We have a 5-person group of Balloon Juice peeps who are taking on Pennsylvania.
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 PA is encouraged to comment. Maybe you know of a political organization that might be active in PA, 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 PA stat team: Revrick, BlueGuitarist, Barbara,TheTruffle, and Nancy.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Nancy
Thanks, Brantl, and as always, Watergirl.
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
OH Contact with Alan & WaterGirl: RevRick
OH Contact with your Spreadsheet Person (Matt or Lisa): Barbara
OH Monitor the Team Post: Nancy
?
Project Roles
Voting Rights Lab Research (in the first 2-3 days):
Research Legislation on other sites:
Research Elected Officials: RevRick
Contact Elected Officials: RevRick
Identify State Organizations & Activists: Barbara (and Nancy)
Contact the Activists: Barbara (and Nancy)
Barbara and RevRick: please tell me if I’ve left something out.
Thanks, all.
Nancy
PA State Legislature
The State Senate is composed of 50 members. There are currently 28 Republicans, 21 Democrats, and 1 Independent (elected as a Democrat).
The President of the Senate is John Fetterman (D), Lt. Governor
The Majority leader is Jake Corman
The Minority leader is Jay Costa
The State House is composed of 203 members. There are currently 111 Republicans and 92 Democrats. The Speaker is Bryan Cutler (R)
The Majority leader is Kerry Benninghoff
The Minority leader is Joanne McClinton
The PA Supreme Court is composed of 7 members with a retention election at 10 years. There is a mandatory retirement at 75. Currently there are 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans. There is one opening up for election in November.
The Governor is Tom Wolf (D), who is term limited and will be replaced in 2022.
Nancy
@Nancy:
Just noticed that I copied Ohio’s info page instead of the template Watergirl posted for Pennsylvania. So a few of the state abbreviations are OH instead of PA.
Barbara
@Nancy: Thanks! I need someone to send me the Excel spread sheet document so I can enter the information.
Nancy
@Barbara:
Have you seen Watergirl’s recent email? Hope when we meet we’ll address these glitches.
Nancy
My apologies. My car collapsed in a heap on Sunday, had to be towed and then I had to fine a ride to pick the car up. The ride happened to coincide with our meeting time. I got home too late to join.
Hope someone will tell me what happened and what I need to do.