Election Day and other fast-approaching deadlines
Indivisible SF Newsletter
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Government shutdown clock:
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If Congress does not pass a budget bill or CR by Friday, March 1, the government will shut down.
House and Senate leadership have negotiated a budget package, which MAGA Republicans in the House are obstructing.
You have less than a week left to vote. The deadline to cast your ballot is Tuesday, March 5.
You can sign up for ballot tracking ([link removed]) from the State of California. After you vote, you’ll get notified when your ballot has been opened and counted.
If you’re not yet registered, you can still vote at the City Hall Voting Center, or at a polling place on the last day. You will have to register and vote at the same time. Find more information here. ([link removed])
First time voting in SF? Haven’t voted in a few years? Our voting primer ([link removed]) for San Francisco voters walks you through casting your ballot step-by-step. If you prefer to learn by watching a video, the SF Department of Elections has an excellent video about this election ([link removed]) .
Need a cheat sheet? Our Vote ([link removed]) page is your go-to resource for voter guides, our voting primer, and ways you can help get out the vote. Feel free to share it with friends and family members who are eager to vote in the Democratic primary election.
Know any voters in the Central Valley, Antelope Valley, or Orange County? The California Grassroots Alliance interviewed each Democratic candidate running in six Congressional districts in these three regions. Check out the teaser video on YouTube ([link removed]) and watch the Alliance’s interviews here ([link removed]) .
** Government Shutdown Looms Again: Tell MoC’s to stand firm
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Under the Continuing Resolution (CR) passed in January, funding for a large portion of the federal government runs out at midnight on Friday, March 1. Funding for the remaining portion ends one week later, at midnight on March 8. If a new appropriations bill or another CR is not passed by those deadlines, major portions of our government shut down.
The Trump/MAGA extremists who control the Republican Party are threatening to shut our government down if their racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and anti-democratic poison-pill demands are not injected into the appropriation bills or the next CR. Their tirades and tantrums are focused on border security and demonizing non-white immigrants, further restricting abortion rights and denying women the freedom to control their own bodies, blocking or weakening measures to combat global warming, and "anti-woke" policies aimed at curtailing and destroying diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, including freedom of speech and thought at schools and colleges and economic justice efforts. They know they don't have the votes to enact any of their poison pills through the normal legislative process so they are using the blackmail threat of a government shutdown to impose their will on everybody else.
Even more so in an election year than in a normal year, our Democratic representatives must stand for our freedoms against MAGA-Republican efforts to drag us back into our racist, patriarchal, bigoted past. We must make the difference plain as day: Republicans want the government dismantled and our freedoms burned; Democrats want the government to work for you.
Tell President Biden and our Members of Congress: ([link removed]) Stand fast, don’t surrender to MAGA Republican shutdown blackmail!
** Climate Priorities in the Inflation Reduction Act
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Corporate greed drove the steep price increases that Republicans and corporate news media blamed on President Biden during his first two years in office. Since inflation has slowed down, partly as a result of policies in the Biden Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the CHIPS and Science Act, we don’t hear too much about “inflation” anymore.
The Inflation Reduction Act (the Biden IRA), passed in 2022, establishes climate, energy, health, and tax policies to reduce prices for most of us. Authorizing the government to negotiate drug prices and making the tax code fairer are major parts of its “inflation reduction,” but President Biden knows that developing sustainable energy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels are also essential, not least because the price of fossil fuels plays a major role in price shocks like the ones that occurred early in Biden’s presidency.
The Economic Policy Institute says the historic $437 billion in climate funding in the Biden IRA “puts the U.S. on a path where meeting its global climate change commitments is within reach—commitments which would provide a genuine chance at securing a livable planet for future generations if they are kept. At the beginning of August 2022, there was no such path to secure this livable future, but there is now—and that is a mammoth victory.” To protect these commitments and our future, we must re-elect President Biden this fall.
We review the climate provisions in the Biden IRA and what they’re bringing to California in our blog ([link removed]) .
** Want to know more about the items on your ballot?
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If you’re looking at your ballot wondering what the right choices are on its important questions, our Vote page has resources that can help, including links to progressive voter guides and explainers on propositions like Prop 1 (by CalMatters) ([link removed]) and Prop B (by us) ([link removed]) .
Check out our Vote ([link removed]) page as you work on your ballot, and feel free to send it to others who may need it.
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New report on San Francisco's local news environment
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When you're well informed, you're able to make sound choices. That's true for individuals, and it's true for communities: A well-informed public is essential to a healthy democracy.
Our friends at California Common Cause have published a new report based on a series of community listening sessions with San Francisco residents about where and how they get local information. The report highlights the public's need for good information about our government and our communities, and identifies where journalists need support to make that information available.
Read the report on the California Common Cause website: “Local Voices on Local News ([link removed]) .”
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Volunteers welcome: We’re looking for an Editor and a Social Media Person!
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This year is going to be a busy time, and we’d love a few more volunteers on board to help with editing our weekly newsletter and publishing ongoing social media posts.
Our newsletter team meets every Tuesday night, and our editor helps us make sure everything looks professional, all the links work, and all the commas are in the right places.
Several members of our team post on various social media websites (Twitter, Mastodon, Instagram, etc.). This is more of an ad-hoc role. We especially would like someone to help us create, schedule, and monitor posts on the Meta Suite (Facebook and Instagram) and Threads. No prior knowledge required—we can train you!
If you’re interested in volunteering, let us know at
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]) .
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TODAY: Bay Area Coalition Phone Banks to CA, NV, and AZ: Wednesday, Feb. 28, 5–7 PM (and every Wednesday thereafter). Join to help elect Adam Gray in CA-13 and Rudy Salas in CA-22. This phone bank also calls into swing states Nevada and Arizona. RSVP here. ([link removed])
TODAY, Thursday, and Monday: Activate America Phone Banks to CA-13 and CA-47: Wednesday, Feb. 28, 3–5 PM and 5–7 PM, Thursday, Feb. 29, 3–5 PM, and Monday, Mar. 4, 3–5 PM. Join to help elect Adam Gray in CA-13 and a Democrat in CA-47. RSVP here. ([link removed])
** About this week’s photo
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If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on social media, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue.
Today’s graphic is a photo of a San Francisco ballot dropbox at City Hall, taken by one of our members.
Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team ([link removed])
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
DONATE HERE ([link removed])
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