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November 2, 2019
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Articles in this Issue
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Today’s issue on voter suppression is based on an essay by Swing Left’s own Laurie Covens. See her complete article here.
- Join Maine’s last canvassing trips of the season.
- Last three days to turn VA blue.
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Postcard and Letter Writing
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Cambridge
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Sunday, November 3
@ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
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Voter Registration By Mail – Ohio
Learn more
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Cumberland
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Monday, November 4
@ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
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Letters to People to Register to Vote
Learn more
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North Andover
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Wednesday, November 6
@ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
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Andover Indivisible Postcards to Voters
Learn more
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Holyoke
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Thursday, November 7
@ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
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Voter Registration Letters and Coffee
Learn more
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Framingham
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Sunday, November 10
@ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
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Letters to Register Democrats – Pennsylvania
Learn more
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Phone Calling and Texting
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Brookline
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Saturday, November 2
@ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
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Calls to Flip the Virginia State Legislature BLUE
Learn more
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Cambridge
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Sunday, November 3
@ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
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Cambridge Calling: Draw the Line at Virginia
Learn more
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Newton
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Monday, November 4
@ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
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Newton Calls for a Blue Virginia
Learn more
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Online/ Anywhere
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Saturday November 2 through Tuesday November 5
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Take the Majority: Phonebank from Home for VA
Learn more
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Canvassing and Voter Registration
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Training
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Online/ Anywhere
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Monday, November 4
@ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
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Field Team 6 Flippin’ North Carolina Voter Registration Training Call
Learn more
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Online/ Anywhere
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Monday, November 4
@ 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm
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ONLINE Maine Canvassing Training
Learn more
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Online/ Anywhere
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Wednesday, November 6
@ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
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Field Team 6 Flippin’ Colorado Voter Registration Training Call
Learn more
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Online/ Anywhere
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Thursday, November 7
@ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
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Action Network 101: Data
Learn more
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Online/ Anywhere
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Thursday, November 7
@ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
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Field Team 6 Flippin’ Florida Voter Registration Training Call
Learn more
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Other
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Wellesley
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Monday, November 4
@ 9:00 am – 10:30 am
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Wellesley Activist Coffee
Learn more
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Online/ Anywhere
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Thursday, November 7
@ 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
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ONLINE Swing Left Leaders Call
Learn more
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Cambridge
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Sunday, November 24
@5:30 – 7:30
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Screening of Suppressed: The Fight to Vote
Learn more
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Worcester
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Thursday, December 7
@ 8:30 am – 5:30 pm
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Indivisible MA Conference: Together for 2020 and Beyond. Will organize workshops based on attendees interests.
Learn more
Reserve your spot by November 15
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Recurring
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Cambridge
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Sunday, November 3
@ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
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Cambridge Activist Afternoons
Learn more
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Newburyport
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Friday, November 8
@ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
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I-RISE Friday Action Hour Postcards
Learn more
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Newburyport
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Friday, November 8
@ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
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I-RISE Second Friday Happy Hour
Learn more
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Cambridge
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Sunday, November 10
@ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
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Cambridge Activist Afternoons
Learn more
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Want to add your event to the newsletter?
See our criteria and submit your event below!
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Equipment malfunctions and voting machine shortages cause long lines (Mother Jones)
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Not Just Georgia
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Suppressed
reveals how Georgia election officials systematically hindered the right to vote — especially in communities of color.
The election was part of a tidal wave of voter suppression. While Georgia is considered Ground Zero, these same tactics shaped elections in Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, North Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and other states. The root cause? In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted key provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act.
Joanne and Lisa Kolarik witnessed some of these problems first hand. During North Carolina’s recent special election, Joanne was a poll watcher and Lisa knocked on doors for Senate candidate Dan McCready.
“Everyone had heard about Georgia,” Joanne says of those who came to the screening. “But to see it up-close … a state election system that seems intent on denying people their right to vote. People were horrified.”
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Georgia legislators attacked voter rights from many sides
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Voter Suppression by the Numbers
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In Georgia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams lost by 55,000 votes to Republican Brian Kemp. Kemp was Secretary of State
— and therefore in charge of the state’s elections —
at the same time as he himself was running against Abrams.
State election officials carried out a raft of bureaucratic dirty tricks that skewed the vote. As the movie pointed out:
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500,000 names of eligible voters were purged in a single night in July 2017.
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53,000 voter registration forms never got processed, 80% of them from people of color.
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281,000 Georgians requested absentee ballots, but tens of thousands didn’t receive them.
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214 polling places — mostly in majority black counties — have been closed since 2013.
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Long waiting lines and voting machines without power cords forced many to leave without voting; meanwhile, polling places in majority white neighborhoods had no crowds and more machines than they could use.
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Maine Matters/Mass Mobilizes volunteers in York, Maine
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Final Canvass of the Year with Maine Dems
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The Cook Political Report is now calling Susan Collins’ Senate seat a toss-up! We can win that seat, but we have to work for it.
Want to help defeat Susan Collins and take control of the Senate away from Mitch McConnell? Then please join us on Saturday November 6, 9, and/or 10 to canvass in southern Maine.
You’ll be helping the Maine Dems gather critical data: Are voters’ inclined to vote for or against
Collins? What issues will sway their decision? This information will help shape the Dems’ campaign strategy in the months ahead.
Here’s some background info about the campaign, but don’t stop there, register to volunteer using any of the links below.
 There are several ways to participate:
- Wednesday, November 6, Day Trip to Central Maine Community College (CMCC) in Auburn and Bates College in nearby Lewiston. Register here.
- Saturday, November 9, Day Trip Canvass: This-hour canvass on Saturday afternoon will make for an easy day trip; it’s only 90 minutes from Greater Boston to Biddeford.
Register here.
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Friday, November 8 through Sunday, November 10, Weekend Getaway: Join this dedicated group of canvassers and stay overnight on Friday and Saturday to get in two full days of canvassing. Since it’s a holiday weekend, you’ll still have Monday off.
Register here. (To learn more, contact
Paula Joseph.)
Want to get ready for canvassing in Maine? Register for a Maine canvassing training on November 4.
Thanks so much for getting involved. Together, we can make a difference.
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The election is this Tuesday November 5
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Last Call to Push Virginia Over the Line
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We don’t need to wait for 2020. Virginia is the most important battleground state of 2019. On November 5, we can flip just four seats in the state legislature and turn Virginia blue and set up a decade of progressive progress. With your help.
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Visit SwingLeftBoston.org – Greater Boston’s comprehensive online resource to take effective action to unseat Trump, flip the Senate and take back state legislatures in 2020.
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