VOTE on (or before) November 6: What’s At Stake

Contributed by Action Groups.

Artwork by Sarah Bush. Posters available. Donations welcome.

Maybe we don’t have to give you more reasons to vote, but maybe we can encourage you to step up your efforts to get your family, friends and community to increase their efforts to GOTV. As of this writing, polls are saying that Republicans are narrowing the gap in the number of voters planning to head to the polls – so much so that the Blue Wave may not happen after all. Right now, all of our civil rights are being attacked and eroded. Here’s a small sampling of what’s at stake:

• Vulnerable rights include Workers’ Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, Women’s Rights, Prisoners’ Rights, Students’ Rights, First Amendment Rights, and Minority Rights.
• The Right to Vote is on the line! Voters’ names are being purged from the rolls, and voting is being made less accessible for many poor, minority, and elderly voters. In NJ, people who are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole are denied the right to vote. Note: NJ denies the right to vote to 94,000 people with criminal convictions, and  three-fourths of those are on parole or probation, which means they are living in their communities. While 15% of NJ’s population is black, 50%of those denied the right to vote are black). Gerrymandering dilutes the power of individual votes.
• Immigrants’ Rights are on the line! Nationally, we need to end family separations, end the detention of children, protect families, and protect individuals’ rights to due process! Locally, we need protections for all of our residents in our communities and protections for towns and cities who are identifying as Fair and Welcoming Communities or as Sanctuary Cities. We need to grant driver’s licenses to people without documentation.
• The Federal Judiciary will be instrumental in interpreting voting laws that protect all citizens’ right to vote, gerrymandering challenges, and all civil rights! As the Trump administration packs federal judicial vacancies, our rights are weakened. All civil rights are at stake! Get out and vote to protect all of our rights!
• The effectiveness of the 2020 census, which drives billions of dollars that come into communities from the federal government, and helps ensure accurate voting districts that foster true democratic representation in the electoral process. The effectiveness is currently compromised by inadequate oversight, including the necessary resources for outreach and cybersecurity.
• Public safety with protection from gun violence and the protection of our natural resources, including clean land, air and water. What kind of world do you want to live in?

What’s important to you and at risk? Use it to have the conversations to drive awareness and personal responsibility to ensure those who are given the power to govern actually deserve it.