18 days 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 5: Encourage others to vote.
- Action 6: Support abortion access for all veterans in any state.
- Action 1: Support what we do at AoCC.
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: Support what we do at AoCC.
- Action 2: Protect voting rights in the U.S.
- Action 3: Prepare to vote.
- Action 4: Vote early if possible.
- Action 5: Encourage others to vote.
- Action 6: Support abortion access for all veterans in any state.
- 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:
- Support S. 1275, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021, to support culturally appropriate supportive services for domestic violence survivors. [Source: The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center]
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:
- Co-sponsor and pass H.R. 8450, the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act, to expand the availability of free meals for children in school and day care. [Source: Food Research & Action 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: Support what we do at AoCC.
Source: AoCC
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
This Checklist will never be behind a paywall. Patrons support us so we all can be part of the movement toward justice and democracy. Would you like to join them?
Contribute: Consider $3 per month to support AoCC.
Action 2: Protect voting rights in the U.S.
Source: AoCC
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
We collected 13 actions you can take to strengthen the people’s voice through voting.
See our complete list of fall 2022 voting actions here.
Action 3: Prepare to vote.
Sources: League of Women Voters, Ballotpedia
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Prepare for the polls by finding out who and what is on your ballot. Research candidates and ballot initiatives at Vote411.org and Ballotpedia’s Sample Ballot Lookup tool.
Action 4: Vote early if possible.
Source: 866-OUR-VOTE
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Early voting for the midterms has begun in many states. Look up your state’s early voting rules. Every ballot cast early reduces long lines on Election Day, and spreads out the workload for election officials.
Action 5: Encourage others to vote.
Sources: Center for Common Ground, Common Cause
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 in the midterms.
Bonus: Sign up to take part in a non-partisan get-out-the-vote text or phone bank, such as the ones organized by the Center for Common Ground.
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: Support abortion access for all veterans in any state.
Source: MomsRising
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Write: The Honorable Denis McDonough, Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20420, or via email at Denis.McDonough@va.gov
Script: Hi. I’m from [ZIP] and I’m calling about the fact that abortion rights are currently at risk in our country. I would like to thank the VHA for recognizing this vital issue by ensuring access to abortion care for veterans in cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the pregnant person is endangered. While this is a critical step to ensure access to health care, the VHA should expand abortion access to all veterans, regardless of circumstances.
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 Bexar County, TX Sheriff Javier Salazar for certifying that the aspiring Americans flown to Martha’s Vineyard by FL’s governor were victims of a crime, making them eligible for U visas and preventing their deportation.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff’s Administration, 207 N. Comal St., San Antonio, TX 78207
Thank Shipt CEO Kamau Witherspoon for partnering with the League of Women Voters to get voting information out to the public and supporting the League’s important work.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: 17 20th St. North, Suite 100, Birmingham, AL 35203
Good News
If you find good news for democracy, equality, and the planet, share it with us here!
Tribal
- Five tribes (the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, the Resighini Rancheria, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians) reclaim their right to manage 200 miles of modern-day CA’s coastal land.
National
- Congress passes and the president signs the Bulk Infant Formula to Retail Shelves Act.
- President Biden pardons everyone with federal convictions for marijuana possession, urges governors to follow suit on state possession charges, and calls on his administration to review how the drug is classified under federal law.
- USPS prepares to deliver 2022 midterm ballots efficiently via extra deliveries and collections, special pickups, expanded hours at processing facilities, and fast-tracking ballots to election officials.
- USDA addresses historical discrimination in farming via a program that will make available $2.2 billion to farmers who have faced discrimination from the agency in the past.
- Small farms receive nearly $800M in loan relief from the USDA under the Inflation Reduction Act.
- The EPA launches two new online tools that empower citizens to monitor environmental compliance in their communities.
- Monica Medina is named the U.S.’s first special envoy for biodiversity and water resources to protect the earth’s multiplicity of plants and animals.
- Judge Andre Mathis is appointed to serve on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, becoming the first Black man from TN to serve there.
- Three people face consequences for the federal hate crime killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
- Incarcerated people will be eligible for Pell Grants to fund higher education.
- Adelina “Nina” Otero-Warren, women’s voting rights activist, first Latina to run for Congress, and first Latina superintendent of Santa Fe public schools, is featured on the U.S. quarter.
- Anna May Wong, Hollywood’s first Asian actress, will be the first Asian-American featured on U.S. currency.
State
- CT: Federal officials will again recognize CT pardons as legally valid and stop deporting people who have been pardoned by the state board.
- GA: County elections officials cannot challenge voter eligibility while voters are actively casting their ballots.
- NE: A man faces legal consequences for threatening CO’s Secretary of State.
- NC court rules that election officials must count voters’ mail-in ballots if the signature on their ballots does not exactly match the signature on file in their voter registration record.
- NV’s Confidential Address Program helps survivors of domestic abuse register to vote while keeping their information private.
- OH: Court blocks the state’s abortion ban indefinitely.
- OR launches a pilot program to ensure kids are continuously enrolled in Medicaid up to age six.
Local
- Aspiring Americans can access shelter, food, showers, laundry, and phones at NYC’s Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center.
- Boston bans artificial turf in parks due to its dangerous chemicals.
- Court orders Bexar County, TX to operate at least 129 more Election Day polling sites.
- Minneapolis and St. Paul reduce greenhouse gas production by 741 metric tons and save $2.6M on transportation costs through the renewably powered Evie Carshare program.
- A grand jury investigates the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept.’s handling of a deputy who committed a violent act against an imprisoned person.
Corporate/business
- Court determines that Dominion Voting Systems can sue parent company Fox Corp., as well as Fox News Network, for defamation over the network’s 2020 election coverage.
- Chemical company Mallinckrodt U.S. LLC must pay to remove mercury from the Penobscot River.
- PBS features two children’s shows starring Latina girls: Rosie’s Rules and Alma’s Way.
Groups and organizations
- Inside Wire, the nation’s first and only statewide prison radio station, is broadcast to all of CO’s correctional facilities and streamed online to the public.
- People serving life without parole at Louisiana’s Angola prison share their stories in their own words through the Visiting Room video archive project.
- People imprisoned across AL hold a labor strike to protest the state’s parole and sentencing laws and living conditions inside facilities.
- To counter anti-abortion rhetoric, the MYA Network shares images showing what actual early pregnancy tissue looks like.
News with heart
- Billionaire Mackenzie Scott makes a $84.5M donation to the Girl Scouts of the USA to benefit councils around the U.S.
- The total number of women registering to vote in 10 states increased by about 35% after SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade.
- The majority of parents and guardians of public school students are happy with their kids’ education.
- The “Water Memories” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the significance of water in Native Americans’ life and art.
- NASA astronaut Nicole Mann (Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes) travels to the International Space Station, becoming the first Native American woman in outer space.
- Angelica Ross stars as Roxie Hart in Chicago, becoming the first openly transgender performer to play the role on Broadway.
- Cheynne Prevatt, 26, braves chest-high flood waters from Hurricane Ian to check on a stranger’s elderly mom after her daughter called for help on social media.
- Throwback: Remember when kindergartners offered pep talks and encouragement in a free hotline?
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Housekeeping
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