We have a 5-person group of Balloon Juice peeps who are taking on Michigan.
They are researching bills intended to restrict voting or overturn the will of the people. They are also making lists of elected officials, party activists, and civic and political activists that might be mobilizing to fight these awful laws, and they will be making contact with those groups to see what might be done to help them in their efforts.
This thread is a place where that team can communicate, share information with one another, ask questions, etc.
But anyone that has potentially helpful information related to MI is encouraged to comment. Maybe you know of a political organization that might be active in MI, or you have an in with an elected official or an aide in the state. If you know anything that might be helpful, please jump in.
You can also chime in to applaud the MI stat team: dnfree, SouthEndBoston, brantl, Madeleine, and TerryC.
Otherwise, you can ignore this post (and the other posts that will go up once one of the pilot state teams meet for the first time). Each post will be active for a couple of weeks, and a link to these posts is in the sidebar.
Team Members
Interface roles explained:
We will want to know who is filling each of the roles on the team.
- (exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Alan and WaterGirl. Schedule the contact every 2-3 days or as necessary.
- (exactly one) person to be point-of-contact with Matthew [Lisa] and manage the state’s spreadsheet
- (exactly one) person to keep tabs on the state’s page [link here?] and the project’s page [link here?]
Project roles explained:
- one or more people to research legislation, using Voting Rights Lab and similar sources
- one person in particular that can take the first crack at the Voting Rights Lab in the first 2-3 days, so others can fill in the rest from other sites
- one or more people to research elected officials. Committee ranking members, minority caucus leadership, and their staff people are key here. Hint: also include Dem Party activists as a potential means of cutting through the clutter.
- one or more people to contact the elected officials. Ideally should be a resident of the state. Hint: use the legislative research to inform questions to the electeds, use their answers to inform the legislative research.
- one or more people to identify state activists trying to build resistance against the legislation
- one or more people to contact the activists
Please set up communication channels within your group however you wish. What works for you is best.
For communication about spreadsheets, please contact the person who presented the spreadsheets at your team meeting.
For communication with the leadership team, regular reports can be posted on the state pages. But please use email when there is an urgent issue or something you need to call to our attention.
When in doubt, email is fine. Don’t hesitate to contact us when you need to!
Team Roles! (add person’s nym here)
Interface Roles
Contact with Alan & WaterGirl:
Contact with your Spreadsheet Person (Matt or Lisa):
Monitor the Team Post:
?
Project Roles
Voting Rights Lab Research (in the first 2-3 days):
Research Legislation on other sites:
Research Elected Officials:
Contact Elected Officials:
Identify State Organizations & Activists:
Contact the Activists:
?
Please copy this list into a comment and add the names there.
hitchhiker
I grew up in the UP and have family there still — not close, but potentially useful for on the ground info. I also have much closer family in Traverse City, where we all went to high school. With one exception, they’re politically indifferent. I’m far away in western WA now and have been for decades … I do have a little extra time and the ability to wade through/collate/enter data.
Get in touch if any of that might be useful, and thanks for doing MI.
brantl
I found on the voting rights lab that the information is downloadable, makes a CSV file that imports fairly seamlessly into Open Office, would probably do the same in Excel. Al, I am going to send you a copy, I will organize it by bill number, and count the rows, and take the first half, to move into the balloon-juice acceptable spreadsheet, unless you know how to construct a macro, to tanspose the information? Anybody got a handle on how that’s done? It would be a big time-saver for all states? Sure Lurkalot,, is this something your familiar/comfortable with?
Madeleine
Below are links to three TPM articles about an outrageous procedure that the MI Repub legislators are working on to override a promised override of their anti-voter bills by Whitmer. I’m including all three though they’re somewhat redundant and sometimes off-topic because I think their plan (still in process) is not completely clear.
