WE MUST PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF THE CENSUS TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY
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 we cannot let Trump weaponize the census to punish states with large communities of color, deprive them of House seats, electoral college votes, and the portion of federal funding they deserve. The Senate must pass the HEROES Act which grants the Census Bureau its requested 4-month extension and increased funding it needs to count the 38.9% of households that haven’t responded. It must also investigate and prohibit the politicization of the Census Bureau and continued use of federal funds to conduct an unconstitutional census of undocumented persons.
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…
All but Walden: We cannot let Trump weaponize the census to punish states with large communities of color, deprive them of House seats, electoral college votes, and the portion of federal funding they deserve. Thank you for passing the HEROES Act which grants the Census Bureau its requested 4-month extension and increased funding it needs to count the 38.9% of households that haven’t responded. The House must prohibit the politicization of the Census Bureau and use of federal funds to conduct an unconstitutional census of undocumented persons.
Walden: If you care about your constituents you cannot continue to let Trump weaponize the census, since undercounting in Oregon will hurt the people in your district. It is important to keep the Census Bureau nonpartisan, and, as a fiscal conservative, you should oppose Trump’s continued use of funds to conduct an unconstitutional census of undocumented persons.
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: DUMP TRUMP, FLIP THE SENATE, ELECT REPS WHO WILL PROTECT OUR RIGHTS, AND KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELF.
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Action 3: Dump Trump, Flip the Senate, Elect Reps Who Will Protect Our Rights, And Keep Educating Yourself.
-Keep learning about racism — how it is baked into our country’s design and how it works today. Justice in June has 10-, 25-, and 45-minute actions you can take every day. They recommend this video [NOTE: please add hyperlink]
–Dump Trump, Flip the Senate, Stop Gerrymandering, Get Out The Vote.
- Turn out for elections work! Indivisible Oregon is partnering with Swing Left and its smart Super State Strategy. We’ve adopted Arizona—where we are working to flip the White House, the Senate, and the state legislature (to roll back Republican gerrymandering). Action is the antidote to anxiety (and despair)!
- Join our letter writing events on Zoom every Saturday. Or join any of hundreds of letter-writing parties all over the country, whenever it fits your schedule.
- Write letters to voters from home, whenever it’s convenient for you. Register with votefwd.org and get started.
- Host your own virtual letter-writing party through Swing Left. It’s easy and fun.
- Phonebank with us! Thursdays at 5:00 for beginners, 5:30 for more experienced callers.
BACKGROUND:
Every 10 years the Census Bureau determines where each person resides. Census data used to determine which states gain/lose House seats and electoral college votes
and distribute $1.5 billion annually in federal aid. “Person” has always meant everyone was counted, whatever their status.
Trump wants massive undercounting to dilute Democratic states’ influence in Congress and send more federal money to GOP states, deriving Black and Latino communities their fair share of political representation and federal funding.
- tried to add citizenship question to scare away immigrant households
- ensured underfunding to minimize visits to non-responding households (over 1/3 at present) where immigrant and non-white families overrepresented
- after Supreme Court loss, ordered Census Bureau to collect citizenship information from state and federal administrative records so could be excluded from final count, which reaffirmed this week
- last month, added 2 political appointees without census experience to newly created top Bureau positions, who’ve questioned outreach needs.
It still must reach 37.9% nonresponding, but it’s starting late due to COVID. House granted its request for 4-month extension in HEROES Act with money for outreach.
We cannot let Trump weaponize the census to punish Democratic states and their residents. Congress must act to save our democracy.
