Help Our Community

Happy Saturday, Activists!

We hope you're having a good weekend so far and had a happy Halloween!  Sadly, here's no kidding about the horror show that's happening to our country's most vulnerable people.  So we have a plan to help our communities and we hope you'll join in.  And of course, with an important election happening in four days, we have ideas for you to help get the vote out.  

HELP OUR COMMUNITY

Republicans shut down the government rather than pass a funding bill to stop Trump’s healthcare cuts, price increases, and authoritarian misuse of our tax dollars. Funding ran out last night at midnight, and the government will remain in a Trump Shutdown until a bipartisan agreement that can clear the 60-vote filibuster is reached.

The result?  Now, health insurance premiums are projected to double for millions of Americans. And 42 million working families will lose the benefits that keep them fed - their SNAP benefits. Forty percent of these folks are children.

So we have a plan to help our community members receive food access that is harder to find because of the SNAP cuts.  And Indivisibles all across Pennsylvania have also set up food programs to help.

We have set up a fundraising page at Philabundance devoted to food assistance. Your donations go straight to Philabundance to help them deliver food where it is needed.  You can donate for a specific type of food or just donate the dollar amount you choose.  Everything helps!  

Check it out here and sign up to donate.

Thank you for being part of this important program!

CALL TO ACTION

Meanwhile, we need to insist that our Democratic Representatives hold the line.  Call and thank them for their leadership and commitment in defending the enhanced ACA premium tax credits/subsidies and standing with families at risk of seeing major premium increases, and for defending SNAP benefits.  They must continue opposing any budget that lets Trump’s healthcare cuts and price increases take effect, or that hands him a blank check to keep terrorizing our communities.  

And tell them Indivisible groups across Pennsylvania are donating to food banks, and holding community actions like food drives and volunteer shifts to reinforce that the community will step up as federal supports are threatened.

We also need to hold Republicans accountable for shutting down the government and throwing the country into chaos – all to appease their wannabe king.  

If you want more detail about the impacts of these cuts to the ACA, check out our earlier newsletter at this link. 

Call Senator McCormick and tell him Republicans are responsible for ending the shutdown and all the devastating impacts caused by it. They own it!   Demand they stop the partisan games and do their jobs - negotiating a bipartisan budget deal that protects healthcare and ends this Trump Shutdown.

And call Senator Fetterman and impress on him that he must stand with his Democratic colleagues and take a stand against how the regime is harming people and what the skyrocketing cost of healthcare will do to his constituents.

Here are the contacts to call and write:

Sen. McCormick – Phila office 215-405-9660; D.C. office 202-224-6324; email link

Sen. Fetterman – Phila office 215-241-1090; D.C. 202-224-4254; email link

For outside PA:  Find your senators’ phone numbers and emails at this link.

BALLOT &  ELECTION DAY INFO

Here is our all-encompassing informational piece (thank you Christy!) about this election, how the unusual voting works and why.  And of course the candidates on the ballot, with some helpful information about them. The most important races are of course the statewide judicial races for PA Supreme Court, Commonwealth Court and Superior Court.  Check it out for yourself and share with your friends and neighbors. 

Mail-in Ballot and Election Day tips --

1.  Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th. Polls are open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.  If you are in line by 8:00 you can still vote.  Find your polling place at this link.

2.  If you have signed up to vote by mail, you can check your ballot status at this link.

3.  Your voted Mail-in Ballot must be received by the Election Board by 8:00 pm on Election Day.  Avoid any trouble with your ballot by filling it out correctly.  Here's is Spotlight PA's complete guide to filling out and returning your mail ballot.  Again track the status of your application and ballot at this link.

4.  It's too late to mail your ballot.  Just drop it in a drop box.  Here is the list of drop boxes for Philadelphia.

5.  Find your polling place at this link.

6.  If it is the first time you have voted in your division (at your polling place) you must show ID.  This is the long list of IDs you can use.

7.  More information is at Linktr.ee/VotePHL or call these numbers – 877-868-3772 or 215-686-3469.

8.  Want to vote at the polls after receiving your mail-in ballot? You can!  Take it to the polls (with the envelopes) and they’ll take care of you. 

9.  If you have any problems at the polls at all, you can always vote on a provisional ballot. It will be counted. 

GET VOTERS OUT FOR THE NOVEMBER 4th ELECTION

Here's what you can do to help elect and retain our good justices and judges. 

Donate directly to the justices campaigns on their websites -- 

Dougherty's is here;  Donohue's is here;  Wecht's is here.

CANVASS TO VOTERS

Canvassing is the gold standard for convincing voters to vote.

Canvass to voters in Northeast Philly!

Sign up here to see the dates and for more information.

PHONE BANK TO TALK TO VOTERS!

There's still plenty of time to phone bank and talk to Pennsylvania voters about this election.  Sign up and make a difference! 

Turn PA Blue has phone banks on zoom every day through Monday.

Sign up for a shift here. 

Red To Blue and One PA are hosting one more phone bank to get out the vote.  

When:  This Sunday, 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Where:  Zoom

Sign up here.

HELP CURE BALLOTS!

Many voters make mistakes with their ballots that need to be corrected to be counted.  Historically, PA Democrats have used mail ballots more than twice as often as Republicans. If the ballots are not fixed, or "cured," they are not counted.

Our friends at VoteProPros are running ballot cure canvasses.  Voters are first contacted by phone but if they don't answer then the cure canvassers go to their homes to explain how to fix their ballot and that's where you come in.  You will have the chance to actually help a voter have their vote counted when it otherwise wouldn't be. 

Canvassing goes to Election Day so sign up here to volunteer.

BE A POLL OBSERVER ON ELECTION DAY

Poll observers will be placed outside of key precincts to watch for, report, and triage issues voters have while attempting to vote (e.g. long lines, being turned away, electioneering, etc). This is a non-partisan role that will not involve talking to voters about who is on their ballot.   Sign up here

JOIN LEAFLET PHILLY

Check out our upcoming leaflet for November from Wednesday's newsletter at this link. 

Read all the details and how to sign up.

And One More Thing:

Want to promote the No Kings campaign?  You can always sign up to get our No Kings t-shirt here, to wear any time!  Donate $35 for each one at this link. 

Did someone forward this newsletter to you?  Sign up here to get it in your inbox.