🏠 Stay Home, Take Action and Join Us for our April 14 Virtual Meeting!
JOIN * RESIST * ACT * VOTE
>>> Weekly News & Actions <<< April 6-12, 2020
This year, it’s not enough to vote. Since 2017, we've marched, rallied, resisted and fought to win back the House in 2018. In 2020, Indivisible Evanston is working hard to win back the White House, the Senate, Wisconsin and to keep our gains here in Illinois. CLICK HERE for a full list of all our 2020 activities. Then join us to take action for a blue Wisconsin, Illinois and United States. EVEN DURING THIS CRISIS WE CAN STILL TAKE ACTION FROM HOME!
Dear Evanston Indivisibles,
We hope this newsletter finds you safe, healthy, and well, and that you're able to care for and be cared for by loved ones in person or virtually.
Three key messages:
Join our very first virtual Zoom conference meeting on April 14 at 7pm.
Check out the information below to see how to register (limited to 100 people). We've got some powerful speakers lined up...including Indivisible Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors Ezra Levin & Leah Greenberg!
Virtual Activists volunteering with the Democratic Party of WI: Thank you!
Thank you for your incredible efforts manning voter hotlines and text/phone banking to reach WI voters. The results are expected to be reported 4/13. GO Judge Jill Karofsky for WI Supreme Court!
The pictures of Wisconsin voters literally risking their lives to fight for their democracy made us scream and cry. In the coming weeks, we are sadly going to see just how many people get infected, hospitalized, and die due to the GOP’s carelessness.
We saw the Republican legislature and conservative judges from the WI & United States Supreme Court take extraordinary steps to try to help conservative Judge Dan Kelly win this election over Judge Jill.
This is the that playbook Trump & GOP will try to throw at us in November, so we have our work cut out for us.
As they do for us, we hope that these actions help give you a sense of hope and purpose during this pandemic. See opportunities below in our newsletter and on our Indivisible Evanston website.
Be well and hang in there.
In solidarity and resistance,
Indivisible Evanston Leadership Team
Kathleen, Laura, Leslye, Rosie, Steve and Susan
APRIL 14 VIRTUAL MONTHLY MEETING: Ensuring Safe, Secure Elections During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Beyond
Since we can't meet in person, we have moved our April Monthly Meeting online to a Zoom video conference meeting! Coming off the recent events in Wisconsin and the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic, we decided that the meeting's theme will be: "Ensuring Safe, Secure Elections During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Beyond."
We're really excited about the panel of local, regional and national experts and activists we've assembled to talk about voting rights, election security, election integrity, reaching voters and more. They will also will address how this pandemic crisis is impacting voting and elections, and what can be done about it between now and November. We have included a link below to submit questions in advance that will be asked of the speakers by IE leaders. Our panelists are:
Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors, Indivisible. Speaking about the aspects of the People's Bailout that focus on making our elections safer and more accessible, especially the actions we can take now to increase access to, planning and funding for increased voting by mail in November.
David Kronig, Director of Voter Protection of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin: Report on the WI primary and next steps towards increased voter protection in WI.
Reid McCollum, Postcards to WI and MI, Coalition for a Better IL-6: Update about our next campaign: sending 2 million postcards to WI and MI voters by November.
Rosemarie Colacino, Director of Election Security Voters’ Rights, Indivisible Illinois: Update on about national and state of IL vote by mail efforts to make voting safer and more secure in November.
Linda Tate & Bob Best, Indivisible Evanston Wisconsin Voter Registration. Report on their WI voter registration efforts (Milwaukee program) and next steps.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. When you join the meeting, you will first be placed into a virtual waiting room, and you will be muted. We will begin the meeting when a sufficient number of people have entered the waiting room. As soon as the meeting starts, you will be brought into the meeting and you will continue to be muted. We will have opportunities for your questions (pre-submitted) to be asked of the speakers. Please click below to submit a question. Space is limited too 100, so please sign up ASAP!
If you need help with Zoom, please email IE Co-Leaders Rosie Rees or Leslye Lapping and they can walk you through signing up and getting started.
Last week, Indivisible launched a new partnership with VoteFWD; a nationwide letter-writing campaign to reach voters in key states before the November election, maximize impact, and increase turnout.
We fast-tracked VoteFWD because so many folks are stuck at home and looking for ways to stay engaged and active. This is a great way to focus on the things we can control, like building voter turnout in key states ahead of November.
WRITE POSTCARDS TO VOTERS
FLORIDA VOTE BY MAIL ENROLLMENT
Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast. The last campaign we shared with you was for Judge Jill Karofsky in Wisconsin (thank you to all of you who wrote cards at home!).
The current campaign we are working on is to send postcards to Florida voters in Miami-Dade County to remind them that they can vote by mail. Learn more and sign up here to sign up to write postcards, receive addresses and start writing postcards to voters in Florida! Once you have signed up for this campaign, you are qualified to get addresses for all forthcoming campaigns.
We know that the coronavirus is scary, and we’re all making sacrifices to minimize any further spread of the virus. We have seen some states make the very difficult decision to postpone primary elections in an effort to reduce community spread of coronavirus. But we can’t let this public health crisis impede the functioning of our democratic processes. That’s why we’re recommending states start now to build alternatives to in-person voting so that nothing will put the administration of the November presidential election at risk.
Expand early in-person voting and no-excuse absentee vote-by-mail to all states.
