Democracy NC's Day of Action! 2/16/11 - Opposing the Voter Suppression Bill!
Submitted by Jake Gellar-Goad on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 6:55pm
Well this has been a busy week. HKonJ on Saturday with Democracy NC. Equality NC's Day of Action earlier today, and if my schedule allows I'll be right there talking to my legislators again tomorrow for Democracy NC's Day of Action.
The Voter ID Bill aka Voter Suppression Bill threatens to cost the state millions, address a non-existent problem rather than focusing on jobs, and may disenfranchise many voters, especially those in vulnerable communities like students, the elderly, people of color, and the like. More details about the event below.
I saw that WRAL recently reported that 1 million NC voters are without qualifying IDs. This law would absolutely make our state less democratic (small d), and the GOP is pushing it because they hope it will make it less Democratic (big D) as well. From an e-mail about the event:
RESPECT OUR VOTE, STOP PHOTO ID": JOIN US IN RALEIGH FEB. 16TH
Opponents of mandatory voter photo ID from across North Carolina will gather in Raleigh on Wednesday, February 16 to meet with state
legislators, attend a legislative committee meeting, and garner media coverage for this important voting rights issue. Organizations opposed to voter photo ID legislation include Common Cause NC, NAACP, Democracy North Carolina, NC A. Philip Randolph Institute, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the League of Women Voters, NC Fair Share, Unifour Onestop Collaborative, the Institute for Southern Studies and more.
Read more here:
http://www.democracy-nc.org/downloads/VoterIDFlyer1-18-11.pdf
Constituent Lobbying: Anti-Photo ID
So yesterday I found myself lobbying my constituents in person in the General Assembly for the first time. While I've seen some at events, written e-mails, made calls, and all that, yesterday was my first time going to them at the General Assembly.
I hadn't heard about Democracy NC/Common Cause's event today at the time, so when I was there to do some constituent lobbying on LGBT equality issues, I was sure to squeeze in some discussion of my concerns about Photo ID as well. In particular, being a student, I know this will hurt student voter turn out, because how many college students have driver licenses with their current address? Not many.
And so when I heard about this event today I was very happy to go back to try to go into more detail, build that relationship, and share some information sheets about it as well. I also expanded my range too.
Between both days of actions I talked to senators and/or representatives from all my homes. I've lived in Mt. Airy, Raleigh, and now Chapel Hill, and talked to elected officials in person from all those areas, from both sides of the aisle.
Today's constituent meetings, the press conference, and opposition turn out at the committee meeting to discuss this issue all went very well, and I'm very glad to have organizations like Equality NC, Democracy NC, and Common Cause NC around to help involve constituents like myself in this work.