Wed – 11/14: Keep your damn pants on, Mr. President. The election’s not over ’til it’s over. UPDATE – People are now getting arrested!

For a little perspective, votes were still being counted A MONTH after Trump’s election to office in 2016. It was during this time that Hillary Clinton’s popular vote lead grew to 2.8 million nationwide, which rankled Trump so badly that he created, in connection with Kris Kobach and V.P. Pence, the money-wasting, gaslighting Election Integrity Commission to chase down the illegal voters of their darkest dreams. 19 actual fraudulent votes were eventually found by the DOJ. Over the entire country.

This all aside, we still have work to do. And because we’re Indivisible, we’re uniting with groups all over the country. Donate, phone bank, text bank. Write.

Action #1 – Help Georgia get a GOOD Secretary of State. Really. It’s crazy there.

Update further: State Senator Nikema Williams was strip-searched. For protesting.

Continue reading “Wed – 11/14: Keep your damn pants on, Mr. President. The election’s not over ’til it’s over. UPDATE – People are now getting arrested!” →

Mon – 11/12: Keep your damn pants on, Mr. President. The election’s not over ’til it’s over.

This all aside, we still have work to do.

Action #1 – Volunteer to make this Senate seat blue.

Mike Espy is running against Senator Cindy (“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row”) Hyde-Smith, an appointee who replaced GOP Senator Thad Cochran earlier this year and who has voted with Trump 100% of her short time in the Senate. In 1986, Espy became the first African-American from Mississippi elected to Congress since Reconstruction. In 1993, he became Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton Administration. Continue reading “Mon – 11/12: Keep your damn pants on, Mr. President. The election’s not over ’til it’s over.” →

Mon – 11/5: Don’t be left behind. Check your Voting Plan today!

Action #1. How do I choose what and who to vote for?

Click here for our VOTING GUIDE. It will show you what organizations like the Sierra Club, labor groups, Democrats, progressive physicians and others believe to be the best choices for our future.

This is not a test and you can leave items blank. Just do your best.

Vote for the future. Yours, and the world your children and grandchildren will inherit.

Action #2 – Check that you’re actually registered.

A lot of people aren’t sure. No problem. If you’re a resident of Ventura County, check here. If you live elsewhere, go here.

If you ARE REGISTERED – YAY! Go on to step #3.
If you aren’t…don’t panic. Your voice is important. Go to step #10

Action #3 – Confirm your polling place.

Continue reading “Mon – 11/5: Don’t be left behind. Check your Voting Plan today!” →

Mon 10/29: Calling for more poll workers!

Action – If you’re not in Indivisible Ventura’s adopt-a-poll crew, volunteer to be a regular poll worker in Thousand Oaks, Simi, Moorpark, Oxnard or Port Hueneme.

We the People: What we political newbies keep learning is how essential the private citizen is in keeping the lights on in this democratic experiment we call America. One may think that state governments are in completely in charge of elections…organizing, facilitating and sometimes suppressing them, and we just show up to vote. But the person handing you your ballot and helping you feed it into the voting machine is a regular civilian, just like you.

After the polls close, and everybody else is home watching the early returns on television, county parking lots are transformed into a klieg-light bright islands of activity, as regular citizens – two representatives from every polling place in our huge county, pull their cars up, one after another, to return voting equipment and relinquish their sealed bags of ballots.

This, at the end, is what democracy looks like. Something to be very proud of. Something to protect and aid.

In Ventura County, they need more of you to help make our experiment work!

Continue reading “Mon 10/29: Calling for more poll workers!” →

Fri – 10/19: Today’s Action Prescription

Action #1 – Understand this meme. In CA, it’s true for REGISTERED voters ONLY!

If you are actually registered, but your polling place doesn’t have the correct information to determine that fact, or there is conflicting information about your registration, you will be given a provisional ballot on Election Day. You will be allowed to vote, given a tracking number to follow your ballot and your vote will be counted just like any other. Issues that require a provisional ballot include:

Voter’s name is not on the current roster.
Voter’s name is on the roster and HAS moved.
Vote-By-Mail Voter who does not have a Vote-By-Mail ballot to surrender. (giving them another ballot at the polling place would mean two ballots were issued to them. Despite what Trump says, we don’t issue people extra ballots.)
Voter is marked in register as “see ID” and has no ID. (first time federal voter)
Voter selects a ballot other than their listed party or selects an unauthorized party (primary only – doesn’t apply for this election)

You may also be at the wrong polling place. (See Action #4)

Continue reading “Fri – 10/19: Today’s Action Prescription” →

Wed – 10/17: Today’s Action Prescription

We regularly hear that people are stressed out and discouraged by the constant stream of bad news as our government drifts further into authoritarianism and fascism. For many of us, this is our first dive into active resistance and are panicking because we can’t see the bottom of the pool. But drowning is not an option and for people of conscience, neither is hauling ourselves out and leaving. How did the women’s suffrage movement survive for almost a hundred years? How have POC and our Native American communities maintained sustained resistance efforts over a long time? How do we develop resiliency right now?

