“The right to vote and have that counted is democracy’s threshold liberty. Without it, nothing is possible, but with it, anything is possible.”

 – Joe Biden

Indivisible-RISE Actions and Events
 

Voting Rights: What’s Next?   

Monthly Meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, 7-8:15 pm  

Join us on Zoom to hear from Alexandra Chandler, co-leader of Protect Democracy’s elections and voting rights efforts. Learn about the status of federal voter protection laws, the additional voter restrictions that states are trying to pass, and what we can do to help preserve democracy and voting rights. 

In her role with Protect Democracy, Ms. Chandler coordinates staff support for the group’s National Task Force on Election Crisis. She previously was a national security professional, including roles at the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 2018, she was a candidate for the open Congressional seat for Massachusetts CD-3. She is a graduate of Brown University and Brooklyn Law School.

Protect Democracy’s mission is to prevent American democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government. Founded by former members of the White House Counsel’s Office and the Department of Justice, Protect Democracy has assembled a group of the world’s leading experts to fight the decline of democracy in the U.S. They deploy different tools and strategies, ranging from advocating for an update of the Electoral Count Act to filing lawsuits against policies that deny basic rights.

The meeting also will include an update about the Massachusetts VOTES Act so that we all know what is happening right here at home. Register here for the Zoom link.

Keep Growing Our Postcard Writing Team!

The number of I-RISE postcard writers has more than doubled since the start of this year! Please join us to keep expanding on our team’s reach and influence. There is no time like the present to encourage likely Democrats to register to vote in battleground states to set the stage for high turnout for their critical November elections, so please join us now!  

Email us at indivisible.rise.newburyport@gmail.com if you want to start writing with us again or for the first time, or if you have any questions. We’ll send detailed instructions for our easy and remote process. You can pick up packets of 50 postcards at no charge whenever you need them, and we’ll email you as many addresses as you’d like (in multiples of 10)  each week that you want to write. You provide the postage. 

Let’s keep increasing our ranks and get back to our 2020 team of over 100 writers! 

Texting Hour

Thursdays 3-4 pm

Our weekly texting hours with Indivisible-Acton Area are going strong, with many interesting and productive campaigns to work on. We’ve been texting people in battleground states to encourage actions like voter registration, running for local office, volunteering, and supporting voting rights legislation. All important efforts!

Join us to train as a newcomer, refresh your knowledge and get back to texting, raise questions, and enjoy each other’s company while texting. We’re texting with Movement Labs on the popular and straightforward Spoke system, which will prepare you to text any time With Movement Labs, MoveOn and other organizations and campaigns. Register here.  

Multiple Phone Banking Opportunities

 Wednesdays, 4-6 pm
Tuesdays, 3-5 pm
Coming Soon: Mondays, 3-5 pm

Making phone calls is one of the best uses of our activist time. If you’ve never phone banked or you haven’t done so in a long time, please consider signing up for even one shift and see how it goes. You may be pleasantly surprised! 

We are co-hosting phone banks a few afternoons a week, and hope you will join us for as many as you can:

• On Wednesdays at 4-6 pm, we partner with Common Cause to make voter protection calls. Calls are to voters in states with pending voter protection laws that need to be passed or restrictive laws that need to be shot down, encouraging them to contact their legislators. We patch people  through to their legislators for instant contact and results, which feels productive and rewarding! Register here to call with us on Wednesday afternoons or with another group almost any day. 

• On Tuesdays at 3-5 pm, we have joined forces with Field Team 6 and the California Dems to call unregistered likely Democrats in Georgia to encourage them to register to vote. Georgia is a critical battleground state this year, with Senator Warnock facing another tight election and Stacey Abrams running again for Governor. Register here.  

• We’re still aiming to start our Field Team 6 calling to unregistered likely Democrats in Pennsylvania on Mondays at 3-5pm. There’s a good chance for Democrats to win the open Senate seat and hold the Governor’s race in PA, and there are also three battleground House Districts. Stay tuned for details and registration information in our calendar once we have the lists, scripts and go ahead to start these phone banks.

Join Us for Happy Hour

Second Friday of Every Month at 5:30 pm

We have been gathering by Zoom for our monthly Happy Hours to at least have an opportunity to stay in touch and chat even remotely.  Most attendees at this month’s gathering said they are comfortable starting to gather in person again. So, let’s plan on that (barring any Covid surges). Make a note in your calendar to meet at Loretta at 5:30 pm on March 11th, and let’s all catch up in person! 

Many More Options!
 

We love working as a community and hope that you will join us at some (or all!) of the weekly actions we have planned and others that we will be planning throughout this critical year.  We also want to inform you of other opportunities, in case you want to try something different or our actions don't meet your schedule.

The I-RISE Action & Event calendar links to the calendars of a few larger MA groups, where you can learn about many options for taking actions any day of the week. Check those links here for opportunities. 

A few interesting ideas:

1. Work a Hotline for New Hampshire’s March 8th local elections or train to answer hotline calls for WI.  This is very rewarding and productive work, which will be increasingly needed in many states as the elections approach. This is a good way to get an early start.

2. Social Media Monitoring is back! Common Cause’s program is now being run by Civic Listening Corp. The process is much the same as it was with Common Cause. Sign up here to join their volunteer ranks and train using their materials. 

3. Deep Canvassing is a way to have meaningful, issue-based conversations to identify what matters most to voters. Join Swing Blue Alliance to call voters in NH, with opportunities to knock on doors and speak to voters in person when the weather warms up.  

4. Join a Voter Protection Team to help protect the vote in battleground states. Learn more about helping PA Voters or WI Voters.

5. Check out Indivisible Acton Area’s new website, Turn Purple to Blue, for up to date information on actions and races in battleground states, plus articles about current issues and actions.
    

Please sign up here to volunteer with I-RISE. Choose among numerous options and devote as much or as little time as you prefer! Every bit makes a difference! 
 

• Bookmark our Event Calendar for events sponsored by Indivisible-RISE and allied organizations.
• Find us on Facebook  and visit our website.