4 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:
- Senate Actions: Support mothers, abortion access, and the climate.
- Action 3: Preview your local ballot, candidates, and ballot measures.
- Action 2: Write postcards to get out the vote.
In this edition of the AoC Checklist:
- Senate actions: What we’re contacting our senators about.
- House actions: What we’re contacting our House reps about.
- Action 1: Verify your voter registration to ensure you can vote in November.
- Action 2: Write postcards to get out the vote.
- Action 3: Preview your local ballot, candidates, and ballot measures.
- Action 4: Encourage three friends to commit to voting.
- Action 5: Prevent voter suppression and discrimination at the polls.
- Action 6: Advocate for equitable healthcare coverage across the nation.
- Action 7: Offer refuge to people from Ethiopia.
- Say Thanks: Acts of Gratitude
- Check out Good News from around the nation
- How you can support and share 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.
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:
- Bring the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (S. 4431) to the Senate floor for a vote to prioritize pregnant workers, women, and families. [Source: National Women’s Law Center]
- Pass the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act (S. 1658) to increase workplace breastfeeding accommodations and protections for lactating workers. [Source: MomsRising]
- Pass S. 2512, the Supreme Court Ethics Act, to create a binding code of conduct for the most powerful judges in the U.S. [Source: Brennan Center]
- Pass S. 4573 to reform the Electoral Count Act, and harmonize it with recently passed H.R. 8873 to clarify the roles of Congress and the vice president in certifying electoral votes. [Source: Brennan Center]
- Repeal the Hyde Amendment to expand access to abortion coverage, regardless of socioeconomic status. [Source: SisterSong]
- Vote Yes on the bipartisan National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Act (S. 3531) to protect communities from climate-fueled disasters. [Source: AoCC]
- Reauthorize the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (S. 1275) to support Indigenous women and ensure their access to critical shelter and supportive services. [Source: FCNL (Quakers)]
- Pass the Afghan Adjustment Act (S. 4787) that provide a pathways to lasting safety and permanent protection for newly-arrived Afghan people. [Source: RAICES]
- Support the Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 bill and update the registry date to make green cards more accessible for long-time community members. [Source: Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project]
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 about several issues. I’d like Rep. [NAME] to:
- Pass H.R. 4766, the Supreme Court Ethics Act, to create a binding code of conduct for the most powerful judges in the U.S. [Source: Brennan Center]
- Pass H.R. 8685, the Afghan Adjustment Act that provides a pathway to lasting safety and permanent protection for newly-arrived Afghan people. [Source: RAICES]
- Support H.R. 8433, Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929, and update the registry date to make green cards accessible for long-time community members. [Source: Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project]
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.
Have more time to get out the vote? Check out our complete list of fall 2022 voting actions here.
Action 1: Verify your voter registration to ensure you can vote in November.
Source: AoCC
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Although purging voter rolls within 90 days of an election is illegal, efforts to suppress voters are present. With midterm elections only four weeks away, confirm you’re still registered to vote today.
Visit: Vote.org.
Action 2: Write postcards to get out the vote.
Sources: MomsRising and The Civics Center
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Democracy is on the ballot this fall. Since close elections can be won or lost by a few votes, writing a note to a registered voter could be the difference! AoCC doesn’t endorse candidates, so only non-partisan organizations offering postcard-writing options are listed below.
- Moms Rising
- The Civics Center (encouraging younger voters)
Action 3: Preview your local ballot, candidates, and ballot measures.
Source: Vote411.org and ballotpedia.org
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Unsure of which judge or city counselor to vote for? Become an informed voter. Visit vote411.org and ballotpedia.org to find nonpartisan information about who and what is on your ballot this November.
Action 4: Encourage three friends to commit to voting.
Sources: When We All Vote and National Voter Education Week
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Research shows that asking friends to vote boosts voter turnout, so share your voting plan with three friends, and ask them to commit to voting this November. You are more likely to vote if you make a concrete plan for when, where, and how you will cast your ballot.
Ask in person or use this tool: At Rock the Vote.
Action 5: Prevent voter suppression and discrimination at the polls.
Sources: Common Cause and 866-OUR-VOTE
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Sign up to be a nonpartisan Election Protection volunteer. From your home, get training to track online disinformation and/or help voters navigate voting rules by staffing voter hotlines. Sign up here.
Bonus: Share Election Protection’s voter hotline numbers on social media, so fellow voters know where to call to get help.
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 6: Advocate for equitable healthcare coverage across the nation.
Source: Center on Budget
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Call: Your two senators and one House representative (look up).
