Friday, February 24, 2023

Supreme opportunity

We have just about one month to make sure the Wisconsin Supreme Court returns to serving the people of Wisconsin rather than insurrectionists, Q, #TFG, ALEC*, various right wing PACs or worse. 

If you can talk or write, you need to get involved in this campaign. Yes, 24 percent of voters turned out for the primary, but that is PITIFUL! We need to convince every voter to vote. Why do Republican legislators get to do whatever they want to enrich themselves and their crony contributors and ignore what most Wisconsin voters want, like bodily autonomy for women and marijuana decriminalization, funding for public schools, fair maps, voting rights, Medicare for All, DNR regulations to ensure clean water and more? Because of hyperpartisan gerrymandering kept in place by a right wing court.

If you have some money, you can donate to the candidate or to organizations helping get out the vote, like Indivisible, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and Citizen Action of Wisconsin,

If you can talk and have the equipment needed, you can volunteer to make calls or send texts.

If you don't want to call, you can write letters to Wisconsin voters. Or you can canvass. Or you can write a letter to the editor, or talk to every eligible voter you know to make sure they vote on April 4.

Make voting a thing. Invite your friends and family. Go out to lunch and then go vote absentee in person. Start a VOTES FOR WOMEN event with your faith community, book club, sports team, or sisterhood. Lead a Bus-2-Vote event or a Veggies & Voting party. We need EVERYONE. We NEED EVERYone.

Absentee-in-person voting will begin on Tuesday, March 21 and ends Friday, March 31st.  In the City of La Crosse, voting an absentee ballot in person is allowed only during the posted hours noted below: 

Tuesday–Thursday, March 21st-March 23rd 8:00a–4:00p
Monday–Thursday, March 27th-March 30th 8:00a– 4:00p
Friday, March 31st 8:00a–5:00

Also, "an elector who, due to disability or impairment, which includes being immunocompromised or having symptoms of COVID-19, is unable to enter the polling place may receive a ballot at the entrance to the polling place or curbside.  Electors may also register to vote curbside.  Contact the City Clerk's Office at 608-789-7510 upon your arrival."

Absentee ballots may be requested by anyone for any reason. The easiest way is through the myvote.wi.gov website, but you can also request one by mail or in person. Check with your clerk's office for details. Remember that anti-democracy Republicans in the state legislature, backed by the right-wing state Supreme Court have prohibited ballot drop boxes and now require that each voter return her/his/their own ballot in person to the clerk. 

If you are not registered or need to change your registration, do it now. You can register with your clerk, online, by mail, or at your polling place on April 4, election day. But, don't wait. Do it now.

Some people think the only elections that matter are those held every four years for president. With respect, that is just plain dumb. The upcoming state Supreme Court election is the most important election if you believe in women, in climate crisis, in clean water, in social justice, in public schools, in our state's motto, FORWARD.

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* Another important judicial race that on the April 4 ballot is for Wisconsin's Fourth District Court of Appeals. Former State Assembly person and current Dane County judge, Chris Taylor, is running for this seat. In 2013, as the State Representative from Madison, she joined the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Koch-funded industry "bill mill" that writes and shops right wing legislation to state legislatures around the country, helping to expose the corporate takeover of gerrymandered state legislatures. 


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