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.
This Week’s Actions
Action 1: Protect all Americans against voter discrimination.
Source: Brennan Center
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your one House representative (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m contacting you from [ZIP] to urge you to pass H.R. 14, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. A previous version of the bill passed the House in 2021 with bipartisan support, restoring key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Nearly 70% of Americans support this bill across all demographics and political beliefs, so I urge you to ensure its passage.
Bonus Action: Call your two senators (look up) and ask them to reintroduce and pass companion legislation to H.R. 14.
Action 2: Support the 1st Amendment and the freedom to read.
Source: PEN
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your two senators and your one House representative (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m reaching out from [ZIP] to urge you to pass [H.Res. 733/S.Res. 372], a resolution calling attention to the troubling increase of book banning in public libraries and schools nationwide. October 1-7 is Banned Books Week. Restricting press is a threat to democracy. Can I count on [NAME] to protect the First Amendment, oppose book bans, and pass this important resolution?
Action 3: Support our unhoused neighbors.
Source: National Alliance to End Homelessness
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your one House representative (look up).
Script: Hello, I’m from [ZIP] and deeply concerned that if HUD’s affordable housing and homeless assistance programs are underfunded in 2024, there will be devastating impact in our communities. With rising housing, food, and transportation costs, homelessness rates have skyrocketed by about 6% every year since 2017, affecting nearly one million Americans. Please follow the Senate’s example and pass a bipartisan House bill to increase housing access and assistance.
Action 4: Safeguard scientific integrity in policy making.
Source: Brennan Center, Union of Concerned Scientists
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your state legislators (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m a resident of [ZIP], asking you to pass legislation that implements recommendations by the Union of Concerned Scientists to protect [STATE]’s residents from policy decisions based on manipulated or falsified scientific evidence, specifically:
- Adopt scientific integrity policies.
- Require public access to publicly funded research and data.
- Require that agencies rely on the best available science and consider equity for underserved communities in the policymaking process.
- Ensure professionalism, diversity, and ethical standards for science advisory committees.
Action 5: Advocate for fair tax treatment of Americans abroad.
Source: American Citizens Abroad
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your one House representative (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m from [ZIP], reaching out to ask you to pass H.R. 5432, the Tax Simplification for Americans Abroad Act. American citizens who live outside the U.S. are taxed twice for several categories of income and face uniquely burdensome filing requirements. Please pass this bill to eliminate double taxation and streamline the filing requirements for American taxpayers who live abroad.
Action 6: Improve access to permanent legal status for protected youth.
Source: AILA
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your two senators and one House representative.
Script: Hello, I’m contacting you from [ZIP] in support of a streamlined pathway to citizenship for people with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Instead of being placed in the employment-visa system and facing years of uncertainty waiting for approval, they must be granted priority for entry into the U.S. I’m asking [NAME] to co-sponsor the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act, [S. 1885/H.R. 4285], to exempt vulnerable aspiring Americans from employment-based visa caps.
Action 7: Preserve the safety of elections during emergencies.
Source: UCLA School of Law Safeguarding Democracy Project
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your state legislators (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m reaching out from [ZIP] to ask you to pass legislation providing clear rules for conducting elections in emergencies. Elections will be safer when directives are in place, including determining who has the authority to declare an emergency and what steps should be taken. As a nation, we proved that we could hold free and fair elections during a pandemic. What is [NAME] doing to enact definitive rules to ensure we’re prepared for future disasters and emergencies?
Acts of Gratitude
We believe in gratitude as a tool for change. We will print a letter of thanks from Americans of Conscience with your signature and mail it to the recipient. Your information will be removed from this website no later than four weeks after the Checklist’s publication date.
Thank vendors Election Systems & Software, Hart InterCivic, and Unisyn Voting Solutions for ultimately and transparently ensuring the security of election machines and software.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use these addresses:
ES&S: c/o Katina Granger, 11208 John Galt Blvd., Omaha, NE 68137
HIC: P.O. Box 80649, Austin, TX 78708
UVS: 2310 Cousteau Ct., Vista, CA, 92081
Good News
If you find good news for democracy, equality, and the planet, share it with us here!
- The Resighini Tribe of Yurok People, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, and the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria regain stewardship of nearly 700 square miles of their ancestral ocean and coastal lands.
- A federal court orders two officials from the previous administration to testify in a lawsuit brought by families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border regarding the policy and its resulting trauma.
- Rosemarie Hidalgo is confirmed as director of the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women, making her the first Senate-confirmed head of the office in over a decade.
- About 472,000 additional people from Venezuela living in the U.S. can now apply for work permits and temporary relief from threat of deportation.
- An individual who played a central role in the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol faces legal consequences.
- IRS audits of the exorbitantly wealthy are good for the economy, according to research by economists and the Treasury Dept.
- CA allocates $15 million for schools to acquire commercial dishwashers for reusable foodware and eliminate single-use materials.
- IL abolishes cash bail resulting in justice for people jailed without trial.
- NE can access nearly $11 million of federal funding to modernize the electric grid.
- NY protects students’ privacy and civil rights by banning facial recognition technology in schools.
- WA requires disclosure of the use of deepfakes in political ads.
- Seaton Elementary in Washington, DC earns the Human Rights Campaign’s Seal of Excellence for their inclusive LGBTQIA+ initiatives.
- Toledo’s public library launches a civic engagement page on their website where library patrons can register to vote and engage in other civic processes.
- 500 produce farmers in NY join the United Farm Workers union.
- Ricardo Alberto Maldonado is appointed as executive director and president of the Academy of American Poets, becoming the first Latino to hold the position.
- NYU students can access emergency contraceptives at vending machines around campus.
- Matthias Weniger of Germany’s Bavarian National Museum works to return silver pieces to their rightful owners seven decades after the items were stolen by Nazis.
- Mexico decriminalizes abortion nationwide.
Need inspiration?
- Read this week’s inspiring message from Jen: Democracy in Distress: Unpacking America’s Top 5 Threats (with Hopeful Next Steps)
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