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33 weeks to Midterm Elections

The AoC Checklist features clear, well-researched actions for Americans who value democracy, equality, voting, and decency. We are a big tent for all people who want a kinder, flourishing nation.

If you only have 10 minutes, take our top three suggested actions:

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In this edition of the AoC Checklist:

Contact your senators

Check the box if you made contact–whether for one issue or all–so we can count your action. Contacting your senators’ staffers with multiple concerns is more efficient for both of you. They don’t mind, but be sure to contact both progressives and conservatives. They need to hear from you.

Look up your senators here.

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

Your script: Hi, I’m from [ZIP] calling/writing about several issues. I’d like Sen. [NAME] to:

Contact your House representative

Check the box if you made contact–whether for one issue or all–so we can count your action. Contacting your representative’s staffers with multiple concerns is more efficient for both of you. They don’t mind, but be sure to contact both progressives and conservatives. They need to hear from you.

Look up your House representative here.

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

Your script: Hi, I’m from [ZIP] calling/writing to ask Rep. [NAME] to pass additional COVID funding to improve access to testing, treatment, and medications like Evusheld and Paxlovid. [Source: Little Lobbyists]

I value demo­­­­cracy

With respect and collaboration, we work to create a nation that welcomes all people, expands freedoms, and upholds the Constitution. Each citizen must be able to freely and fairly elect those who represent their values.

Action 1: Stop election subversion in your state.

Source: Voting Rights Lab

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

If you live in AK, AL, AZ, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, WA, WI, or WV: Contact your state legislators (look up).

  1. Find the pending bill(s) in your state in this legislation tracker
  2. Urge your state legislators to vote NO on the bill(s).

Script: Hi, I’m a resident of [ZIP], concerned that [STATE] has pending legislation that will interfere with election administration. [BILL NUMBER(S) FROM TRACKER] subvert(s) election administration to overrule the voters of [STATE]. Can I count on [NAME] to keep our elections free of partisan interference and vote NO on this legislation? Thank you.

If you live elsewhere: Sign up to phonebank for Common Cause to help get out the vote, recruit poll workers, and more. Spanish speakers are also needed.

I value equality

Support the dignity of your rainbow of neighbors from every religion, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, age, and ability.

Action 2: Disarm violent intimate partners.

Source: Moms Demand Action

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

Contact: President Biden via the White House contact form or at 
President Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Script: Hello, I’m reaching out from [STATE] because, in the U.S., around 70 women each month are shot and killed by an intimate partner. While convicted domestic violence offenders who are spouses, co-habitants, and/or fellow parents are prohibited from owning or purchasing a firearm, “dating partners” face no such restrictions. I am asking the Biden Administration to close the “dating partner loophole” in our federal laws, and protect women from gun violence by intimate partners.

Alternative: Sign the Everytown for Gun Safety petition.


Action 3: Advocate for pay transparency.

Source: AoCC

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

Contact: Your two state legislators (look up).

Script: Hi, I’m contacting you from [ZIP] to express my support for pay transparency laws which have been shown to reduce the gender and racial pay gap. In 2021, women in the U.S. worked 3-12 months more to earn the same pay for the same work as white non-Hispanic men. Black, Latina, and Native American women worked 21-24 months longer. I’m asking [NAME] to pass and enforce pay transparency laws in our state to close this unjust pay gap. Thank you.

Bonus: If you live in CA, CO, CT, MD, NV, RI, or WA, your state already has pay transparency laws. Send your governor a thank-you. (look up)


Action 4: Stop construction of a toxic petrochemical plant.

Source: Sharon Lavigne

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

Contact: President Biden via the White House contact form or at 
President Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 2050

Script: Hi, I’m contacting you from [STATE] to express my opposition to the Formosa Plastics plant construction in St. James Parish, LA. Pollution from petrochemical plants is proven to have devastating effects on people who live nearby, and this facility would pollute a predominantly Black community, disturb unmarked burial sites of formerly enslaved people, degrade wetlands, and deepen the plastic pollution crisis. I’m asking President Biden to honor his commitment to environmental justice and revoke Formosa Plastics’ permits today.

Donate: To Stop Formosa Plastics

Sign Up: To participate in other ways.


Action 5: Protect agricultural workers from slave labor.

Source: United Farm Workers

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

Since 2015, a network of agricultural organizations has trafficked more than 100 Mexican and Central American people into the U.S., forcing them into exploitative labor and deplorable living conditions while threatening them with violence and deportation. The conspirators carried out this modern-day slave trade through fraudulent use of the federal H-2A program. The Biden Administration must conduct a thorough audit and investigation of the H-2A program and implement policies to stop these abuses immediately.

Sign: The UFW petition (adjust your email preferences before submitting).

Acts of Grati­­­­tude

Signatures to the forms below will be printed with a letter of thanks from Americans of Conscience, and mailed to the recipient 2 weeks after the Checklist publication date. Your information will not be stored after that date.

Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!

Thank your USPS mail carrier. Leave a note on top of your outgoing mail (or thank them in person) for their work distributing free COVID-19 test kits, handling all the mail ballots during the 2020 elections, and their daily efforts to distribute mail despite policy decisions that made their jobs harder.

Bonus Gratitude Action: Thank your local postmaster

Call: your post office (look up number here) to find out your postmaster’s/station manager’s name and an appropriate mailing address.


Thank Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–NY) for holding a vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, which intended to enshrine abortion and reproductive rights into federal law.

If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: 322 Hart SOB, Washington, DC 20510

Good News

As Americans of Conscience, we celebrate!

Progress on issues previously included in the Checklist

  • Federal appeal court rules that the Biden administration can’t use Title 42 to justify expelling aspiring American families when doing so would subject them to persecution or torture.
  • The Biden administration terminates Title 42 expulsions of unaccompanied minors.
  • The Violence Against Women Act is reauthorized as part of the omnibus spending bill.
  • Denver expands a successful pilot program that dispatches mental health teams, instead of police officers, to certain 911 emergency calls.

Tribal

  • U.S. court acknowledges that New York illegally claimed 2,000 acres of Mohawk land in the 1800s.
  • The reauthorized Violence Against Women Act includes strong tribal provisions advocated for by Indigenous rights organizations, including the restoration of tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians for certain crimes.
  • Kody Grant, enrolled Pueblo of Isleta and Eastern band of Cherokee and member of American Indian Initiative, will portray historical figure Oconostota at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

National

State

  • AZ state senators block several election reform bills that would have weakened election integrity.
  • IN State Senate will not vote on an education bill that would prevent historically and culturally accurate curricula from being taught in public schools.
  • OR grants $150M toward summer enrichment programs for students.
  • TX: Court blocks state agencies from conducting unnecessary and invasive investigations of trans youths’ parents.
  • WY’s legislature rejects a bill that would ban accurate and inclusive history lessons in public schools.

Local

Corporate/business

Groups and organizations

  • ACLU and Lambda Legal sue TN over a state law prohibiting transgender high school athletes from playing on the team that best matches their gender identity.
  • Attorneys Bob Bauer and Ben Ginsberg create the Election Official Legal Defense Network, which provides pro bono legal advice to election officials facing threats.
  • Over 450 healthcare providers denounce a FL ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
  • Black Lives Matter Global Network and cultural architecture firm Trap Heals hold their UPLIFT art and concert series in celebration of Black Futures Month.
  • Providence, RI students walk out of class in protest of state and national legislation that harms and discriminates against trans people.

News with heart


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Housekeeping

  • Jen’s message: Read this week’s Inspiring Message.
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