TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR CONGRESS TO PROTECT VOTERS AND THEIR 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…
Americans should be able to cast their ballots knowing that their vote will be counted fairly and without fear for their health. Too little has been done to protect our elections from Russian interference and too little has been done to protect voters from the dangers of in-person voting during this pandemic. I want to thank the Senator for his efforts supporting the HEROES Act and vote by mail, and I am asking him to continue to press his colleagues hard to pass the HEROES Act and all election security legislation now. Time is running out. 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…
For all but Walden:
Americans should be able to cast their ballots knowing that their vote will be counted fairly and without fear for their health. Too little has been done to protect our elections from Russian interference and too little has been done to protect voters from the dangers of in-person voting during this pandemic. I am asking the Representative to press their colleagues in the Senate to pass the HEROES Act and all election security legislation now. Time is running out. Thank you.
For Walden:
Americans should be able to cast their ballots knowing that their vote will be counted fairly and without fear for their health. Too little has been done to protect our elections from Russian interference and too little has been done to protect voters from the dangers of in-person voting during this pandemic. I am asking the Representative to finally put country over party and to press his Republican colleagues in the Senate to pass the HEROES Act and all election security legislation now. Time is running out. 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: ACT FOR AN ANTI-RACIST FUTURE
- Listen to challenge yourself on the issue of racial justice: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/12/31/761932806/your-body-being-used-where-prisoners-who-can-t-vote-fill-voting-districts
Work to get out the vote (GOTV):
- We host virtual letter writing events every Saturday and every fourth Tuesday — sign up at https://swingleft.org/group/indivisible-oregon
- Write letters to voters from home, whenever it’s convenient for you. Register with Vote Forward to get started at votefwd.org
- Host your own virtual letter-writing party. Get started here at https://swingleft.org/p/virtual-letter-writing-party
BACKGROUND:
Republican Congressional leadership continues to block every piece of proposed election security legislation.
In 2016 Russia probed voting databases and systems in all fifty states in what the DHS and FBI believe was simply research for 2020. In the past four years they have only become more capable.
Bills to promote and fund voting systems with paper trails, audits, and upgrades to protect vulnerable voter registration databases against cyberattack sit in the Senate.
COVID-19 has made voting in person a danger to every voters’ health. The HEROES Act contains funding and provisions to make voting safer for everyone, including increased voting by mail. It is sitting in the Senate.
Voting by mail is the best way to protect voters and elections, but it has been blocked in the Senate and continuously attacked by Trump and his GOP.
They ignore the facts and the history of states like Oregon where mail-in voting fraud is all but non-existent. They also ignore the history of Russian election meddling and the fact that they will discredit the results of the upcoming elections if possible.
For Trumps’ GOP, ensuring voter suppression is more important than protecting the integrity of our elections and our democracy.
