IC-SS Weekly Update: October 4, 2021
See You at the Point: Wed Oct 13
We’re better together! Join us next week at our October IC-South Side Social for a bonfire at the Point (Promontory Point).
Date: Wednesday, October 13th
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm. Join us for part or all of the evening.
Food: We’ll have hot dogs, veggie dogs, and marshmallows for roasting. Feel free to bring other food and drink.
RSVP: We’d love to hear if you plan to attend – RSVP via email. However, you’re welcome to just show up at the last minute.
Proven: Letters & Postcards GOTV!
Research shows that handwritten postcards and letters to voters are effective in getting out the vote (GOTV), and they can be a powerful tool for reaching the voters that we want to encourage. Recently, Progressive Turnout Project (PTP) and Vote Forward have both shared their robust findings.
Vote Forward – Letters to Voters
LEARN: Letters to voters work. Take a look at the 2020 Impact report, posted by Vote Forward about their project, the Big Send.
ACT: Can you get your hands on a printer, paper, envelopes, stamps, and a pen? Write letters to voters to voters via Vote Forward! We suggest you focus on letter-writing to the critical state of Virginia.
GATHER: Join friends online from Indivisible Illinois at a Swing Left virtual party on Saturday, October 9th at 12:00 noon. Get info/Sign up.
Postcards to Swing States
LEARN: In this recorded webinar, find out how Postcards to Swing States, a project of Progressive Turnout Project, helps get out the vote. In PTP’s recorded webinar, see a message from Senator Raphael Warnock and enjoy presentations by both THE Katie Porter, Congresswoman from CA, and our friend Reid McCollum, the postcard giant. WATCH HERE.
ACT: Order postcards from PTP’s Postcards to Swing States and write postcards to encourage voting in key states. FAQs here + sign up here.
Postcards for Climate
ACT: Write postcards to make sure people who care about the climate crisis VOTE. This special project, launched by Reid McCollum, starts with cities that have elections this November — cities where climate progress is possible, but only if climate voters show up! Get info and sign up at the Postcards for Climate website.
Phoning Voters for Democracy
Join Sarah, Teri, Betsy, and others from our group in one of these weekly events. Connect to day-of training and constant friendly support via Zoom. All you need is your laptop and a phone.
Constituent calls count. The time is now — take that extra step to get voters to push their senators to save our democracy!
Tuesday:Phonebankto West Virginia voters – Joe Manchin territory – in support of the new bill, the Freedom to Vote Act. Tuesday, October 5th, 3:00 pm and every Tuesday. Via Indivisible Chicago, in partnership with Common Cause. Learn more/Sign up
Wednesday:Phonebank to voters in various states in support of the Freedom to Vote Act. October 6th, 5:00 pm and every Wednesday with alternating start times at 3:00 pm or 5:00 pm. Via Indivisible Chicago, in partnership with Common Cause. Learn more/Sign up
Choose your day: If you can’t make the above phonebanks, choose a Common Cause phonebank on another day! Learn more/Sign up.
Help Register Voters on the South Side–
ILVOTE invites Indivisible Chicago-South Side members to volunteer – find many opportunities to register, inform, and motivate voters!Join IC-SS member Julia Kline, who organizes many of these efforts with ILVOTE and Neighbors Who Vote. For South Side voter registration efforts, Get info/Sign up.
March for Reproductive Rights – Oct 2
On October 2nd, thousands of people rallied and marched in downtown Chicago in support of reproductive rights and access to abortion.
The march was organized by a coalition of groups including Planned Parenthood of Illinois, SEIU, Women’s March of Illinois, Women’s March of Chicago, the citywide Indivisible Chicago Alliance, statewide Indivisible Illinois, Chicago Abortion Fund, and others.
Some members of Indivisible Chicago-South Side took part, many of them leaders of other groups, as well.
Our Democracy Crisis
Even conservatives are warning about the dire situation that we the people are in.
“We are already in a constitutional crisis.” writes Robert Kagan in a Washington Post opinion piece. “The destruction of democracy might not come until November 2024, but critical steps in that direction are happening now. In a little more than a year, it may become impossible to pass legislation to protect the electoral process in 2024.”
What you can do NOW:
1. Call our senators regularly. Contact Senator Durbin + Senator Duckworth regularly to urge them to do something about the filibuster so that voting rights and fair elections bills can pass, especially the Freedom to Vote Act + the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
2. Get voters around the country to call their senators. Phonebank with friendly, supportive Indivisible Chicago folks and Common Cause to patch voters in Arizona and West Virginia through to their senators about democracy bills and the filibuster (Indivisible Chicago + Common Cause).
Even if you’ve skipped phonebanking in the past, please consider phonebanking now to defend our democracy!
Stay informed on voting rights and fair elections
Stay informed on the urgent need to strengthen and defend our democracy. Check the IC-SS Democracy Doc – new resources weekly: websites, articles, podcasts, videos, and more.
Updated with info on the NEW bill — the Freedom to Vote Act
Organizations & Opportunities
Indivisible Chicago-South Side shares information and action announcements from other organizations on issues important in our country, state, city, and communities.
Policing in Chicago: Learn about ECPS Ordinance
From the Community Renewal Society: Join Community Renewal Society for a virtual teach-in on the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) Ordinance.
This ordinance will establish a civilian oversight body over the Chicago Police Department, which will help shape police policy. This new ordinance creates one of the most progressive police-government-community partnerships in the country. Learn more about ECPS and how you can get involved by attending one of our virtual teach-ins.
Choose one of these dates: Tues, Oct 5th, 6:00 pm – Sat, Oct 9th, 10:00 am – Thurs, Oct 14th, 6:00 pm. Get info/Sign up.
White Nationalism in Illinois: Webinar, Oct 7th
From Indivisible Illinois, Indivisible Rural IL, and partners: Have you noticed that behind most Republican efforts these days is thinly veiled racism? In Illinois we are just a hair’s breadth from the ugliness that has taken over the legislatures of some other states. Unfortunately, many examples of white supremacy and KKK organizations are a sad part of Illinois history. And, disturbingly, it is very present right now in rural Illinois
his week, attend a virtual event to learn more and find ways to protect our state. Learn more here.
Online event: A Brief History of White Nationalism in Downstate Illinois, featuring Benjamin Beaupre
Date/Time: Thursday, On October 7th, 7:30 p.m., during the Illinois Rural Caucus zoom meeting
RSVP: RSVP for this special event at this week’s meeting of Indivisible Rural IL: Sign up here.
Understand IL’s Criminal Justice Reform Bill: Watch
What’s the real story about Illinois’s criminal justice reform bill, now signed into law? Hear from IL State Senator Robert Peters and Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell at Injustice Watch’s webinar, recorded last week. Watch the recording.