Require states and jurisdictions to establish a publicly available contingency plan to enable eligible Americans to vote in the case of an emergency.
Require the Election Assistance Commission to create a domestic version of the federal write-in absentee ballot.
Require that all states provide envelopes with prepaid postage to all voters who request a voter registration application, absentee ballot application, or absentee ballot, and require that all states offer and accept online absentee ballot applications.
Require absentee ballots to be counted if postmarked or signed before the close of the polls on Election Day.
Provide money to states to implement these reforms.
Looking for an Activity?
Fill Out Your CENSUS REPORT Today!
It's quick and easy. The 2020 Census questionnaire will take about 10 minutes to complete.
It's safe, secure, and confidential. Your information and privacy are protected.
Your response helps to direct billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities for schools, roads, and other public services.
Results from the 2020 Census will be used to determine the number of seats each state has in Congress and your political representation at all levels of government.
Please join us as we pivot to the November election that will determine the direction of our country, our democracy, and even our own personal health and safety for decades to come.
• We believe party unity and a more progressive platform are the real winners after our robust Democratic primary season.
• We congratulate Vice President Joe Biden as our presumptive 2020 nominee for President of the United States.
• We also are grateful for the incredibly diverse field of candidates and their supporters who kept this nomination process about policy and how the government can best serve the people.
• It is the voters who have spoken during this nomination and, as supporters of the democratic process, we will rally behind their decision.
Take the Indivisible Pledge if you have not done so yet...Bernie & Joe did! Sign up here to take the pledge...
• Rally behind the winner. Support the presumptive Democratic nominee — period. No Monday morning quarterbacking. No third-party threats.
• Do the work to beat Trump. We’re the grassroots army that’s going to power the nominee to victory, and we’ll show up to text/phone bank, write letters/postcards &, demand a safe election, and we’ll do whatever it takes.
Whether you supported Biden or another candidate as your first choice, know that this process has pushed the party and its nominee in a progressive direction.
• We can make sure Biden will run in November on the most progressive platform in history. Does this mean the platform is as progressive as our members would prefer? Of course not. Does this mean that Biden will be a better president than Trump? Unquestionably.
• Winning in November is not the end of our journey. Defeating Trump will not defeat Trumpism. Indivisibles will continue to push the Biden administration and our future Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate to support all communities in accordance with our progressive principles.
Update: we will not be meeting at Page 1 Books and will hold a virtual book club online. Please register for the meeting on SignUp Genius and then we will email you the info to sign up for the meeting on Zoom. Thank you!
Our next book selection is: "The Fifth Risk" by Michael Lewis. This book is especially relevant now, given that it is about the Trump administration making our country and citizens more vulnerable to greater risk with government positions left empty, cronyism, and anti-government ideology. More information about the book and author HERE.
If you have not purchased your book, you can do so online from Page 1 or order your audio version withLibro.fm. Evanston Public Library is also offering temporary library cards online, so you can check it out as an ebook. The discussion will moderated by IE's Co-Leader Laura Tanner Swinand either online. Thank you!
On behalf of Indivisible Evanston and the Postcards 2 Wisconsin Campaign, THANK YOU for the hundreds of hours you have spent writing these thousands of postcards. This is a giant step toward VICTORY in November!
Postcards 2 Wisconsin reached their goal to send 600,000 postcards to WI voters for the April 7 primary. Next up, the goal is to send 2 million postcards to voters in Wisconsin AND Michigan - also a critical swing state -- before November.
Please chip in to help out with printing and distributing this next wave of cards, which we estimate will start going out in May. Thank you for making a donation if you can -- even $10 helps us reach 194 more voters!
Congress has now passed three coronavirus-related response bills. While these bills have temporarily filled in important gaps in our paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, and health care systems, they are grossly insufficient given the magnitude of the current crisis. What’s worse, in return for helping people who are desperately in need of support, Trump and his Republican allies demanded hundreds of billions of dollars in unaccountable corporate bailouts.
This crisis isn’t over and soon Congress will likely have to pass at least one additional response package. We need to continue demanding that any coronavirus response legislation puts people’s needs ahead of corporate profits — in other words, we need a People’s Bailout.
Take these actions below to demand a People's Bailout:
Join the Payback project: Record a video on why Republican Senators in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia should be replaced.
Register Voters: Remind your friends, family and social media networks to register to vote!
Ensuring Safe, Secure Elections Call Page: Call your Senators to demand they cosponsor the “Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act” to assist states in expanding vote-by-mail for this November’s election.
Ensure Safe, Secure Safe Elections Soapboxx: Record a video to your Senators to demand they cosponsor the “Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act” to assist states in expanding vote-by-mail for this November’s election.
SEE LISTINGS ABOVE FOR MORE DETAILS & to sign up for specific events.
For our most up to date news & daily actions, like our page on Facebook and check in often. Make sure to follow and retweet us on Twitter, follow us on Instagram, and add us to your email contacts!
Indivisible Evanston Mission Statement
The mission of Indivisible Evanston is to resist Donald Trump's attempt to replace our democracy with authoritarian plutocracy. We do not expect our members or our allies to agree on all issues, but we invite those who agree that the Trump presidency is harming our country to work together on issues of common concern. We seek to be as inclusive and diverse as possible, and we are committed to non-violence in all our actions. Note: We are so happy that you attend our events, but please understand that attendance is at your own risk, and we assume no liability for injury.
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER, LINKS TO ACTIONS & OUR LATEST NEWS