“Republicans Have A Bold Scheme To Hijack MI’s Elections Rules. Will They Pull It Off?”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/michigan-republicans-ballot-initiative-murky
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/michigan-republicans-governor-veto-voter-restrictsions
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mi-senate-majority-leader-lays-out-plan-to-circumvent-dem-guvs-veto-on-election-bills
Something you might look for in the R proposed bills is anything that counts as a spending proposal. Any bill including spending cannot be reversed by ballot initiative. I don’t remember the details of this, but do remember that the Rs tried to use it against–I think–the redistricting commission. Brant may have a better take on this.
brantl
I have managed to download the VRL voting bills into a .csv file, which let me import them into a excel compatible spreadsheet program; I have sent them to SouthEndBoston, and we have divided up the work. I am nearly done with my half, and will finish up tonight. We will then splice our halves together, and send in the results.
brantl
Brantl from Michigan, here; Voting RIghts Labs has a download feature that produces a .csv file, that can be easily imported into Excel compatible spreadsheets. I strongly encourage people to do that, as you can then import data to three important columns. I also recommend putting the Bill / Resolution ID in column A, and putting the Text of the URL of the bill text in the first free column, over to the right.
Madeleine
I haven’t had a facebook account and, having decided yesterday that I was getting nowhere further with websites, etc., in looking for local groups, I signed up for an account. BUT while completing my profile, my account was disabled for possibly violating community standards. I then discovered an email that claimed that I’d changed my email account at 8:40 pm when it was only 4:40 pm. I’ve been trying to find a way to communicate about this, but no luck.
Does anyone have ideas about what I can do? If I can’t resolve this, I can’t do the searching I’ve signed up for.
I’m going to post this to WaterGirl, maybe the whole BJ list. BUT I’m leaving for a med test before 11:00.
WaterGirl
@Madeleine: Madeleine and I spoke on the phone, so this is less urgent, but anyone who can help with the Facebook issue, please jump in.
brantl
At least 2 bills in Michigan say that ineligible voters are to be recorded that way on the Friday before election day, or the last business day before the election. All of these bills require signatures, as well, and I think we are going to see a record number of disallowed signatures, if these bills pass. I think that there should be a pre-emptive bill to make voter ID hassle-free, fast and free to anybody who needs it, with various ways to get around people who don’t have traditional ID. We need to nip this in the bud, pronto.
SouthEndBoston
For the record, I am keeper of the spreadsheet. Thanks, Al
Madeleine
@hitchhiker: I’m researching Michigan activist groups that we might support. If your family might have suggestions, their knowledge would be very valuable for my search–as would any other ideas you have. Thanks.
WaterGirl
I added a list up top. Please copy the list of roles to a comment and add the names of the people who have taken on those roles.
hitchhiker
@Madeleine:
okay, checking in with my sister now.
Madeleine
@hitchhiker: Great! Thanks.
Madeleine
I just found the statement below on a BLM website that I’m considering:
“The Michigan Secretary of State has a released a slate of reforms that would build on bipartisan reforms enacted in 2018, making the absentee ballot process less confusing and easier to ensure your vote is counted.”
I found it hopeful and wanted everyone to have a moment of hope!
SouthEndBoston
We have completed the Voting Rights Lab Research and it has been distributed to all
Team members!
Madeleine
Below is the 07.14 Report for WaterGirl and Alan. I’ll also email it to WaterGirl (I don’t have Alan’s email).
The activities reported by MI group members since our meeting are:
SouthEndBoston and brantl have completed the spreadsheet and distributed it to group members. Brantl has identified additional legislation and asked if additional columns should be added to the spreadsheet.
We welcome our new member, hitchhiker. She has volunteered to research elected officials and to join me in identifying state organizations/activists. She has contacted her instate relative about MI activist groups they know about.
Dnfree has reported twice on the MI group’s blog posts and also included helpful information from the other states’ blogs. She is also monitoring our email list’s membership.
Madeleine is developing a list of MI state/local organizations. Some are legislation oriented and others are voter oriented. The latter are included in case they might also do legislative work or may know of groups/individuals who do.
Madeleine
Following up on the Georgia list of national organizations that dnfree included in her last report, here is a short list I’ve been collecting. It’s annotated and is limited to organizations that do or might have MI chapters.
National site of League of Women Voters: https://www.lwv.org; the site includes a list of local Leagues. State groups may have legislative information, ex., in MI there is a list of current bills addressing voting rights.
