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: Vote down-ballot to improve your community.
Source: Ballotpedia
Thank you to the 144 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
With Election Day approaching, remember that while the Presidential election is important, the local races farther down your ballot—like school board members, county sheriffs, judges, and city councilors—have a direct impact on your community. It’s also a record year for state and local ballot initiatives focusing on the mechanics of elections themselves, including ranked-choice voting, redistricting, and absentee ballots.
Take Action: Use Ballotpedia’s nonpartisan voter toolkit to help you make a voting plan.
Action 2: Election Bingo Game: 25 actions before Election Day.
Source: AoCC
Thank you to the 6 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
With 11 days left to Election Day, our Democracy Bingo game makes it fun and easy to encourage others to vote. Join with the 531 people who’ve already taken action!
Play to win democracy: Printable bingo card here. Share with friends!
Action 3: Help voters affected by natural disasters cast their ballots.
Source: League of Women Voters
Thank you to the 15 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Voters still have the right to vote even when natural disasters strike during election season. States have varying rules about emergency election measures.
If you live in an affected area: If you’ve been affected by hurricanes, wildfires, or other disasters, use the LWV’s resources to check for changes in your polling place or election deadlines, track your ballot, and more.
Encourage disaster-affected people to vote: Share these resources with affected family and friends, as well as on social media.
Action 4: Celebrate Vote Early Day on October 29.
Source: Vote Early Day
Thank you to the 61 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
October 29, one week before Election Day, is Vote Early Day. This nonpartisan civic holiday was founded to help voters across the U.S. navigate the various state regulations for early and absentee voting, relieving pressure on polling places on Election Day.
Take Action: Find the early voting rules in your state, cast your ballot early if you can, and promote Vote Early Day on social media.
Action 5: Protect the welfare and sovereignty of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Source: AoCC
Thank you to the 110 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: The Army Corps of Engineers at 202-761-8700 or via this contact form.
Script: Hello, I’m contacting you from [STATE] regarding the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit alleging violations of federal regulations governing the Dakota Access Pipeline. Pipeline developer Energy Transfer has not shared with Standing Rock unredacted copies of its emergency response plans in the case of a spill under Lake Oahe. Please mandate the immediate release of these documents to ensure the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s welfare and sovereignty.
Action 6: Oppose the forced labor of incarcerated people.
Source: AoCC
Thank you to the 43 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Slavery and involuntary servitude were abolished under the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “except as punishment for a crime.” Incarcerated people respond to hurricanes, fight wildfires, and do other dangerous work against their will, for little or no pay and without worker protections. Six states have amended their constitutions to abolish these exceptions, and two others have amendments on the ballot this November.
Take Action:
- If you live in CA or NV: This issue is on your ballot now! Vote to end forced labor of incarcerated persons.
- If you live in AL, CO, NE, OR, TN, UT: Your state has abolished forced slavery and involuntary servitude. Contact your Department of Corrections (google [STATE] Department of Corrections) and ask what is being done to ensure that the constitutional amendment is enforced.
- If you live in any other state: Contact your STATE legislators (look up). I would like [NAME] to draft an amendment to the state constitution that abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude for people in prison.
Action 7: Oppose the use of Guantánamo Bay to detain people seeking asylum.
Source: Never Again Action
Thank you to the 116 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
A recent report exposed the U.S. government’s practice of indefinitely detaining people seeking refuge by sea at the Migrant Operations Center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Firsthand accounts detail inhumane, prison-like conditions where people are held indefinitely in a punitive system without transparency or accountability.
Sign: The Refugee Rights petition urging the Biden administration to close the Guantánamo Migration Operations Center and process asylum seekers at sea according to our nation’s human rights obligations (select “No” for “I consent to receive future updates from IRAP and partners” to opt out of email distribution lists).
Action 8: Nominate an Election Hero for public recognition.
Source: Election Hero Day
Thank you to the 1 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Election Hero Day is a nonpartisan civic holiday founded in 2020 to recognize and thank poll workers and election officials. Observed on the day before Election Day, it’s an opportunity to boost the morale of those who perform the crucial work of keeping elections safe and secure.
Take Action: Nominate an election hero from your community using the Election Hero Day Toolkit, and promote Election Hero Day on social media.
