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Saturday, January 30, 2021
An urgent note, before this month’s deadline
I'm feeling hopeful.
Diane,
The years since Donald Trump took office have been incredibly dark, but I'm finally starting to feel hopeful about our future again. Americans came together to defeat the most significant threat our democracy has faced in a long time. On top of that, we delivered unified control of the House, Senate, and White House to Democrats for the first time in 10 years.
That's a lot to be proud of. But even still, I spend a lot of time thinking about this quote from President Obama:
He's right. As hopeful as I feel about our future given the potential we have to make big, positive changes in the next few years, I'm also fully aware that all of the progress we're able to make is just one election away from being rolled back.
Make no mistake: Republicans haven't gained a newfound love of democracy, voting rights, and fair maps after losing the White House and the Senate. In fact, the GOP organized Project REDMAP to help gerrymander their way into past majorities when they couldn't win them fair and square. This time around, we're already seeing renewed attempts from the GOP to suppress the vote in states that saw record turnout, like Georgia.
I'm proud to say that my colleagues and I at the NDRC will be working hard to stop Republicans from locking themselves into unearned power for the next decade. But all of our work depends on support from people like you, Diane.
If you're able, please make a donation today to help us reach our $50,000 end-of-month goal and keep up our fight for voting rights and fair maps:
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Thank you,
Erika Sanchez
Digital Director, NDRC
Since 2017, the NDRC has executed a comprehensive redistricting strategy that shifts the redistricting power, creating fair districts where Democrats can compete. Our victories have been made possible by our strong community of grassroots supporters.
If you want to stay up-to-date with our fight for fair maps, text MAPS to 36787. Text HELP for help, STOP to end. Msg & Data rates may apply.
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Friday, January 29, 2021
We need to address the erosion of accountability
We need to address the erosion of accountability in our government. Any effort to diminish the power of a vote -- whether through overt acts of voter suppression or by gerrymandering district lines -- makes it harder for constituents to hold their elected officials accountable.
All On The Line is working to strengthen voting rights, reform redistricting, and restore accountability in our democracy. I hope you'll support their efforts, Diane.
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Last time I wrote to you, I told you about the coordinated effort to gerrymander maps in 2011 and how it was a direct response to our grassroots movement for change in 2008. And unfortunately, we are seeing a similar pattern emerge again today after record-breaking voter turnout.
Earlier this month, Georgians voted in a much-watched runoff election -- an election structure that was introduced in the state during the last gasp of the Jim Crow era, in order to dilute the collective political power of Black voters. Yet despite this -- and despite the other forms of voter suppression deployed against them -- Georgia voters made their voices heard and cast their ballots in record numbers during the runoff. This is a testament to the resilience of voters and the collective strength of grassroots organizers who engaged, registered, and mobilized their communities.
But once again, progress has been met with obstruction. Within days of the runoff election, state legislators and election officials in Georgia were proposing new efforts to dismantle access to voting across the state.
What's happening in Georgia not only illustrates our history of voter suppression and discrimination based on the color of our skin, but also tells the story of how people working toward the collective good can dismantle these oppressive systems.
For years, we've witnessed the erosion of our democracy due to corruption, extreme partisanship, and attempts to uphold systems of oppression. But despite the challenges we face in rebuilding our democracy, there is hope -- and a clear path forward.
And it starts with comprehensive democracy reform: strengthening voting rights, reforming redistricting, and instituting higher ethics standards in our government. These are commonsense reforms that a majority of Americans support.
All On The Line is leading a grassroots advocacy campaign calling on Congress to adopt democracy reforms. Can I count on you to chip in to support this grassroots call for accountability?
Thank you for being involved in this grassroots movement,
Barack Obama
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| This email was sent to: awolofa@yorkteaparty.org. |
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Accountability after a failed insurrection
The Shape of Things: Accountability after a failed insurrection
Immediately after the attack on our Capitol, 147 representatives and senators voted against certifying election results in an attempt to reject millions of ballots and overturn the election results. And they did so while continuing to peddle dangerous misinformation about election fraud.
While President Trump faces an impeachment trial for his role in inciting a seditious mob, some of these other enabling, complicit politicians may avoid accountability from voters -- gerrymandering may protect them at the ballot box in their next election.
How lawmakers enabled undemocratic behavior
Half of the representatives who voted against certifying ballots represent states with gerrymandered districts such as Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Ohio.
The collective myth of widespread voter fraud is not only enabled by this lack of accountability -- but extreme partisan representatives in gerrymandered states also use it to justify voter restrictions and perpetuate weakened accountability.
It's part of the reason politicians like Jim Jordan, Joe Wilson, Troy Nehls, and Barry Loudermilk supported efforts to overturn the election. Silencing voters to maintain power is baked into their strategy.
Our Shape of Things series raises awareness about how gerrymandered districts impact our communities and also our ability to hold politicians accountable for their role in undermining our institutions. Will you make a $15 recurring donation to support our efforts?
139 members of the House of Representatives voted to silence millions of Americans who legally cast ballots. 43 of those members represent districts that are gerrymandered. Here's a snapshot of how four of them -- Jim Jordan, Joe Wilson, Troy Nehls, and Barry Loudermilk -- played a role in inciting the failed insurrection.
1. OH-04 Jim Jordan
- Jim Jordan was one of the loudest proponents of the seditious "stop the steal" rhetoric. While he has since tried to claim he never said the election was stolen, there is mounting evidence to the contrary -- including a tweet saying "Democrats are trying to steal the election" and his presence at a "Stop the Steal" rally in Pennsylvania two days after the election.
