• Thanks to all who came to our meeting!
• We are (as of this writing) $300 short of our commitment to the Virginia 2019 statehouse elections. You can contribute by clicking the thermometer above, which shows how close we are to our goal. We are supporting three candidates: one for State Senate and two for the House of Delegates (Assembly) seats overlapping that Senate seat. Cheryl Turpin flipped a Delegate seat in 2017, with our help. This time, she is trying to flip the State Senate seat, while Alex Askew is running for the seat Turpin is relinquishing. Nancy Guy is running for the other Delegate seat. If we win these three we will have one Democratic hold and two flips R to Dem. ACTION ITEM: Send around our ActBlue Link above to help us reach and surpass our Virginia goal.
• Bill Marthinsen is helping with the postcard campaigns for Sister District, which include the our Virginia races. Noemi Levine is helping anyone who isn’t set up with Tony the Democrat and his postcard campaigns. Judy Stacey will listen in on the Indivisible California State Strong calls. ACTION ITEM: Anyone needing help or info about these projects can post a comment below.
• We should be postcarding for the North Carolina special election, as well as Virginia. Note that the Virginia postcards need legal disclaimers. ACTION ITEM: At our next meeting we’ll be doing Virginia postcards. If you want some addresses before the meeting, ask in a comment below and we’ll send you some. OR write some for Tony’s campaign in North Carolina for upcoming special election.
• Bill reported that the intern we sent to Virginia has returned to California to start college had a great time, and we should continue this program. ACTION ITEM: Anyone want to help build up the intern program?
• Hold the date: weekend of November 16–17, Rep. Lauren Underwood (IL–14) is fundraising in the Bay Area. We are likely to host.
• Get well soon to Ann Overton, who had a severe fall.
• NEXT MEETING: Sunday Sept 8th, 4:30-5:45. We’ll learn about fighting gerrymandering and write some postcards as well as plan our November event with Lauren.

We resume action this Sunday, August 25th 4:30-5:45 at our house. Lots to organize for fall action. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Make the Resistance Delicious!

Chocolate Tasting

with Alice Medrich

Sunday, September 15, 2019, 3-5 pm

Author, pastry chef, and teacher Alice Medrich is one of the country’s foremost experts on chocolate. Since 1976, when her renowned shop, Cocolat, opened and her first dessert feature appeared in a national publication, Alice’s innovative ideas and recipes have influenced a generation of confectioners, pastry chefs, and home cooks. 

Alice will lead us on a journey to learn:

 What a sweet way to flip Virginia!

Sunday, September 15, 2019, 3:00–5:00 pm

East Bay Activist Alliance, an affiliate of Sister District Project, is comprised of volunteer activists and organizations in San Francisco’s East Bay. We help flip and hold winnable districts red-to-blue by supporting high impact, strategic campaigns where state legislative seats, voting rights, and Congressional campaigns intersect.

After partisan gerrymandering was given a green light by the US Supreme Court in June, our hopes for federal corrective action dimmed.  But there’s much to be done:

In the courts: Key players like the Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and the Campaign Legal Center are working on lawsuits in where the state constitutions or legislation give leverage against gerrymandering.  They will also be challenging states where racial gerrymandering is masquerading as “political.” All these groups deserve our financial support.

With State Ballot Initiatives: 26 states allow ballot initiatives that establish independent, non-partisan commissions for redistricting.  These need to be state level initiatives, but the same non-partisan groups  (Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and the Campaign Legal Center) offer support, legal advice, and how-to guides. After fair vote coalitions mounted extensive grass-roots campaigns, five states passed such initiatives in 2018.

In State Electoral Campaigns: State legislatures and governors are the key actors in drawing electoral districts, as the GOP realized in launching their infamous REDMAP strategy in 2010.  Democrats aren’t asleep this time, and their counter-effort is led by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), headed by Eric Holder and supported by Obama. Obama’s Organizing for Action group has joined NDRC to create the All on the Line Campaign, whose volunteers will bird-dog the redistricting process in each state.  The NDRC coordinates with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) to elect Democrats who have pledged to support fair electoral maps. The NDRC record: 61% wins in 230 state races targeted in 2018.  Joining these groups is Emily’s List, which is committing $20 million to 500 state legislative races.

In Federal Election Campaigns.  With passage of HR-1 in the House, congressional Democrats are committed to supporting non-partisan redistricting, and the NDRC is asking all Democratic candidates from president down to sign a “Fair Districts Pledge.” Winning the Senate and Presidency would allow HR-1 to become law and at some point would lead to a different Supreme Court.

With Long-Range Reforms: There are strong arguments for enlarging congressional districts and using ranked-choice voting to select 3-5 House seats each, giving representation to every voter instead of  the current winner-take-all system.  This idea, backed by FairVote and others, has been put into a proposed Fair Representation Act initiated by Virginia Democrat Don Beyer. After 2020 maybe?

