Feel good update: The Local Election Authority Initiative
Why we’re looking for city & county clerks, some updates on our candidates, and news about our travel.
Big news!! We partnered up with Let America Vote to kick off my favorite recruitment campaign yet: the Local Election Authority Initiative.
Run for Something & Let America Vote Announce the Local Election Authority Initiative
We are so excited to announce the launch of the the Local Election Authority Initiative. Working in partnership with…medium.com
We’re looking for amazing candidates for positions like county and city clerk — the folks that do things like:
Ensuring that accurate election results are widely published
Making sure that ESL workers have been properly staffed at all locations
Making sure polling locations are ADA compliant
Overseeing early voting procedures
Deciding when polls open, when they close, and where they are located
Overseeing the implementation of new machinery
Candidate filling guides & voter guides
Voter registration mechanics
These are all issues that directly tie in to voter suppression — by making sure great progressives are in these roles, we can ensure that no matter what bullshit happens on the state or federal level, the folks closest to the levers of power have their heads on right and are ensuring access to the polls.
Two ways you can help right now: (1) Post runforsomething.net/clerks on social media and ask folks to spread it far and wide — most people don’t even know what these positions do, let alone that you can run for them (and that there are groups to help you!) (2) Donate at runforsomething.net/donate to help boost our ads campaign for this campaign. It’s going to take a while, but I’m excited for the potential impact of this effort.
In other news: Some updates on our 2019 candidates and our 2017/2018 alumni…
In Virginia, Yasmine Taeb is challenging an incumbent who’s taken more money from the utility companies than any other member, and who who hasn’t faced a serious primary for 40 years. Proud to be on her team.
Ahead of election day in Chicago tomorrow, (!!), read our interview with Marianne Lalonde, who’s running to be the first scientist on the Chicago City Council.
In Texas, Rep. Erin Zwiener introduced a bill to allow college students to vote using their student IDs.
Indiana is one of only 5 states with no hate crimes legislation on the books. The Senate came close to passing a bill to change that, until the GOP added amendments at the last minute that made the legislation basically meaningless. Senator JD Ford, the first openly gay lawmaker in Indiana, responded in a powerful Facebook live.
New Mexico representative Andrea Romero is cosponsoring a bill to create a task-force to examine the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Finally, just putting on your radar: I’ll be in San Francisco March 5–6 — let me know if you’d like to grab coffee or want details about our event on Tuesday. The week after, we’ll be in Chicago for dinner on March 12th and a meet-up on March 13th.
Thanks for making all this possible. We’re lucky to keep doing it!