- In the final days of his presidency, Trump thanked Jordan for his blind allegiance with a Medal of Freedom -- citing misinformation Jordan peddled during Trump's previous impeachment related to manipulating election results.
2. SC-02 Joe Wilson
- Perhaps best known for heckling President Obama at the State of the Union address, Joe Wilson's resume also includes serving as a former County Election Commissioner -- which makes his steadfast commitment to objecting to the Electoral College certification even more disturbing.
- In a statement issued days before the failed insurrection, he referenced this experience as an election worker -- presumably to lend credibility to his decision to object to the election results. In the same statement, he cited multiple false claims of voter fraud and Texas A.G. Paxton's failed lawsuit to get the Supreme Court to overturn the election.
3. TX-22 Troy Nehls
- After echoing lies about voter fraud and even performatively asking Speaker Pelosi to investigate "voting irregularities" -- Nehls tweeted this the day before the attack: "I will OBJECT to the counting of electoral votes in disputed states tomorrow. You sent me to Congress to fight for President Trump and election integrity and that's exactly what I'm doing." The reality, of course, is that he's undermining election integrity.
4. GA-11 Barry Loudermilk
- Loudermilk publicly announced his intention to object to certifying results after trying to perpetuate the myth of fraud in Georgia -- even after the Republican Georgia Secretary of State completed an audit of absentee ballots in Cobb County (a region Loudermilk represents).
- His refusal to accept facts from an election official -- even one from his own party -- helped sow the "big lie" conservatives were perpetuating in the final days before the attack.
Elected officials who try to undermine our democracy need to face consequences. That includes facing voters at the ballot box fairly. We must ensure representatives have to answer to a broad and diverse electorate and not a constituency that's cherry-picked through gerrymandering.
Our grassroots movement is actively pursuing immediate accountability by demanding the resignation of the 147 representatives and senators who attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election. We're also working to create long term accountability and credibility by advocating for democracy reform through bills like the For the People Act and the John Lewis VRAA.
We're kicking our efforts into the next gear. Will you make a recurring donation right now to support our work in Georgia, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and states across the country?
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Gerrymandered districts have given partisan politicians "safe" reelections that help them hide from consequences.
This year, we have a chance to directly address and end one of the ways these politicians gained power in the first place: gerrymandering.
Thank you for all you do,
The AOTL Team
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| Contributions or gifts to The National Redistricting Action Fund are not tax deductible. | |
| This email was sent to: awolofa@yorkteaparty.org. |
The white supremacist history of voter suppression
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Time and time again, systems of white supremacy are created or reinforced as a reaction to progress on the road to racial equity -- from the Jim Crow voting laws instituted after ratification of the 15th Amendment, to the coordinated effort to gerrymander maps immediately following the election of our first Black president.
Voter suppression is rooted in racism. Just look at Georgia.
The current runoff system in Georgia was first implemented in 1963 after the Supreme Court ruled that the state's previous electoral system unfairly diluted the power of Black voters in cities like Atlanta in violation of the 14th Amendment. But the new system didn't fix the problem of inequity; it continued it. Not only is the runoff system a relic of the Jim Crow era, the segregationist state legislator who proposed adopting the runoff system later admitted he was "racially prejudiced" and some of his political activity was "racially motivated".
Immediately following the 2008 election, conservatives invested heavily in winning state legislative races in order to control redistricting. Their efforts were successful -- for the first time ever, Republicans controlled the Georgia redistricting process. The resulting gerrymandered map was described by John Lewis as "an affront to the spirit and the letter of the Voting Rights Act."
In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted key protections in the Voting Rights Act that helped prevent voter suppression. Since then, hundreds of polling locations have closed in Georgia, we've seen unprecedented efforts to purge voters off registration rolls, and voters have experienced hours-long lines in areas with more voters of color.
Despite all these obstacles, Georgians set voter turnout records in November 2020 and again in January's runoff election -- thanks to the tireless efforts of Black grassroots organizers who worked to engage, register, and turn out their communities in record numbers.
But as President Obama has warned, one good election will not eliminate threats to our democracy.
Conservative state legislators in Georgia have already committed to restricting absentee voting and eliminating ballot drop boxes -- key provisions that make voting more accessible. It is not a coincidence that after 15 years of no-excuse absentee voting in Georgia, conservatives are calling to end the practice after an election cycle when high Black turnout was the deciding factor of their party's losses.
We need to restore accountability in our government. Right now.
Ending gerrymandering in states like Georgia is essential to breaking the cycle of voter suppression and restoring accountability in our democracy. Help All On The Line train and empower grassroots volunteers to peacefully and effectively hold politicians accountable.
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Demand accountability: Add your name to demand the resignation of the 147 representatives and senators who attempted to overturn election results -- after the violent insurrection that disrupted the peaceful transition of power.
Submit a letter to the editor: Help educate your community about democracy reform. We've drafted a template LTE about how the For the People Act can help restore our democracy. Our tool will let you customize the letter and submit it to your local newspaper.
Contact Congress: The U.S. House of Representatives reintroduced the For the People Act (H.R. 1) which would provide much-needed democracy reforms on redistricting, voting rights, ethics, election laws, and election security. Our tool will connect you with your members of Congress and provide suggested language on how to advocate for this bill.
Make a donation: All On The Line is committed to training and empowering grassroots activists to peacefully and effectively hold politicians accountable. We appreciate the generosity of grassroots donors who help make our work possible.
Forward this email to a friend: This grassroots movement is strengthened every time someone joins our collective call for accountability and an end to gerrymandering. Forward this email to a friend who you think might be interested in learning more about democracy reform.
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| Contributions or gifts to The National Redistricting Action Fund are not tax deductible. | |
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