With Grass-roots Activism: Activists around the country that pushed for HR-1 are partnering with all the groups listed here; check out our Indivisible resources on fighting gerrymandering.

1. Can someone volunteer to shepherd the Origami event forward while we are out of town? When we return it will already be August 18th.
2. For those of you who want to stop by, we are sitting Shiva for Andy’s father this Wednesday evening from 7:00-9:00 pm at our house.

Andy’s father died early this morning so we are in Washington DC and therefore have to cancel the meeting set for tomorrow, Sunday July 28th. We will be sitting shiva one night this week and will let everyone know when it is set. Luckily we have some time before our event in August to prepare. Naomi

During this stressful and depressing week, let’s try to keep our eye on the prizes:

1. The Virginia election. Please continue to pass around our ActBlue link to family and friends.
2. We will shortly be sending out a sign-up link for the Origami lesson with Ann Overton and sale of Janet Grodin’s prints on Saturday August 24th 1:30-5:00 so tell your friends about it.
3. Next meeting is this coming Sunday, July 28, 4:30-5:45 at our house. We will talk about gerrymandering and also new apps to entice young people to vote, as well as finalizing the plans for August 24th.
4. Meanwhile, here are some action items: A) Tony the Democrat has a good post with the results of a study about postcards and their study found: Sending handwritten postcards to voters definitely had a noticeable effect on Vote by Mail signups among Pasco Democrats. Now it is time to do the same for Florida. Just log on to poscardstovoters.org. B) Make a small donation to help the re-enfranchised voters in Florida pay the poll-taxes that are being used to keep them from voting: wegotthevote.org and C) Need some friends and snack to get those postcard and letters writings vibes back in action? Join with other writers on Saturday July 27th 3:00-5:00 at Ellen’s House, 20 Jerome St. in Piedmont.

Check out the latest from Tony the Democrat, below:

Turn Florida Blue with Vote By Mail

One year ago, Postcards to Voters tested a new postcard-writing campaign to encourage registered Democrats in 5 Florida counties to enroll in their Vote By Mail program.  Once enrolled, they would receive a ballot in the mail for every single election for which they were eligible to vote.  For four years!

Plenty of evidence shows that voters who are mailed ballots are much more likely to participate than those who aren’t mailed ballots.  So, we conducted a pilot effort and measured the results.  The findings were overwhelmingly convincing.  You can read the analysis by clicking HERE. So Postcards to Voters announced a mission to write to the entire state in time for the 2020 Presidential election.  We have more than a year to finish all 67 counties. But we can’t wait until the last minute. CLICK to learn about the current Pinellas County, Florida, effort.

And if you’re ready to help writing to Democrats in Florida not already enrolled in Vote By Mail: 

• Text HELLO to (484) 275-2229.Or…
• CLICK to ask Abby the Address Bot on Facebook Messenger Or…
• CLICK to ask Rapid Response Email Team to give addresses

Thanks for a fun and productive meeting everyone.

1. We are more than half way to reaching our $2,000 goal to support “our” three races in Virginia this November (our Quiet Evening at Home brought in $1,200 in the end!). Everyone can watch our progress on the thermometer Andy is pinning at the top of our site and can encourage friends and family to contribute.
2. To help reach our goal we are planning a special event at the Grodin’s on Saturday August 24th with two parts, first an Origami lesson led by Anne Overton with refreshments (1:00-3:30, limited to 20) and then a sale of original prints created and donated by Janet Grodin (3:30-5:00, everyone welcome). We will put together an invite for everyone to send to their friends and a list of tasks for the event.
3. Jane was out canvassing for Harder on Saturday and told us about the improved democratic party app –which has some glitches. Good for her for being a test case for fixing it!
4. Bruce asked if we are ready to sign our group up as an official participants in the next stage of Indivisible planning and events, (starting in September) and we gave him the official OK. Bruce also gave us the results from a survey done after the debate and he will post them as one of his Thursday posting. Indivisible is not going to endorse in the primary (at least not for the foreseeable future).
5. We gave out postcards with our new logo. Those who need addresses and can’t get them on their own, email me. Time to start those pens flowing again.
6. At our next meeting we are going to finalize our plans for our August 24th event and then discuss 1) which groups are doing good jobs fighting gerrymandering and deserve our support and 2) I will share the new app I have been encouraging students to download which has info about where/when to vote and also gives the voting records of the your contacts. We started a lively conversation about the pros and cons of this type of app and will continue it next meeting.
7. Our next meeting is in two weeks July 28th, 4:30-5:45. NOTE: The following meeting will not be until Sunday August 25th (due to our family vacation).