🗽Protect Democracy
🗽Stay informed with daily news updates to hold our leaders accountable and protect democracy. A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.
Today in 🗽Protect Democracy, we’re featuring: October 29, 2024 news briefs, Brief on the Freedom to Vote Act, and calls-to-action.
Together, we can realize a democracy that represents, reflects, and responds to all of us.
For far too long, special interests, ultra-wealthy donors, and vote suppressors have dominated our politics and attempted to silence the voices of everyday Americans, especially in Black and Brown communities.
America's democracy is under attack as the MAGA agenda seeks to undermine our democratic institutions, erode the rule of law, and strip away the rights that ensure every voice is heard and every vote counts. Join us to champion our rights, freedoms, and democracy, hold our leaders accountable to the people's will, and inspire voters to make a meaningful difference.
Together we can Protect Democracy
Click here to Tell your member of Congress to co-sponsor and support the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Call your member of Congress today (202) 224-3121 and ask them to support the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Click here to Sign the Petition: Abolish the Electoral College
Click here to Tell Congress: Overturn Citizens United
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Protect Democracy - News Briefs - October 29, 2024
Ballot drop box fires rekindle concerns that election conspiracy theories are making them a target
ABC News By Christina A. Cassidy, Ali Swenson
Six states have since banned them: Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and South Dakota, according to research by the Voting Rights Lab, which advocates for expanded voting access. Other states have restricted their use.
Voters are seeing more deepfakes — and worrying more about their influence. How to spot them
LA Times By Jon Healey
The site offers information about elections and voting rights, as well as links to every state’s official elections site. “The ability to have so much of our digital world be potentially fake degrades trust all around,” Grobman said.
As Trump Sows Doubt on Pennsylvania Voting, Officials Say the System Is Working
NY Times By Campbell Robertson and Mattathias Schwartz
Last week, Lancaster County was drawing scrutiny from progressive voting-rights activists, as employees of Franklin & Marshall College, in the city of Lancaster, claimed that dozens of out-of state students who were trying to register to vote had been told that they had to prove they were not registered
Supreme Court rejects RFK Jr. plea to be removed from ballot in two swing states
NBC News By Lawrence Hurley
"Plaintiff does not explain how to unring the bell at this juncture without great harm to voting rights and the public’s interest in fair and efficient election administration," a federal judge in Michigan wrote in rejecting Kennedy's subsequent request for a restraining order.
U.S. citizens are among the voters removed in Virginia’s controversial purge
NPR By Jude Joffe-Block
Anna Dorman, an attorney for the nonprofit Protect Democracy which advocates for voting rights, said she has reached "numerous" citizens on the list of 1,600 voters and said there are signs "a lot of these people are citizens who have been unlawfully purged under this program."
A message from President JD Vance
Mother Jones By David Corn
Not since the Civil War has there been such an expansion of voting rights. We will expand our Family Protection Program to include the criminalization of puberty-blockers and gender-changing surgeries for children that allow misguided and malevolent doctors to play God.
NBA, WNBA players and teams look to get out the vote in a bitterly divided country
New York Times By David Aldridge
The NBA's Social Justice Coalition, a grouping of players, team governors, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, has focused on legislation at the state level in areas of criminal justice, voting rights, policing and community safety.
An Economic Freedom Argument in Western Pennsylvania
The Prospect By Luke Goldstein
Before running for office, he was a legal counsel and policy expert at University of Pittsburgh, specifically on election security and voting rights. Along with democracy reforms at the ballot box, Deluzio has equally focused his attention on economic democracy in the workplace.
We should know the next president quicker than 2020. But it still might not be Tuesday.
Politico By Zach Montellaro
This year, the vast majority of states do allow for ballot preprocessing, according to a tracker from the Voting Rights Lab.
How Autocrats Game the Rules of Democracy
New York Times By Amanda Taub
Begin, perhaps, with the fact that the United States was not a full democracy until after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Voters will decide on nearly 150 ballot measures next week. Here are the ones to watch.
