55 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:
- Action 2: Support voter participation, prevent voter purges.
- Action 1: Spread confidence in election security.
- Action 4: Include methane-producing industries under the Clean Air Act.
In this edition of the AoC Checklist:
- Senate actions: What we’re calling our senators about.
- House actions: What we’re calling our House reps about.
- Action 1: Spread confidence in election security.
- Action 2: Support voter participation, prevent voter purges.
- Action 3: Support Indigenous academic achievement.
- Action 4: Include methane-producing industries under the Clean Air Act.
- Action 5: Advocate for a pathway to citizenship.
- Say Thanks: Acts of Gratitude
- Check out Good News from around the nation
- How you can support and share the AoC Checklist
Call your senators
Check the box that you called–whether for one issue or all–so we can count your action. Calling your senators’ staffers with multiple concerns is more efficient for both of you. They don’t mind, but be sure to call 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:
- Support Black mothers’ health and close disparities in maternal health outcomes by passing S. 346, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. [Source: blkwomenshealth]
- Pass a modernized Violence Against Women Act to restore tribal jurisdiction over non-Indigenous perpetrators of harassment and abuse. [Source: National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center]
- Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4), restoring the power of the Voting Rights Act to prevent racist voter suppression. [Source: Brennan Center]
- Cosponsor the National Security Powers Act (S. 2391), a bipartisan bill to restore congressional oversight of military action. [Source: Project on Government Oversight]
Call your House representative
Check the box that you called–whether for one issue or all–so we can count your action. Calling your representative’s staffers with multiple concerns is more efficient for both of you. They don’t mind, but be sure to call 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:
- Advocate for Black mothers’ health and close disparities in maternal health outcomes by passing H.R. 959, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. [Source: blkwomenshealth]
- Cosponsor the National Security Reforms and Accountability Act, a bipartisan bill to restore congressional oversight of military action. [Source: Brennan Center]
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: Spread confidence in election security.
Source: Bipartisan Policy Center
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your local election officials (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m a resident of [ZIP] and am concerned that false claims of fraud create mistrust in elections. I ask that you spread clear, factual information about how votes are counted, certified, and secured in our community. Please speak up to strengthen voters’ trust in elections. Thank you.
Action 2: Support voter participation, prevent voter purges.
Source: Brennan Center
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your state’s Secretary of State (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m a resident of [ZIP] calling to urge you to adopt the Brennan Center’s guidelines for cleaning up voter rolls. Around the nation, purged voters are not receiving ballots nor being informed they have been erroneously removed. Voting is a sacred right. Your office must prevent erroneous purges and ensure that eligible purged voters can cast a ballot that counts. Thank you.
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 3: Support Indigenous academic achievement.
Source: Brett Mooswa, AIS
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Indigenous comedian Brett Mooswa is partnering with American Indian Services to fund a $5000 scholarship for Indigenous youth. In Brett’s words, “We can make this happen—together.”
Action 4: Include methane-producing industries under the Clean Air Act.
Source: Public Justice Food Project
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) via the Ask a Question Form.
Script: Hello, I’m contacting you from [STATE] to encourage the regulation of industrial meat and dairy companies. These operations account for 13% of total U.S. methane emissions, and their current environmental practices negatively and disproportionately impact people in rural and marginalized communities. I am asking the EPA to protect people’s health and our environment by listing and regulating industrial dairy and hog operations under section 11 of the Clean Air Act.
Action 5: Advocate for a pathway to citizenship.
Source: United We Dream
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
The Biden administration has proposed a rule to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program from future legal challenges. While this rule would help to lessen uncertainty for thousands of aspiring Americans, it falls short of laying out a pathway to citizenship and ensuring work permits.
Submit a public comment through Regulations.gov. Scripted comments are not counted. In your own words:
- Let DHS know why you support preserving and expanding eligibility for the DACA program, which provides deportation protection and work permits for nearly 600,000 Dreamers.
- Advocate for including a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, so Dreamers can live in this country without the stress of biannual renewals and fear of deportation.
- Call for the incorporation of work authorization into the protections, to ensure DACA recipients aren’t blocked from obtaining work permits in the future.
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 the Biden administration for taking a step to protect farm workers from extreme heat with a new set of OSHA guidelines.
Write: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
New! Complete the form, and AoCC will send a letter to President Biden with your name on the list of signatures.
Thank Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R–GA) for countering election disinformation and continuing to affirm the integrity of the 2020 election in Georgia and nationwide.
Write: 214 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334
Or! Complete the new form, and AoCC will send a letter to Brad Raffensperger with your name on the list of signatures.
Good News
Decent people everywhere are speaking up and working together. Just look. #GoodNews
Progress on issues featured in the Americans of Conscience Checklist
- Indigenous communities celebrate the Biden administration’s decision to restore the previous boundaries of sacred lands, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
- DHS cancels several construction contracts for a physical barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Since February, the Family Reunification Task Force has helped to reunite 52 families separated under the prior administration.
