School Board Elections Are Tomorrow
School board elections and budget votes throughout Westchester are slated for Tuesday, May 17th.
If you are registered to vote in the general election, you are automatically eligible to vote in your school district election.
As LoHud chronicles in this article, several school board races, in places like New Rochelle, Eastchester, Yorktown, Bedford and Blind Brook, have candidates running who are critical of “anti-racism policies, the teaching of sex and gender education, schools’ enforcement of COVID policies, and whether schools are responsive enough to parents.” This is part of a national campaign being pushed by conservatives. Indivisible Westchester held a forum back in November about the right wing campaign to take over our school boards.
Click here for voting information for each school district in Westchester. Now more than ever, your vote matters. Don’t let others decide for you.
Redistricting Update
Preliminary Congressional and State Senate maps are due today with final versions expected to be completed by the end of the week. Last month, the NY Court of Appeals threw out the maps approved by the Legislature following a lawsuit by Republicans. A consultant is now drawing the new maps that will determine our districts for the next decade.
Meantime, there will be TWO PRIMARY DATES this summer.
- The primary for Governor, Lt. Governor and State Assembly are set for June 28th.
- The Congressional and State Senate primaries will be on August 23rd.
Elections Matter 2022 Edition: Midterms & More
In light of the realization that Roe is likely to be overturned, activist Amy Siskind compiled this terrific list of races that we need to pay attention to this year.
- Click here to register for a Zoom on March 24th @ 7PM about how to get activated.
House of Representatives:
- Every member of the House is up for re-election. We hold a slim majority in the House. If your district is safely blue, consider volunteering to help in competitive districts. Once new maps are completed, we will know which House districts in NY will be battlegrounds. We need to be sure to support races in our own state first and foremost, which will also help down ballot. This is crucial if we want to expand abortion rights at the state level in New York and make sure we remain a safe harbor state.
- For races out of state, Swing Left can help direct you to volunteer.
Senate:
- 34 Senators are up for re-election – 20 Republicans and 14 Democrats. Currently the Senate split is 50-50, with Democrats having the majority with VP Harris as the tie breaker. The Senate is crucial!
- Two Senators, Manchin and Sinema have held back progress on many measures, so picking up two seats would be incredibly helpful. Either way, we want to maintain a majority! We must keep competitive seats in AZ, GA, NM and NH blue, while trying to turn FL, NC, OH, WI and PA.
- You can donate to the basket or pick and choose from it. I will add WI and PA once they pick their candidates in the primary. Amy’s Keep the Senate Blue Basket will make donations towards the most competitive races.
Statewide Races:
- Trump is also putting forth candidates for Attorneys General, Secretaries of State and Governors in swing states that determine presidential elections. Last week as Siskind hosted Michigan’s AG Dana Nessel and SoS Jocelyn Benson, they learned that the Trump-backed candidates, who support his lie that 2020 was stolen, were chosen in the GOP primary. If they win in November, they would be in a position to overturn 2024 results in their state. You can donate to Nessel and Benson here.
- Trump has also backed candidates in other key states including PA, WI, AZ and GA, who back his lie that 2020 was stolen.
State Legislatures:
The onerous abortion and anti-gay laws are put forward by state legislatures. Republicans have focused here for decades. To volunteer for state races outside of NY, you can volunteer or donate to these two excellent organizations: The States Project or Sister District.
| Support the Hybrid Voting Machine BanPlease tell your representative how important it is that the Assembly passes the Hybrid “All in One” Voting Machine Ban bill (A.1115c). Companies selling these machines are trying to get them approved by the NY State Board of Elections. But these machines are cumbersome and very expensive. Most importantly, they pose a security risk: they can produce unreliable paper ballots, and make a post-election audit near impossible. There is no time to waste! We are asking you to make FOUR CALLS so that the bill is brought to committee and then onto the floor before session ends. These calls are to: 1. Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, chair of the Elections Committee: Albany Office–518-455-4466 2. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie– Albany Office–518-455-3791 3. Central Assembly Staff ( Aubree Haydrick, Nate Kerstein, Christina Philo) Albany Office–518-455-4355 4. Your own Assembly Member–Go to the Assembly website–www.nyassembly.gov— if you do not know who your Assemblymember is, then click on “Who is my Assemblymember” Script: “My name is xxx and I belong to xxx group. I strongly support A1115C. This bill bans expensive, bulky voting machines that create long lines at the polls and have raised privacy concerns by updating our old state voting machine standards. I urge you to help pass this bill through the Assembly.” |
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