Take nothing for granted this November

It’s all hands on deck for democracy   Hi Friend, We’re gearing up for November to fight like our democracy depends on it (because it does!) – and we’re taking absolutely nothing for granted. Republicans are already sending signals that they are gearing up, too. Flash back to 2020. At the time, I and my co-founders were the leadership of the voter protection team at the Democratic Party of Georgia. No one outside Georgia thought the state would flip – but we were ready. Our team and an army of volunteers helped 15,780 Georgia voters fix issues with their ballots so that their votes could count. In other words: the only reason Donald Trump asked Brad Raffenspberger to find those 12,000 votes is because we found them first. And then, we did it all again for the Georgia runoffs that elected Senators Warnock and Ossoff. This sent seismic shocks across Georgia, and Republicans took notice. Election deniers demanded to know: Why were Democratic ballots being counted at higher rates than Republican ballots? Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs responded: “In the aftermath of the special elections, we are going to see a lot of scapegoating due to poor planning by the Georgia Republican Party. All parties had the ability to create an absentee ballot chase program and an absentee ballot cure program. It’s becoming more clear by the day that only one group came prepared.” (That was us!) Fast forward to today, and Republicans are signaling that they’ll be better prepared this November. They’re already planning to deploy 1,000 field organizers to run their own “ballot chase” program – to drive Republican voters in key battleground states including Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona to vote their mail ballots. The irony isn’t lost on us – Republicans in Georgia have made it harder to vote by mail, catering to conspiracy theorists who falsely claim election fraud. They hope to gain an advantage by suppressing Democratic votes while boosting their own mail voter turnout. The bottom line is: we can’t take anything for granted this year. Republicans are evolving in their strategies – and in order to win, we have to evolve, too. At Power the Vote, we’re already there. We’ve got a plan to fight back, drawing from our own experience working for Georgia voters during the historic 2020 elections. We’re funding five voter protection staff this year in Georgia – so that marginalized and vulnerable voters are able to make their voices heard this November. * * * Help us fund voter protection work in Georgia! With Republicans recruiting 1,000 field organizers and [tens of thousands]( of poll workers and poll watchers in 2024, it’s more important than ever that we build a pro-democracy movement to fight back against voter suppression and election subversion. Funding voter protection staff is the single best way we can prepare now. Help us make it possible for the Democratic Party of Georgia to hire and staff up their program for 2024! * Will you give today? * [DONATE!](   In Other News… Shelby Impact Made Clear in New Brennan Center Study: A Brennan Center study of nearly one billion voter file data points found that, since the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, the racial turnout gap has not only widened: it’s grown nearly twice as fast in those places that had previously been subject to the preclearance requirement that Shelby eliminated. (By 9 vs. 5 percentage points.) The study concludes that Shelby cost hundreds of thousands of votes from voters of color. Read more [here](. North Carolina Court Blocks Power Grab: A North Carolina court permanently blocked a law passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature, calling it a “stark and blatant removal of appointment power from the Governor”. The law would have removed the (Democratic) Governor’s ability to make appointments to county election boards – instead vesting that constitutional authority with the (Republican) state legislature. Read more [here](. Texas Woman’s Illegal Voting Conviction Overturned: You likely remember the case of Crystal Mason, a Texas woman who received a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot in 2016 while on supervised release (making her ineligible to vote). Late last month, a Texas appeals court overturned her conviction, finding that there was no evidence she realized she was ineligible to vote when she cast her ballot. In a statement released after the ruling, Mason said “I was thrown into this fight for voting rights and will keep swinging to ensure no one else has to face what I’ve endured for over six years, a political ploy where minority voting rights are under attack.” Read more [here](. Conservative PA Legislators’ Lawsuit Challenging Voter Registration Initiatives Tossed: A federal court dismissed a lawsuit filed by 24 Republican Pennsylvania state legislators challenging state and federal initiatives designed to boost voter registration. The lawsuit specifically challenged Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s introduction of voter registration, and a 2021 Executive Order by President Biden directing agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information. Read more [here](. Every accusation is a confession: Judge rules that election-denying Georgia GOP official voted illegally nine times. Read more [here](. * * * Voter Protection Volunteer Opportunities Help Arizona voters get their ballots! “The Massachusetts Dems Organizing Hub will be partnering with the Arizona Democratic Party to call Arizona Democrats and let them know how to sign up for the state’s Active Early Voter List. Voters on this list are automatically sent an early ballot for each election in which they are eligible to vote. By increasing awareness of this option, we hope to help remove barriers to voting and contribute to strong Democratic turnout in this critical state.” Sign up [here](. * * * Reach out if you want to talk about opportunities to support voter protection programs – and thanks for everything you’re doing for democracy! Kim [DONATE!]( [We Fund Voter Protection]( In 2020, we ran the Democratic Party’s Voter Protection Program in Georgia, when the state flipped blue for the first time in nearly 30 years. We pioneered a new model of voter protection, built on sustained investments and long-lasting relationships. Now, we’re building on that success and adapting the Georgia model to fight voter suppression in other battleground states. But we can only do it with your support. Join us – and join the fight for voter protection! 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