- Two more detainees are scheduled to be transferred out of Guantànamo Bay prison.
National
- President Biden declares October 11, 2021 to be Indigenous Peoples’ Day, marking the first time the White House has officially recognized the holiday.
- President Biden declines the previous president’s request to withhold White House records from the committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
- Under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, her department will begin identifying federal waters to lease to wind developers by 2025.
- HUD launches the House America initiative to provide federal guidance and funding to local, state, and tribal governments’ effort to reduce homelessness.
- USDA establishes an Equity Commission to address historical discrimination and disparities in the agriculture sector.
- Social Security benefits will rise 5.9% in 2022, the largest increase in four decades.
- The vaccination racial gap is narrowing among Black and Hispanic communities.
State
- AL: Federal court blocks enforcement of state laws against panhandling, which will lead to fewer arrests of already-struggling people.
- CA permanently institutes universal distribution of vote-by-mail ballots.
- CA passes a suite of legislation supporting the rights and safety of aspiring American communities.
- CA will provide free menstrual products in public schools.
- CO: A county clerk is stripped of her election responsibilities after changing passwords and making unauthorized copies of a county server.
- FL: Federal court blocks enforcement of a state law that would have penalized social media platforms from permanently banning users who violate the sites’ terms of service.
- NY: Upstate New Yorkers are celebrating that the Canadian border will open for Canadians next month.
Local
- Black residents of Evanston, IL can apply for reparations grants through the city’s Restorative Housing Program.
- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti introduces several policy initiatives intended to rectify and honor the city’s relationship with its Indigenous people.
- Albuquerque seeks to save lives by sending social workers to address mental health, substance abuse, or homelessness issues previously handled by police.
Corporate/business
- The Atlantic spotlights Plan C, an affordable but little-known option for at-home abortion care.
- Footwear company Minnetonka apologizes for appropriating Native American culture and brings on Adrienne Benjamin (Anishinaabe) as a reconciliation advisor.
- The CEOs of six major fossil fuel companies will testify before Congress about their role in spreading climate disinformation.
Groups and organizations
- 39 civil and immigration rights organizations urge the Biden administration to stop expulsions of asylum-seeking people from Haiti and oppose the administration’s appeal of a federal court ruling that would have stopped additional expulsions of asylum-seeking families.
- RAICES launches their Rural Legal Services team to assist aspiring Americans living in rural Texas in accessing legal services while fleeing abusive and dangerous situations.
- Republicans for Voting Rights launches a national billboard campaign denouncing “sham election audits that delegitimize the democratic process.”
- Immigration rights groups hold a national day of protest on October 14 to uplift the demands for humane treatment of people seeking asylum and other aspiring Americans.
News with heart
- Dozens of people work together to rescue a leatherback turtle from a Cape Cod beach.
- MN commits $1.3 million to training Native teachers, hiring curricular experts on Native American history, and connecting schools with Native students and families.
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions eliminate student debt using funds from the CARES Act.
- Emmy-winning performers can now choose to have the gender-inclusive term “performer” inscribed on their award statue and certification instead of binary “actress” or “actor.”
- Engineer Marian Croak and ophthalmologist Patricia Bath are inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, becoming the first Black women inducted in the organization’s five-decade history.
- Contestant JoJo Siwa and professional dancer Jenna Johnson perform on Dancing with the Stars, becoming the show’s first same-sex dance partners.
- Switzerland votes in a nationwide referendum to legally recognize same-sex marriage.
To Support the Checklist
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Housekeeping
- Gratitude: Big thanks to our editor Jennifer Brunton, to our team of writers and researchers, and to our happy gnome farm of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram volunteers. Thanks also to our amazing patrons and donors who make creating the Checklist sustainable.
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- Schedule: There’s a new Americans of Conscience Checklist every first and third Friday of each month.
- Community Workparty: Here is this week’s recording.
What can we do to support abortion rights? My state, California, is doing well, but legislatures in other states are trying hard to eliminate abortion rights. Those decisions are being made in places where I’m not a voter or constituent. It looks like the new Mississippi law will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, but I not at all hopeful of the results. What can we do? How can we have a voice?
The desire to control people’s bodies is everywhere. I’m confident there are people in your own state who cannot access abortion care due to regional suppression (eastern side of the state, for example), age, economic status, or immigration status.
If you want to do immediate good, I recommend researching how communities in the states most affected are responding and support them through advocacy and donations (if you’re able).
What’s most important is to commit to the long game. The effort to block abortion care has been underway since before Roe v. Wade. It’s important to focus not on moving the needle overnight, but committing to the journey toward every person having sovereignty over their own body.
Thank you for adding the easy to complete Thank you form. It makes it so much easier to say ‘thank you’ for Acts of Gratitude 🙏
You’re so welcome! It’s been in the works for a while and we’re thrilled to make it easier to speak up!