The federal government is trying to get every U.S. household to answer some personal questions for the 2020 census. It's part of a once-a-decade tradition of counting every person living in the U.S.

Each national head count comes with its own rash of confusion. The 2020 census is the first in the U.S. since the rise of social media and the first U.S. count that's primarily online. For months, the government has been preparing to combat disinformation campaigns that may try to disrupt the count, which is rolling out not only in the middle of a presidential race but also during the coronavirus pandemic....

How is the census taken?

The 2020 count will be the first one to allow all U.S. households to respond online at my2020census.gov. Starting in early April, paper forms are expected to be sent to every household that has been asked to fill out a questionnaire but has not done so, and, for the first time, you can call toll-free numbers to give responses over the phone.

NPR has been tracking all of the developments to help you figure out what you need to know. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about the census, answered. Read more here.

The political reform movement -- large, growing and increasingly successful -- was poised to wage dozens of new state campaigns in 2020 to outlaw gerrymandering, expand use of ranked-choice voting and temper the influence of big money in politics.

Then came the COVID-19 crisis, upending such plans along with those of virtually every citizen, business, health facility and government entity. Many movement plans relied on passing voter initiatives, but the virus outbreak made petition-gathering impossible.

So a swift change in strategy is underway, elevating one longstanding movement aim — voting by mail (also called “Vote at Home”) — to the top of the agenda.

The leading national reform group, Represent.us,  has joined with other large groups -- NYU Law’s Brennan Center, Unite America, the National Association of Non-Partisan Reformers, Public Citizen and Common Cause — to mount a multimillion-dollar campaign to spread VAH nationwide, not just for the possibly virus-endangered 2020 election, but permanently.

This coalition is planning to mobilize thousands of activists previously dedicated to other reform projects to join organizations such as the National Vote at Home Institute and the Center for Secure and Modern Elections to focus on VAH. Read more here.

Why voting by mail will be so hard for states to set up on the fly

The safest way to hold an election during the coronavirus pandemic is to not. But canceling elections, especially in a presidential year, isn’t an option. So 15 states have moved their primaries back to the summer, and nearly every state is considering how it can have more people vote in November by mail instead of in person. That means they could either expand absentee balloting while keeping fewer polling places open, or they could mail ballots to all voters.

But easier said than done. Only five states have the ability to hold a statewide by-mail election, and it took them years to set it up and work out the kinks. The states considering it now have months, if that, which means they need to decide in the next few weeks whether to push for all-mail elections for November and hope it can be done. Here are the biggest hurdles to having more people vote by mail in November. Read more here.

Reclaim Our Vote empowers voters in communities of color in voter suppression states
Read on and let's get started!
 

Reclaim Our Vote is a volunteer-driven, nonpartisan voter outreach campaign organized by the Center for Common Ground of Virginia. Over the past few decades, voter suppression and voter list purging have stealthily disenfranchised millions of citizens. 

This non-partisan phone banking, post carding and textbanking campaign focuses on contacting voters of color in voter-suppression states to help them register and vote.  n 2020, the focus will be on Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas.

With the help of the NAACP, Black Voters Matter, DemLabs, Mi Familia Vota and other major organizations, the organization helps volunteers contact voters of color in key voter suppression states to ask voters to check their registration status, re-register, and vote.  

Lower Cape Indivisible will help organize virtual postcarding parties and texting parties in coming weeks. Meanwhile, you can get familiar with the organization by taking one of the trainings for new volunteers, held online via Zoom on the following dates in April:

• Tuesday, April 7, 8pm, EST
• Tuesday, April 14, 8 pm EST
• Saturday, April 18, 1pm EST
• Saturday, April 25, 1pm EST

Sign up for one of these informative training sessions with core leaders of the organization, to learn the nuts and bolts of postcarding, texting and phone-banking...and get ready to join the campaign! 

Please note: LCI will be ordering the Reclaim Our Vote postcards, so there's no need for you to take this on. If this particular campaign speaks to you and you'd like to help with organizing, please write to us at lowercapeindivisible@gmail.com. 

Write Letters to Voters with Vote Forward & LCI

As we've done in the past, LCI will continue to reach out to underrepresented voters in the nation's swing states...by sending Letters to Voters and encouraging them to vote in 2020! 

While there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the election process right now,  one thing is certain: it’s critical that people VOTE. Whatever method Americans use to safely vote this year, receiving a hand-written Vote Forward letter will make them more likely to cast a ballot!
 

So, mark your calendars for virtual letter-writing & optional Zoom party

Wednesday, April 15
4:00-5:30pm
(It's more fun than doing your taxes!)

RSPV here and we'll send instructions for letter/envelope pickup.
Questions? Call Fran Schofield @508.237.0006 or email lowercapeindivisible@gmail.com.