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Happy Thursday, Fellow Democrats!


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** IRC DEMOCRATIC HEADQUARTERS HOURS
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** The office has reopened for the following hours and days:

Wednesday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Friday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Due to Covid-19 and health reasons, the office is only open for essential services. When visiting the office please follow these guidelines:

Knock on the door
Someone will meet you outside
Wear a mask
Social distance

Please note that the office will be closed for the week of Thanksgiving - Monday, November 23^rd to Friday, November 27^th. The office will reopen on Wednesday, December 2^nd.




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** OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY THIS MONTH
TAKING THE SENATE BACK
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IRC Democrats, our number one priority this month is to help Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock be elected as U.S. Senators for the State of Georgia. We must open our wallets and give financially, we need to phone bank and text for them, and we must write postcards. Encourage your friends and families to be involved. Republican lawmakers are not challenging Trump on losing the Presidential Election because they need him in their fight for the Georgia Senate seats. It’s that simple. Our Congress hangs in the balance of this election and President-Elect’s Joe Biden’s potential to govern with Congressional support. Here are some opportunities to get involved.

Flippin’ Georgia has numerous opportunities and ways to help from phone banking, postcard writing and donating. Several non-profit organizations like Fair Fight and the New Georgia Project will be on the ground registering voters (deadline December 7^th) so donations to these groups would be helpful, too. Click here to access:
Mobilize to Flip Senate Blue — March For Our Future ([link removed])

Phone Banking: Calling All Virtual Volunteers to Help Flip Georgia - [link removed] ([link removed])

Come to Georgia (like Andrew Yang and his family) to Help Flip the Senate - [link removed] ([link removed])

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POLLS – HOW ACCURATE ARE THEY?
From the New York Times
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Fool us once …
The polls were wrong again, and much of America wants to know why.

Dozens of pre-election polls suggested that Joe Biden would beat President Trump by a wide margin, but the race instead came down to one or two percentage points in a handful of states. Polls also indicated that Democrats would do much better than they did in congressional races.

So what happened? Here are six key points:

1. In the last few years, Republican voters seem to have become less willing to respond to polls. Maybe that shouldn’t be surprising, given Trump’s attacks on the media, science and other institutions.

2. This phenomenon isn’t simply about working-class whites. Pollsters were careful to include more of these voters in their samples than four years ago, when the polls also missed, but it didn’t solve the problem. One likely reason: Even within demographic groups — say, independent, older, middle-income white women — people who responded to polls this year leaned more Democratic than people who did not.

3. It’s also not just about Trump. Polls missed in several Senate races even more than in the presidential race, which means they did an especially poor job of finding people who voted for Biden at the top and a Republican lower down the ballot.

4. Most of the easy solutions are probably not real solutions. Since Election Day, some campaign operatives have claimed their private polls were more accurate than the public polls. That seems more false than true. Biden, Trump and both parties campaigned as if their own polls matched the public polls, focusing on some states that were not really competitive and abandoning others that were close.

5. Polls have still been more accurate over the last four years than they were for most of the 20th century. As pollsters get more information about this year’s election and what went wrong, they will try to fix the problems, much as they did in the past. A new challenge: In the smartphone age, poll response rates are far lower than they used to be.

6. Journalists must do a better job of conveying the uncertainty in polls. Polls will never be perfect. Capturing the opinions of a large, diverse country is too difficult. And in today’s closely divided U.S., small polling errors can make underdogs look like favorites and vice versa. All of us — journalists, campaign strategists and the many Americans who have become obsessed with politics — shouldn’t forget this. We just got another reminder.

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Nate Cohn, who knows more about this subject than almost anybody, points out that a significant chunk of the error involved Hispanic voters.




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** WRITE YOUR SENATOR AND CONGRESSMAN ABOUT TRUMP NOT CONCEDING
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Please make time to call or write to your United States legislators and tell them Trump’s failure to concede the Presidential Election to President-Elect Joe Biden and their complicity in allowing this behavior is a complete failure for the American people and an abrogation of their role to uphold the U.S. Constitution. We need to tell them to do their job and represent all the people of Florida.

You can contact them through their websites.

Senator Marco Rubio
[link removed]
202.224.3041

Senator Rick Scott
[link removed]
202.224.5274

Congressman Bill Posey
[link removed]
202.225.3671

You can also contact the Head of the General Services Administration, Emily Murphy, and ask that she start the transition paperwork for President Elect Biden. Her refusal to do so jeopardizes the safety of our troops and country. Her contact information is:
Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Office: 844-472-4111
Direct Line: 202 -501-0450



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** DEMOCRATIC CLUB NEWS
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The Democratic Club of Indian River is hosting a special election victory/winter holiday celebration on Sunday, December 6^th at Riverside Park in Vero Beach. The Club has rented the Grand Pavilion from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. so attendees can stop by for as little or as long as they desire. Special precautions will be taken to make this a safe event in the age of Covid. We ask that all attendees wear a mask and practice social distancing by bringing their own chairs and standing or sitting six feet apart. We will also be accepting unwrapped toys or gift card donations for the Toys for Tots 2020 campaign. Toys are reserved for children ages 0-15. Please no stuffed animals.