Indivisible, https://indivisible.org; Indivisible is organized by local groups and a list is available at this site (also elsewhere). Some group sites have information about resources, including other local groups.
VoteVets: https://votevets.org; it works to elect progressive veterans at all levels of govt. I haven’t explored it further to determine relevance.
Downballot Progress: https://downballotprogress.com/about/; this is a very progressive organization that just turned up in my email a couple days ago. I haven’t looked into them any further yet. They: research state lege’s; lobby legislators; train campaign staffers, recruit volunteers.
Swing Left: https://swingleft.org/; they list local organizations, duplicate a lot of Indivisible.
Common Cause, https://www.commoncause.org; national not state/local oriented
Democratic Attorneys General Association, https://dems.ag/about/ ; includes Dana Nessel
Campaign Legal Center: https://campaignlegal.org; organization of lawyers working on election issues
brantl
Voting Rights Lab Research (in the first 2-3 days):
Research Legislation on other sites: Brantl
Research Elected Officials:
Contact Elected Officials:
Identify State Organizations & Activists: Brantl*
Contact the Activists: Brantl*
*= as needed, or as time allows
dnfree
This is what we have so far for team roles.
Team Roles!
Interface Roles
Contact with Alan & WaterGirl: Madeleine
Contact with your Spreadsheet Person (Matt or Lisa): SouthEndBoston
Monitor the Team Post: dnfree
?
Project Roles
Voting Rights Lab Research (in the first 2-3 days): SouthEndBoston, brantl
Research Legislation on other sites: brantl
Research Elected Officials: hitchhiker, madeleine, brantl (as needed or as time allows)
Contact Elected Officials: brantl
Identify State Organizations & Activists: hitchhiker, madeleine
Contact the Activists: brantl
Madeleine
Below is a very rough draft of the list I’ve been collecting of MI organizations. Ideally these would be engaged in action against MI voter suppression legislation, however, many—most—are GOTV or empowerment oriented. My thinking is that further research into some of these groups might unearth the kind of work we’re interested in, or contact might lead to names of organizations or individuals who are working against voter suppression legislation.
The list is not alphabetized or otherwise well organized. It begins with a few state-wide organizations that have local chapters. Next are a number of Indivisibles (more below), then a diffuse listing. Toward the end are a number of organizations that focus on the concerns of a particular group of citizens—working class, minority, (formerly) incarcerated. There are many more Indivisibles than the ones on the list; I showed those for which I could find info on the website that suggested they are active, might work on voter suppression, might be connected to other organizations. Some of the Indivisibles and other groups cover a small geographic area; I included them for the reasons just stated, or because the region is promising (Lansing, Detroit), or because of the particular population the group represents.
My method, as you can guess has not been systematic. I began with Indivisibles and some other statewide organizations, and afterward did keyword searches on Google. In a group’s site I would check out its mission and work to see if it does voter suppression work, or might do it. If the organization has links to or names of other organizations, I followed them down the rabbit hole. The organizations on the list are those that are engaged in voter suppression work or who might have relevant info.
The info in the individual listings is not consistent. If I have a link, it will usually be first, and, if I also have a facebook link, it will be there, too. The word Facebook in bold means that there is a link but I did not take it (my habits changed as the days passed). I did not always include a facebook link or mention. Some listings have info about the organization and a few have contact info.
To continue working, I will improve the organization of this list. Hitchhiker or others: some things that I know are needed might be pursuing Facebook links (I’m permanently disabled), adding contact info, doing further keyword searches (different ideas could yield more or better sites!). You also might think of other things that will improve the list.
