Happy Tuesday, Activists!
119 DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION
We know what we’re up against. We know why we have to fight so hard. And we know how to do it -- we do it together! Let’s get busy. For inspiration and purpose, read to the very end.
Soon we will announce our plan for the run-up to the November election. We’ll have actions in the week of July 27 as part of Indivisible’s Week of Action, to beat Trump, flip the Senate, and save democracy. More on our plans soon.
MOVIE NIGHT – JULY 15, 7:00 PM
Join us next Wednesday to watch Ava Duvernay’s stunning documentary 13th, which examines the direct connections between slavery and modern-day mass incarceration. Sign up here.
We’ll be watching “together” using Netflix Party, allowing us to sync up the experience and "chat" during the movie. It's easy! You'll just need to install Netflix Party in your Chrome browser on your laptop or desktop (sorry, tablets and phones won't work).
Sign up and we'll send you the simple instructions to get set up!
You’ll see more on the 19th Amendment from us very soon.
In the meantime, you can watch this two-parter from PBS tonight marking the 100th year anniversary of passage of the 19th Amendment, giving American women the right to vote. "The Vote tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote — a transformative cultural and political movement that resulted in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history.”
CALL TO ACTION See our previous calls to action on our website here.
Sen. Casey – Phila office 215-405-9660; D.C. office 202-224-6324; email link
Sen. Toomey – Phila office 215-241-1090; D.C. office 202-224-4254; email link
PASS THE HEROES ACT!
1. Demand our Senators pass the Heroes Act without watering it down.
Unemployment insurance benefits from the CARES Act are set to run out on July 31. We must extend and expand coronavirus relief legislation -- vulnerable people across the country are depending on it. Plus the Act funds the Postal Service to ensure secure voting by mail. Read here about the Heroes Act and its protections and call our Senators to demand they pass it.
2. Calling on all creatives and activists who want to show their stuff!
While COVID-19 cases continue to rise in states across the country, too many states lack the resources to ensure safe and accessible voting this fall. We the Heroes Act to be passed in the Senate. So here’s your chance as activists, artists, and creators to make your voice heard by participating in a Democracy Open Mic. Record a video, create a protest sign, design a graphic – the possibilities are endless – and post it on your social media and tag our Senators and tell them to pass the Heroes Act!
PASS D.C. STATEHOOD
Good news – the House passed the D.C. Statehood bill last week! A historically Black city, D.C.’s lack of statehood is a remnant of Reconstruction when racist white politicians sought to prevent the District’s plurality of Black residents from gaining political power. You can read more detail in last week’s newsletters here, here, or here.
PHONE BANKING – BUCKS COUNTY – IT MATTERS!
You may remember meeting Gary Spillane in our February meeting. He is running to flip State House District 144 in Bucks County. Sign up here to phone bank tomorrow at 6:00 with a quick optional training at 5:30. Sign up here.
Phone banking has become the best way to convince voters to cast their ballots now that we can’t go door to door. So sign up to make the difference you want to see!
POSTCARDS
For those of you already writing Vote By Mail postcards with us, THANK YOU!!! Many of you have also invited your friends to join the team, which is awesome! THANK YOU again!
One more thing you can do is post an easy invite on your social media and ask your contacts to join too. Simply copy and paste the text below into your post (including the web link)
Skip the lines. Fight voter suppression. Mail-in voting is how we will stop Trump. Join me and over 350 volunteers writing postcards to voters to encourage Vote By Mail. Here is how to join this awesome team – Click this link to sign up to win in November!
We are targeting areas with low VBM sign-up rates. These are typically underserved communities of color and areas of high COVID-19 rates as well. We believe these are areas we can have the most impact.
Here’s how it works:
1. You buy pre-stamped postcards from the Postal Service either at your local post office or online at this link. They are 39 cents each and we recommend you buy 50 postcards.
2. We will send you the instructions for writing the postcards, the script, and the addresses.
3. You’ll write the postcards and mail them as they are completed.
4. Join a Zoom postcard party or write cards at home on your own. It all helps! You can also Zoom office hours to say hi and answer questions, and some other fun stuff along the way. See below.
Click this link to sign up.
Virtual Postcard Events
For easy access, all of our events are at this link.
Every Wednesday Virtual Cards & Coffee – See you tomorrow!
Sign up for any Wednesday – Pick the date you want when you sign up, 11 am to 1 pm (stay for as long as you want). Sign up here.
Every Thursday Virtual Cards & Cocktails
Sign up for any Thursday – Pick the date you want when you sign up. 6-8 pm (stay for as long as you want). Sign up here.
Every Sunday Brunch Office Hours, 12-2 pm. Sign up here.
Sign up for any Sunday's Office Hours. You can drop in just to say hi, you can write postcards, ask some questions you might have, shoot the breeze, or have brunch with us, whatever. And if you haven’t signed up yet you can stop by and ask what it’s all about. We’ll be there!
Check out these fantastic postcards!
Here are just a few of the thousands of postcards going out from over 350 volunteers: from Doris (on the left) and Sue (on the right). We love the colorful highlighting, which makes them more likely to be read. Thank you all!
Check out these inspiring young post-carders!
They're writing with their mom, Meena, another of our great volunteer writers. She said she and the kids "couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate July 4th than by writing our postcards!" The kids’ message: “We can’t vote because we are 5 & 9 years old, so please vote for our future!”