SUPPRESSING THE CENSUS SUPPRESSES VOTES
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
The integrity of the Census is vital to protect fair elections and full representation. I am asking the Senator to demand only a secure system be used to electronically collect census information. I am also asking that he support an update to the Prevent Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailings Act. No campaign should be allowed to subvert the Census. Everyone must be counted. Thank you.
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS
Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here.
SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
The integrity of the Census is vital to protect fair elections and full representation. I am asking the Representative to demand only a secure system be used to electronically collect census information. I am also asking that he/she support an update to the Prevent Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailings Act. No campaign should be allowed to subvert the Census. Everyone must be counted. Thank you.
CALL SUZANNE BONAMICI (OR-01)
CALL GREG WALDEN (OR-02)
CALL BLUMENAUER (OR-03)
CALL PETER DEFAZIO (OR-04)
CALL KURT SCHRADER (OR-05)
ACTION THREE: TAKE ACTION IN 2020
Plan to call Congress with Indivisible Oregon on a weekly basis. Set goals for your election work in 2020. Swing Left holds regular letter writing parties. You can sign up at: Take Action Now. If you are in the Portland area, join Indivisible Oregon letter writing parties with Swing Left/Vote Forward . You can also contribute to Swing Left Fundraiser. We are all in this together.
BACKGROUND:
The 2020 Census would seem to be one of the most basic, mundane exercises of government. Count how many people live here, and where they live.
But the consequences of that count are far-reaching. It determines the distribution of federal dollars and the number of congressional seats and electoral college votes for each state.
The Census Bureau hopes to conduct the count primarily on-line. Their IT contractors have admitted that Russians have already hacked the website.
Paper forms can’t be hacked, but the Republicans don’t see an accurate census as important in a functioning democracy. Rather, they see an opportunity to skew the numbers to their benefit.
The RNC is mailing Trump campaign surveys that look like official Census forms, even using the heading “2020 Congressional District Census”. The concern is that people will fill out this propaganda survey thinking that it’s the actual Census form.
Republicans have shown little interest in preventing Russian hacking. Also, they are openly engaged in an on-going campaign of confusion and disinformation intended to undercount and disenfranchise entire communities.
Tell your MOC’s that to protect fair elections and full representation, they must work to provide stronger safeguards to ensure the integrity of the Census.