And now the list:
League of Women Voters-Michigan: https://www.lwvmi.orgd; 28 local Leagues; info about current legislation;
Swing Left list of MI Indivisibles: https://swingleft.org/groups;
Super State Strategy-MI: https://swingleft.org/p/michigan; flip the MI State House
SWIM (State Wide Indivisible Michigan): https://www.beinvinciblemi.com/
Voters not Politicians: https://votersnotpoliticians.com/work/; redistricting, voter legislation
Indivisible Michigan: could ID local groups; email: [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/groups/indivisiblemi/
A2D2 Indivisible for Democracy (Ann Arbor):
https://swingleft.org/group/a2d2-ann-arbor-indivisible-for-democracy; Facebook
Blue Brigade (Lansing Area): https://swingleft.org/group/blue-brigade-lansing-area; Facebook
Indivisible Detroit Metro Women:
Indivisible Downriver: ; Facebook; may be connected to useful info
Indivisible Livingston County: https://swingleft.org/group/indivisible-livingston-county; Facebook
Indivisible Kalamazoo:
Indivisible Michigan 14th District:
Indivisible Fighting 9: ; resource list
Indivisible Huron Valley: indivisiblehv.com!; https://www.facebook.com/groups/1435244353160723/
Indivisible Eaton County (Lansing): ; Facebook; political activist tools
Indivisible Traverse City: Act Local summary indicates very active, organized, might have
contacts; individual contact [email protected]:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/384946005203512/
Michiganders & Friends for Change:
Monroe Resists Swing Left:
Fems for Dems: (Rachel and Kathy?)
Democratic Change Makers 2020 (Warren):
Lansing for Revolution: inform public about legislation at all levels;
https://www.facebook.com/LansingForRevolution
Progress Michigan: http://www.progressmichigan.org/contact/: claim to be a PR center for progressive groups, and therefore to have contacts with other groups (not on site); they do publish about the lege’s anti-voter bills
Southeastern Michigan Action Alerts: a facebook page that lists events, presumably IDing
groups; https://www.facebook.com/MiProtestAlerts/; contact [email protected]
Rust Belt Rising: https://rustbeltrising.com/resources/; regional candidate training/support, polling, and GOTV organization (IL, IN, MI, OH, PA, WI)
ACLU Michigan: Election Protection Prog. coalition of non-partisan orgs; https://www.aclumich.org/en/campaigns/election-protection-program
Get Out the Vote-MI: https://gotvmi.org; pro-new MI constitution, resists federal? policies that are anti-foregoing;
ACLU People Power: https://map.peoplepower.org;
Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network: statewide interfaith network
–>Priority issuesàGOTVàIdeas from UU the Vote: may be national; has a Slack space and Facebook group; possible source of information
Michigan United: https://www.miunited.org; https://www.facebook.com/MichiganUnited/; empowering communities for economic and racial justice; engage in legislative action about these issues; groups in Detroit, K-zoo, Flint, Gr Rapids; phone 1-877-507-7774;
Voting Access for All Coalition: https://votingaccessforall.org; formerly incarcerated voter access
Fair Michigan: LGBTQ voter participation initiative; https://www.fairmichigan.org
APIAVote-MI: https://www.apiavotemi.org; working with legislators on Asian community issues
American Citizens for Justice (ACJ): Asian Pacific Am civil rights org in Detroit area;
National Federation of Filipino Am Assoc (NaFFAA): works for rights through legislative, et al. initiatives
BLM Lansing/Liberation PAC (Liberation Policy Action Center): “anchor for all BLM groups around” MI: https://liberationpac.quorum.us/campaign/32539/; Facebook; this group pays attention to voting legislation!
Detroit Action: https://detroitaction.org; https://www.facebook.com/DetroitActionOrganizing/; Detroit area org “building power for workers and Detroiters of color”, oriented toward econ and social justice; engages with/against/within the state; contact through website or [email protected];
Common Cause Michigan: https://www.commoncause.org/michigan/;
Michigan United: https://www.miunited.org/legislative-action; may work on voter suppression bills
MOSES: https://www.facebook.com/mosesmi; Detroit organization; very active; list of other organizations on home page
MOSES Action: https://mosesaction.com; voter suppression is highlighted on home page
*Michigan Legislative Action: sounds relevant but is NOT; housing and real estate not voter suppression legislation oriented
dnfree
@Madeleine:
Wow, that is quite a list so far!
brantl
Please take me off your listings for responsibility for any activity going forward, I have been removed from the team. No hard feelings, just bewilderment.
Madeleine
Comment #22 in the Arizona post has some good ideas about analyzing legislation, I think. It’s in the first few paragraphs.
brantl
Man, this place is dead.