Action #1 – Watch this video. Really.

Continue reading “Wed – 10/17: Today’s Action Prescription” →

Tues 10/9: Be part of this. Today.

At a school or college:

Today, we’ll be helping out with voter registration at the Oxnard College Student’s Day of Action. Come join us. No RSVP required. More information here. If you’ve never done this before, we’ll teach you how. If you can’t come today, look for other dates that work better.

At your workplace:

In California, the law requires employers to give up to 2 hours off at the beginning or end of a shift without loss of pay. Advance notice to your company is required by law. Proof of voting is not required. The California Elections Code also requires employers, both public and private, to post a notice no less than 10 days before every statewide election explaining employees’ right to time off to vote. The notice must be posted in a conspicuous place at the work site.

Other state’s information on voting here. Continue reading “Tues 10/9: Be part of this. Today.” →

Sat – 10/6: Refocus. Help make and encourage new voters at Plaza Park today.

Today, this is true.

“The Republican-controlled Senate appears poised to confirm a Supreme Court justice who believes in presidential immunity to criminal investigation. He was handpicked by a president whose wealth was inherited through tax fraud, whose former personal attorney has implicated him in a federal crime, and who is the focus of an ongoing investigation into a foreign attack on American democracy.” (Adam Server, Atlantic Monthly)

But today, this is also true.

The next generation, 17-35-year-olds, are the largest voting demographic in America, and they are ready to take their place on the lines next to us. What happens now, with women’s rights, the environment, education, taxes, health care, labor rights, war, immigration…literally everything, will now directly effect them in a way they’ve never felt before.

Come out today and encourage students at today’s rally at Plaza Park, downtown Ventura, from 10:00 – 12:00. Facebook page with details here. Continue reading “Sat – 10/6: Refocus. Help make and encourage new voters at Plaza Park today.” →

Tues – 8/14: Midterms are almost upon us.

Nonvoters helped to hand Trump the presidency. (wapo), (fortune) Let’s help them take back their power.

We are within 90 days of the midterm elections! Check your status!

That’s an important benchmark, because under current law, states can’t purge you from their roles within 90 days of an election. In CA, click here to:

Check if you are registered to vote.
Check where you are registered to vote.
Check your political party preference.
Check your language preference for election materials.
Check the status of your vote-by-mail or provisional ballot.
Find your polling place.

If anything has changed since the last time you voted – your address, your political party, whatever, re-register to vote here.
You can register for the first time if you’re 18 or going to be 18 on election day. You can PRE-REGISTER if you’re 16 or 17.
Yes, you can register and vote in the 14 days before an election or on Election Day itself in CA, but you would have to appear in person at your local elections office.

If you’re not in CA, go to www.vote.org to find your state’s election center – each state’s election information is listed. After you’ve checked your registration status, do yourself a favor and take a screen shot of it. If things go wonky at your precinct that day, it will be nice to have that information handy.

Take the 24 hour pledge!

(from Small Deeds Done) “Senator Claire McCaskill (who has described herself as “stronger than horseradish”) issued a challenge the other day, and I wanted to share it.

Continue reading “Tues – 8/14: Midterms are almost upon us.” →

Thurs 7/5: Tweet the collaborators of our puppet president – and make these 3 important calls on voting bills.

Rebecca Solnit’s article: One year on, Donald Trump is still an illegitimate president.

#1 -“I asked our friends in Russia not to interfere in our elections this year,” Sen. Kennedy (R-LA) said.

OMG, so much wrong in one sentence! Seven GOP senators and zero Democrats went to Moscow, without any American media, to ask, hats in hands, for Russia not to destroy our electoral process…After Putin was “too busy” to see them, Duma member Vyascheslav Nikonov stated that this meeting “was one of the easiest ones in my life.” The issue of election interference was resolved quickly because “the question was raised in a general form.” “One shouldn’t interfere in elections — well, we don’t interfere,” Nikonov said.

Yeah, we can see “interfere” being too soft a term for the Russians. After all, they are proud of getting their favorite candidate elected.