Abrams is a good example of the preconceived notions and misinformation that GOP lawmakers accept even when experts in voter suppression are willing to explain the situation to them. They just don’t accept it, and are willing to dismiss the voting rights of people unlike themselves (ie. middle class white men).

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Election Connection: Georgia Runoff: Get Rid of Republican Corruption, Elect Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on Jan. 5th

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I know that people often talk about the corruption of politicians and sometimes that can be an oversimplified catch-all and generalization and stereotype, but even I was surprised at the level of corruption of the Trump Administration, and I believe that the blatant corruption and lack of empathy towards the American people led to a much wider array of abuses.

Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are two of the most unethical and shady pols I have come across. To the point, that in the last debate Perdue had with challenger Jon Ossoff, he had no response to Ossoff calling him a crook right to his face.

He didn’t defend, he didn’t excuse, he stood silently by as if accepting the description. He has refused to debate in subsequent opportunities.

Loeffler debated her challenger Reverend Raphael Warnock, but instead of laying out her policy priorities and her ideals, she persisted in name-calling using “radical liberal Raphael Warnock” as if that false characterization was all that mattered, and perhaps to the GOP it is.

To Georgia voters, though, I hope that they can see through the dishonest shenanigans of both incumbents who have done nothing for their constituents and only worked to line their own pockets.

Both have sat in on classified briefings earlier in the year about the oncoming Covid pandemic, and instead of taking care of Georgians, they made sure their stock portfolios were in order, trading stocks they felt would fall when the pandemic reached the United States and become common knowledge, and buying stocks in the health care field that would surely grow as Americans became sicker and sicker.

In any other administration, there would be an ethics investigation into both of them.

We currently stand at just under 300,000 dead from the virus known as covid-19. They haven’t pressured Mitch McConnell to bring covid relief to the Senate floor, and have stood in line behind him as he ignores the ravages of the pandemic.

As long as they’re getting paid, I suppose.

Some links for you to see for yourselves what they’ve been doing for most of 2020:

What We Know About David Perdue’s Stock Trades

David Perdue profited from a Navy contractor’s stock while overseeing the Naval Fleet

Perdue and Loeffler’s Well-timed Stock Trades Give Georgia Democrats an Opening

Georgia Senator David Perdue privately pushed for a tax break for rich Sports Teamowners

After Insider Trading Probe, Loeffler Offers Donors Access In ‘Co-Investor Program’

9 Questions about the Georgia Senate Runoffs You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask

Loeffler among Senators whose stock trading during coronavirus raises questions

Please give your support to Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock; vote for BOTH of them and bring integrity and purpose to the Senate in representing the people of Georgia.

Follow these accounts on Twitter and visit their websites to see what you can do to ensure a Democratic win in the Georgia Runoff!

Black Voters Matter

Website

LaTosha Brown, co-founder Black Voters Matter

Stacey Abrams

Reverend Raphael Warnock

Website for Donations

Jon Ossoff

Website

Vote Save America

Vote Save America: GA Runoff

Get Mitch Fund for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock

Fair Fight

Website for Donations

Fair Count

Website

SEAP – The Southern Economic Advancement Project

Website

Election Connection: 2 Weeks: Voter Suppression and Russian Disinformation

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This link will take you to the story of Corey Brotherton’s father who was turned away for not being registered to vote. Except he was registered to vote.

Know your rights and know where to get the correct information in order to exercise your right to vote.

Corey went to I Will Vote and was able to show the poll workers that his father was indeed eligible to vote. His is one of many stories of voter suppression.

I’m sure you’ve seen the long lines during early voting, especially in minority neighborhoods. Please stay in line. Bring water, food, a chair.

Another resource to keep with you or on your phone is Georgetown Law’s information sheets – one for each state – on what to do if confronted with unauthorized militia groups at the polling places.

ACLU’s information is also good to keep in your phone.

This is the election protection hotline if you are having trouble voting: 1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683).

This week has been full of Russian disinformation and DNI Ratcliffe and Sen. Ron Johnson have been at the top of the list encouraging this sort of thing. I know it’s frustrating. I know it’s demoralizing. Try to ignore it. Pay attention to reliable news sources and ignore the Trump Administration’s sidetracking their voter suppression efforts with their screaming about the Biden family. Russia is very much at play in our election, as they were in 2016.

Ignore the polls. Make a plan to vote, and vote as early as you can.

14 days. (See the new countdown on my sidebar.) We can do this. Together.

Election Connection: 12 Weeks: Fired Up and Ready to Go

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I didn’t know that today would be the day, but it was the day. Joe Biden’s running mate will be Senator Kamala Harris! I supported all the names floated out but she was in my top 3, so I’m very happy and ready to get out the vote.

