Action Under the Dome for Monday, Jan 17
Monday, January 17, 2022
This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let’s use the holiday to honor his legacy, educate ourselves, and take action. Check out this list of virtual MLK events happening across Maine. The League will be demanding that Congress end the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation.
Use our quick and handy form to send a letter to Maine senators and tell them we can't wait for voting rights.
Do It for John Lewis: The U.S. House passed the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, and we're urging the U.S. Senate to do the same. Our country remains in the middle of a desperate fight to safeguard our democracy. State legislatures around the country have introduced hundreds of bills designed to create barriers that prevent Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other voters from casting their ballots. Use our quick and handy form to send a letter to Maine senators, and tell them we can't wait for voting rights.
Urge Your Candidate to Run Clean in 2022: Now is the time to contact the individuals running in your district for State House and Senate races and urge them to run a Clean Elections campaign and focus on their constituents, not big spenders or corporate donors. Use this link to look up your Maine legislators.
We are working to support several carry over bills from 2021. Those include semi-open primaries (LD 231) and audits and election transparency (LD 1155), as well as these two:
- Municipal Ranked Choice Voting (LD 859): We testified in support of LD 859 in 2021 and urged the committee to expand an option for RCV to municipal elections. The bill was carried over into 2022, and we're looking for local advocates to testify in support. Email us at action@lwvme.org if you’re interested. We will walk you through the process if it is your first time! Learn more about Ranked Choice Voting here.
- Maine ERA (LD 334): Work session will be Thursday, January 20 at 9:30 AM. Watch the livestream here. League member Anne Schink testified in support last week during the public hearing: "The very first time I testified on the Equal Rights Amendment was fifty years ago. That’s a long time to wait for an Equal Rights Amendment to become part of our state and federal constitutions."
Preserving the Integrity of Maine's Elections
Last week, the League testified on LD 1779, a bill that builds on those existing laws designed to ensure the integrity of elections. If passed, it will regulate possession of ballots and voting machines. We testified in support and urged the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs to fully support these measures, as well. Learn more about election security and integrity here.
From our testimony: "The League supports voting systems that are secure and transparent and believes that in Maine we have enjoyed a generations-long record of professional, nonpartisan, voter-friendly administration of elections."
Press Hits:
Maine Beacon | Maine Public
