Plan of action - march 31, 2017

Voting Rights

Voting rights are generally played out on the state level. There are a number of states considering legislation which will make it either easier or more difficult for citizens to vote. For example, a bill has been introduced into the Texas House which would enable voters to register on election day, while West Virginia has an upcoming bill which would require Voter ID. Voter ID laws are generally thought to have a chilling effect on the Democratic vote.

Action:

• Go to this website: https://www.ourstates.org/.
  
• Click on “Voting Rights.”
  
• If your state is blue, pink (salmon?), or striped, click on your state.
  
• A window will open, showing you any proposed legislation which will affect voting rights.
  
• If you haven’t already looked up your state representative and senator’s contact information and stored it in your phone, go ahead and do that now.
  
• Contact your state representative or senator to ask them to support or oppose the legislation, depending on what it is.
  
• If your state is grey, it means there’s no upcoming voter rights legislation; pick another issue from the menu on the left hand side and communicate regarding that instead.
  
• Oddly, Louisiana, Wyoming, and Utah seem to have no significant legislation at the moment - if you’re from one of those states, Google around to see if you can find out any hot button issues.