Election Day is in twelve weeks; a mere eighty-four (84) days. Gloves off.

Here are a few links to help you help the ticket:

Vote Save America

Check your Voter Registration

Vote Save America: Adopt-a-State

When We All Vote

Biden/Harris 2020

And decorate your person and your lawn.

Election Protection Hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE

Election Connection: 15 Weeks: Civil Rights Icon, John R. Lewis (1940-2020)

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“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

John Lewis, Twitter, 2018
John R. Lewis, House of Representatives. Public Domain. (c)2020
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Election Connection: 31 Weeks

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I must apologize for not posting last week.

With all of the COVID-19 reading and researching, organizing and posting, the election (barely) slipped my mind. That is a good lesson to all of us, that every day it is important to make sure that our 2020 Election goes forward despite this Administration’s incompetence in so many areas, and the ongoing pandemic that has consumed all of our lives. Models look like we will be in our homes with businesses and schools shut down for most of the spring, and even when we’re out and about a little bit this summer, we must be prepared for the next cycle of physical distancing. These cycles will continue until there is a vaccine and/or widespread testing for antibodies to know who’s immune and can go back out into the world.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you two Election Connection items:

The first is a new podcast from Joe Biden. I know that Senator Sanders has not dropped out of the race, but I believe that his path forward is too narrow. In my mind, Vice President Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee for President. His new podcast is Here’s the Deal w/Joe Biden, and it is his way of connecting with the voters and the American people while he is also at his own home.

The second is a relatively new tool in the fight against Republican voter suppression spearheaded by attorney, Marc E. Elias, who you may remember from Bush v. Gore in 2000. He represented VP Al Gore. The group is Democracy Docket, and its mission is highlight and bring attention to the ways that voting is restricted across the country.

NEW SERIES: Election Connection

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Beginning today, each Tuesday, I will have a post related to the upcoming election. It will focus primarily on the Presidential race, but will also include important local and state races. As we saw in 2018 and 2019, all elections have consequences. We saw in 2016 what complacency and disinformation can do, not to mention foreign interference. We have forty-three (43) weeks until Election Day. It’s a lot less time than it feels right now. As I write this, we are on the cusp of another unnecessary war by an unfit and incompetent President. We cannot let him be re-elected. He does not represent the values that we espouse as Americans and the values we try to raise our children with. Everything he claims to be is a lie, and we need to continue to call out those lies; not just his directly, but all of his surrogates, supporters, and enablers. Voters may still like him and want him as President, and that’s their decision to make and to live with, but we can’t let them continue to lie and to gaslight the rest of us. As a journalist on Twitter reminded me the other day, there are more of us; we are the majority.

You’re probably wondering what you can do in the next 43 weeks?

I hope to share some ideas and advice with you between now and November 3rd.

First, are you registered? If you’re answer is ‘no’ or ‘I don’t know,’ find out and get registered. Right now. I’ll wait.

Second, visit Stacey Abrams organization, Fair Fight 2020 and find a way that you can help ensure that everyone who is entitled to vote will be able to vote and that their votes will not be suppressed. In all likelihood, Stacey Abrams would be governor of Georgia right now if not for the Republican candidate’s voter suppression efforts. He was the Secretary of State for Georgia and made the election rules including where and when polling places would be open, what kind of identification is acceptable, and whether or not and when to certify the election. He is now the Governor. Election fraud and voter suppression hurts everyone.

If you have any ideas to share for voter protection, please put them in the comments.

Election Reflection – 21 DAYS TIL MIDTERMS

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VOTE!

Vote Save America – check your registration. People are being purged and voters, especially minorities and Democratic voters are being suppressed. If Republicans had a message and could take the responsibility of governing, they wouldn’t need to cheat by suppressing legal voters from making their choices.

In Georgia, the Republican running against Stacey Abrams is also the Secretary of State of the state of Georgia, and is the one who validates the security and legitimacy of the election, including certifying the election. Currently, there are 53,000 voter registrations that are being held up. 70% of them are African-American voters.

Georgia Lawsuit is Latest…
The Supreme Court just ruled, merely a few weeks ahead of this year’s election that the North Dakota law requiring street addresses (rather than post office boxes) is legal and upheld. This disenfranchises many Native Americans voters, a voting group that primarily goes for the Democratic party. Living on reservations and on rural routes, the post office does not assign street addresses. This is significant.

Native Americans Decry Supreme Court Ruling on Voter ID in ND

Indiana is trying to purge voters in the weeks before this midterm election.

Federal Judge Blocks Indiana…

Again, I ask, what are Republican politicians afraid of?

We are still at risk from Russian election interference. Nothing has been fortified since the 2016 election that has been proved to have been compromised.

I’m worried.

You should be also.

Check your registration, drive your friends to the polls, and VOTE!