Script: Hello, I’m reaching out from [ZIP] asking [NAME] to support closing the health care insurance “coverage gap.” Twelve states have failed to adopt the 2014 ACA Medicaid expansion, leaving more than two million Americans without affordable health and reproductive care coverage. I know [NAME] supports racial and economic justice. In these non-expanded states, please support federally legislated coverage that allows people to enroll in subsidized plans. Thank you.
Action 7: Offer refuge to people from Ethiopia.
Source: Human Rights First
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Department of Homeland Security, 2707 Martin Luther King Jr, Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20258-0525 or via the DHS Comment Line: 202-282-8495.
Script: Hello, I’m contacting you from [STATE] urging you to support extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to people from Ethiopia. The republic is currently experiencing a catastrophic humanitarian disaster with armed conflict, violence against civilians, ethnic cleansing, torture, arbitrary arrests, gender-based violence, and destruction of public infrastructure. This violence is creating food insecurity, lack of access to medicine and fuel, and unsafe living conditions, which are all exacerbated by the worst drought in decades. I join with the 113 humanitarian organizations in asking you to immediately designate TPS to Ethiopians seeking asylum or living in the U.S.
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.
Thank Dr. Robert D. Bullard for decades of advocacy for environmental justice and civil rights, and especially calling for watchdogs to ensure the $60B newly earmarked for environmental justice by Congress goes to improve communities which historically bear the worst effects of pollution and the climate crisis.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: Texas Southern University, 3100 Cleburne St., SPA/COLABS SUITE 402 AJ, Houston, TX 77004
Thank the activism resource organization Witness for publishing a toolkit on how to legally film immigration enforcement violations and hold ICE and CBP accountable for abuse.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: 80 Hanson Place, 5th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Good News
If you find good news for democracy, equality, and the planet, share it with us here!
National
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the SCOTUS in U.S. history, attends her formal investiture as an associate Supreme Court justice.
- The EPA creates a national office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, focusing billions of dollars and new actions to help BIPOC communities fight pollution and the climate crisis.
- 19,000 new citizens participate in more than 235 naturalization ceremonies across the nation during September.
- Eligible applicants from Burma can remain in the U.S. following the extension and redesignation of their Temporary Protected Status through May 2024.
- CBP agents are instructed to stop unnecessarily removing, confiscating, and trashing the sacred turbans of Sikh individuals seeking asylum.
- The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy releases a Blueprint for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bill of Rights, a step toward ensuring that technology is used to enhance, not undermine, civil rights.
State
- CA revises its paid leave wage-replacement formula, making it easier for low-wage earners to take family and disability leave.
- CA passes a bill to protect farm workers from intimidation and deportation in union elections.
- MT court strikes down three laws that restricted voting in the state.
- PA state court rules that counties can help people who voted by mail to fix small problems with their ballots.
- TX court confirms that the state Attorney General must get permission from local prosecutors before prosecuting cases of suspected voter fraud.
Corporate/business
- American Girl debuts a new historical character doll, Claudie, from the Harlem Renaissance.
- Ben & Jerry’s and Black Voters Matter recognize National Voter Registration Day and the power of Black voters with a rebrand of their “Change is Brewing” flavor.
Groups and organizations
- Welcoming Schools provides resources to address bullying behavior and foster allyship among students.
- Planned Parenthood opens their first mobile abortion clinic to expand access to care in places where patients can’t exercise their reproductive autonomy.
- The Conference of Chief Justices, representing the top state judicial officers in the nation, files a brief with SCOTUS opposing the Independent Legislature Theory.
News with heart
- Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) gave us a laugh this week in her “about this bill” description.
- Iranian women, girls, and allies protest against the government’s discriminatory gender laws and other abuses.
- Joan Baez shares her version of “We Shall Overcome” with lyrics in Farsi, in a tribute to the Iranian women and men protesting for a kinder and thriving Iran.
- Virginia high school students walk out of class to protest the governor’s plans for policies defying the rights of transgender students.
- Musician Megan Thee Stallion launches a mental health resource website, highlighting organizations that specifically support Black women and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
- Ventriloquist Megan Piphus Peace becomes Sesame Street’s first Black woman puppeteer.
Have you learned of good news for democracy and equality? Share it here so we can include it in the Checklist!
To Support the Checklist
The AoC Checklist helps you speak up to create a better democracy for all and is always ad-free and no-cost. Share the Checklist with like-hearted friends and consider becoming a patron.
Please Share
- Share: Follow us and share the Checklist on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with this link.
- Inspiring message: Read and share this week’s inspiring message with exciting news from our partner Kat Calvin at Spread the Vote / Project ID.