NBC News By Adam Edelman
And voting rights groups have argued it is designed to galvanize conservative turnout and counter enthusiasm for the state’s abortion rights proposal. Economy and crime Several states will also allow voters to decide on an array of proposals related to economic issues and crime.
Protect Democracy - Video Highlights - October 29, 2024
How the John Lewis Voting Rights Act Protects Democracy | Now This Impact
What is the Freedom to Vote Act?
With the Freedom to Vote Act, we can finally take action against some of the largest issues plaguing our democracy. It will protect the right to vote, end partisan gerrymandering, combat election subversion, and decrease the power of big moneyed special interests. Together we can realize a democracy that represents, reflects, and responds to all of us.
TOPLINES
Freedom to Vote Act and Voting Rights:
Since the 2013 Shelby v. Holder SCOTUS decision, we have less federal voting rights protections than in the decades before.
We must ensure the freedom to vote for all Americans to have our vote counted and voice heard.
The Freedom to Vote Act will modernize our voting system and prevent blatant attempts to silence our voices so that we all have the freedom to vote
The Freedom to Vote Act helps dismantle barriers erected to keep Black, Indigenous, young and new Americans from voting, including long lines and eliminated polling places, targeted restrictions to registration, and overt voter intimidation.
Freedom to Vote Act and Money in Politics
We must build a campaign finance system that ensures our elected leaders listen to every American — not just the rich and powerful.
Our current pay-to-play system silences the voices of Black, brown, young, and new Americans and gives unchecked power to the wealthy few.
The Freedom to Vote Act tackles corruption by ensuring that our government works for us by reducing the influence of big money in politics and increasing ethical standards for our elected officials.
In order to make progress on the issues that Americans care most about such as, health care, racial justice, reproductive rights, and environmental justice, we must build a system that serves the people, rather than the interests of the rich and powerful.
Freedom to Vote Act and Election Sabotage:
The Freedom to Vote Act would set new national standards for voters to safely and freely cast our ballots, ensure that trusted local election officials count every vote, and prevent partisan politicians from sabotaging our elections.
State Anti-Voter Bills
With states across the country working to pass bills that attack our freedom to vote, we need national standards to ensure that we all have equal access to the ballot.
These restrictive voter policies are designed to disenfranchise black, brown, and indigenous communities, as well as people with disabilities, college students, low income voters, and more.
We need federal government action to ensure that the will of the people prevails.
Rights Restoration for Felony Disenfranchisement
Restoring the freedom to vote for formerly and currently incarcerated Americans would allow them to fulfill an important civic duty, help those released to successfully re-integrate into their communities, and make us all safer. (Additional Talking points from Stand Up America)
Disenfranchisement disproportionately impacts the vote of Black and Brown communities.
Progress has been made on the state level, but we need to enact federal legislation securing every American’s right to vote.
People Power United’s Statement on Protecting Democracy
In response to recent MAGA shenanigans to suppress votes and stop voting rights bills like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act from passing, People Power United - a progressive grassroots group - issued the following statement:
“America's democracy is under attack as the MAGA agenda seeks to undermine our democratic institutions, erode the rule of law, and strip away the rights that ensure every voice is heard and every vote counts. There is no power like that of the people, and People Power United stands ready to protect our communities against any and all injustices,” said Laurie Woodward García of People Power United.
People Power United will continue to oppose such harm to our community and champion civil rights for all.
Join us to build People Power! Together, we can champion our rights, freedoms, and democracy, hold our leaders accountable to the people's will, and inspire voters to make a meaningful difference.
Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests)
People Power United | In this community, we will always speak out against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism, elitism, transphobia, misogynoir, and bigotry! Check out our 2023 recap post to see how impactful our scrappy People Power United group is!
People Power United is a group of community members that champions progressive values and power for the people.