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 Sen. Ed Markey (D–MA), Rep. Grace Meng (D–NY), Rep. Delia Ramirez (D–IL), and Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D–NY) for introducing the Destination Reception Assistance Act, which would provide critical support to states and cities that are welcoming newly arrived aspiring Americans.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use these addresses:
EM: 255 Dirksen SOB, Washington, DC 20510
GM: 2209 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
DR: 1523 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515
AE: 2332 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Thank you to the 99 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Good News
If you find good news for democracy, equality, and the planet, share it with us here!
Progress on issues previously featured in the Checklist
- Momodou Taal will not be suspended by Cornell University, allowing him to stay in the country and securing his F-1 visa status.
- President Biden nominates former Rep. Val Demmings and former Postal Governor William Zollars to fill the remaining vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors.
- GA voters set a record for the highest number of votes cast on the first day of early voting.
- NE’s Supreme Court restores voting rights to returning citizens who have completed the terms of their felony convictions.
- Courts in MI and NC reject attempts to disenfranchise military and overseas voters.
- AL: A federal court prevents the state from purging its voter rolls close to the election and threatening the voting rights of citizens of diverse national origin.
- AZ: A federal court rejects a request to unnecessarily verify registration documents of eligible voters.
- MI: A federal court dismisses a lawsuit seeking to access and remove eligible voters from the state’s voter rolls.
- NC: A federal court dismisses an attempt to disqualify 225,000 eligible North Carolina voters.
- The Justice Dept. will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in Portage County, OH in response to residents’ concerns about voter intimidation.
More Good News
- The Biden-Harris administration cancels an additional $4.5B of student loan debt for over 60,000 public service workers.
- The Biden-Harris administration takes actions to lower housing costs, limit rent increases, and build more homes.
- The Biden-Harris administration strengthens access to mental health and substance use disorder care to be comparable with medical and surgical benefits.
- President Biden outlines and calls for Supreme Court reforms to restore trust and accountability to the U.S.’s highest court.
- People from Lebanon residing in the U.S. can remain without threat of deportation under Temporary Protected Status.
- The U.S. negotiates the release from Russia of reporter Evan Gershkovich, former marine Paul Whelan, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and U.S. resident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
- The Federal Trade Commission finalizes a “click-to-cancel” rule, requiring sellers to make it as easy to cancel paid subscriptions and enrollments as it was to sign up for them.
- Americans can now read court-released evidence from the previous president’s 2020 election interference case.
- FL: A court blocks the state surgeon general from threatening TV stations that air ads encouraging a “yes” vote on a ballot initiative that would override the state’s abortion ban.
- GA: A court pauses a new rule that would have required county election workers to hand count ballots, which would unnecessarily delay election results.
- GA’s Supreme Court finds unconstitutional a slate of suppressive election rules and blocks the state from enforcing them ahead of the November election.
- NE will not change its Electoral College vote allotment system before to the 2024 election.
- RI: Eight clinics across the state now offer behavioral health services for people without healthcare coverage.
- TN: A court temporarily blocks enforcement of banning abortion for certain patients.
- Detroit offers voter registration at all 14 of their early voting sites.
- 11 school board candidates in Florida lose their primary races after running on policies that would have discriminated against transgender people.
- Since 2020, the Center for Common Ground has contacted over 23M voters with information on how to participate in elections.
- Following the destruction of Hurricane Helene, North Carolinians in need of pregnancy, birth, postpartum, or abortion care can find resources here, as recommended by the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina chapter.
- Protestors attend the Gender Liberation March in Washington, DC to support bodily autonomy in the face of dangerous policy proposals.
- Al Otro Lado’s Border Rights Project and other immigration rights advocates highlight the ongoing crisis of family separation under U.S. immigration policy.
- The Exonerated Five sue a former president for defamation.
- The University of California San Diego requires all students to complete a climate change course and demonstrate the ability to understand and address the climate emergency.
- Las Vegas’s Sphere encourages participation in the November election by showing off a gigantic “I Voted” sticker.
- Betty Cartledge, 81, votes for the first time.
Need inspiration?
- Read this week’s inspiring message from AoCC’s Executive Director, Jennifer Hofmann: Be ready for the day after the election
- Election Day is Coming! Three Reasons Your Vote Matters More Than You Think
- Is Your Opinion Manipulate-able?
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