For 2019, we’re going to provide focused actions for each month – to allow a more extended and hopefully clear message to our legislators on the issues we find important. Of course, as issues of the moment arise, we will continue to include additional actions each week where needed.
January’s focus – Expand Voting Rights!
As the New York State Legislature starts up on January 9, we know that expanded Voting Rights in NY are at the top of their agenda. We also saw HR 1 on the first day of the new Congress, which had significant voting rights components, as well as campaign finance and ethics reforms. Our community strongly supports improved voting accessibility and rights, let’s make sure our legislators know where we stand!
- Join Let NY Vote in Albany on January 23 for a day of action and meeting with legislators. Register here.
- Contact your State Senator and Assembly member to ensure they support updates to New York’s old and outdated voting laws – address early voting, automatic registration, allow no-excuse absentee ballots.
- Contact your House and U.S. Senate representatives to show your support for the proposals in H.R. 1, including campaign finance reforms, automatic voter registration, making Election Day a holiday. See details of the For The People bill here. Note: this article suggests this is a symbolic piece of legislation – there is no reason we shouldn’t fully advocate for all of these measures to be considered, and continue to be promoted, even if we know that the current Senate and President would not be willing to sign on.
- Additionally, when you call, also demand that your representatives hold firm on not funding a useless border wall, and support any other action they can take to end the government shutdown.
Find your state representatives:
New York Assembly
New York Senate
U.S. Senators for New York:
Chuck Schumer – (202) 224-6542
Kirsten Gillibrand – (202) 224-4451
Local Congressional Representatives:
Elise Stefanik, CD21 – (202) 225-4611
Paul Tonko, CD20 – (202) 225-5076
See our website for more contact info and talking points.