More details will be forthcoming. Please contact Claudia Martino
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) if you have any questions or concerns.


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** DEMOCRATIC WOMEN’S CLUB NEWS
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The next DWC Virtual Luncheon is scheduled for Saturday, November 21^st, with check-in beginning at 11:30 a.m. The scheduled speaker is Dr. Robert Brugnoli, a Clinical Psychologist, who will discuss ways to deal with stress. If you are not a DWC member and would like to attend the luncheon, contact Pat O'Hara at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

The next DWC Book Group meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 27^th at 2 pm. The group will be discussing Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker. If you are not currently a book group member and would like to join in the discussion contact Maryann Ronan-Lamson at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .



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** COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE – MASK ORDINANCE
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On Tuesday, the County Commission voted 4-1 (Joe Flescher voted no) to implement the mask ordinance for another 60 days. The ordinance is as follows:

Face Coverings

1. All persons working in restaurants, grocery stores, food service, salons, gyms, any retail establishments, or businesses open to the public or any other indoor facility visited by the public shall wear face coverings.

2. All persons entering an indoor County facility including, but not limited to; the County Administration Building, libraries, iG center, fire rescue stations, etc. shall wear face coverings.

3. All persons utilizing public transit and transportation in Indian River County shall wear face coverings.

4. All other persons physically present in any public place in Indian River County are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings.

5. A face covering includes any covering which snugly covers the nose and mouth, whether store bought or homemade, and which is secured in place. Persons who wear masks should review the CDC and Florida Department of Health guidelines regarding properly and safely applying, removing, and cleaning masks.

6. EXCEPTIONS: A face covering shall not be required for the following persons:

A. Persons under the age of six years;

B. Employees for whom a face covering would cause impairment due to an existing health condition or disability;

C. Persons working in a business or profession who maintain social distancing from another person or work in their personal office with no interactions from other persons;

D. Persons working in a business or profession where use of a face covering would prevent them from performing the duties of the business or profession;

E. Persons exercising, while maintaining social distancing;

F. Persons eating or drinking;

G. Public safety, fire and other life safety and health care personnel, as their personal protective equipment requirements will be governed by their respective agencies; or

H. The requirement shall not apply when a person who is hearing-impaired needs to see the mouth of someone wearing a face covering in order to communicate.



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** COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE – SAFE HARBOR FOR LIFE ORDINANCE

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** On Tuesday, a group of individuals from various in-state and out-of-state organizations, requested approximately 40 minutes to present to the Board a pro-life ordinance for Indian River County. This presentation consisted of anti-women’s rights and anti-choice attacks.

You can read the proposed ordinance by going to the County Commission agenda website: [link removed]

Click on the Agenda for 11/17/2020
Go to page 4 of 7, Item 10.B.1
Click on “Safe Harbor for Life Ordinance”

The DWC has drafted an opposition letter to be submitted for the record. Planned Parenthood has started an online campaign against this ordinance. You can sign a petition at: [link removed]

At this point, there is no future meetings with this on the agenda, but we will keep you posted if action is needed.


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** CITY OF SEBASTIAN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
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The City of Sebastian will be holding a Public Engagement Open House on the city's Comprehensive Plan 2040. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2^nd, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The Open House will include socially distanced topic tables, map displays, continuous PowerPoint presentations, and staff available to answer questions, provide information, and solicit input on the Comprehensive Plan 2040.

For more information, visit the City of Sebastian's website,
cityofsebastian.org ([link removed])



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** COVID-19 CASES ON THE RISE IN INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
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The daily number of cases of the coronavirus is steadily on the rise in our county. As of yesterday, November 18, Indian River County added 57 new COVID-19 cases, according to the Florida Department of Health dashboard ([link removed]) . This raises the total amount of county cases to 4,540, while the death toll remained at 127; 64 of these deaths were at long-term care facilities. There were 14 people still hospitalized as of yesterday. We must remain vigilant against the disease. The entire state and country are seeing dramatic increases in cases. Wear a mask to protect you and those you interact with every day. Social distance. Wash your hands. Do not congregate in indoor spaces for long. Be smart. Stay safe. Stay well.


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** HOLIDAY GIFT GIVING
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Are you looking to give back a little this holiday season? Here is an opportunity to help a Senior Citizen in our community. Many of our senior citizens are extremely isolated this year due to Covid. Let’s bring a little joy to their life and send them a Christmas gift!


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** That’s all folks. Stay healthy!!!
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Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County
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