People For Member, The New Yorker recently reported on a secret phone call between Koch network operatives and an aide to Mitch McConnell on their campaign to STOP the overwhelmingly popular – and desperately needed – For the People Act! [1] Acknowledging the popularity, even among Republicans, of this landmark, once-in-a-generation legislation to secure our elections and protect voting rights, Koch-backed dark-money groups and right-wing congressional offices are plotting an “under the dome” strategy to kill the bill. They know they can’t win the debate for hearts and minds on the issue so they’ll resort to sneaky procedural tricks and backroom arm-twisting to deny the will of the American people. We can’t let them. Not with how urgently this bill is needed, with far-right state legislators working to advance hundreds of bills across the country that would restrict voting rights – the latest count released by the Brennan Center for Justice, which is tracking this legislation, is 361 bills in 47 states! Those bills – like the Jim Crow law just signed by right-wing Georgia Governor Brian Kemp that shamelessly tries to make voting more difficult for Black voters and even makes it a crime to provide water to voters waiting in long lines outside of polling places – would almost universally be thwarted by making the For the People Act the law of the land. That’s why we’re working around the clock to ramp up pressure on key senators to follow the House’s lead and PASS the For the People Act (S. 1 in the Senate) before it’s too late and millions of voters are denied their most precious democratic right. We need to raise another $29,905 for this work by the next 72 hours to keep up with our campaign budget. Please renew your support by donating anything you can right now>> What we are seeing across the country is an all-out attack on our democracy more brazen than anything we’ve seen since the Civil Rights Era… Atlanta pastor and People For board co-chair Rev. Timothy McDonald – who, with People For, founded the Black Church’s “Souls to the Polls” Sunday voting program 23 years ago – told CNN in an interview this week: "Black folks are not stupid. We know their tricks. We know their motivation. They are the [Ku Klux] Klan in three-piece suits." [2] It’s up to every democracy-loving American of conscience to stand up to these attacks. We’re mobilizing People For’s Defend the Black Vote program and the full weight of our national leadership networks of Black ministers and young elected officials behind this fight. And I know we can count on People For members like you to be part of this. Right now, I need you to let us know that you’re with us in the fight with an urgently needed donation. Renew for 2021 by donating as generously as you can to defend our democracy>> Thank you for being part of this historic effort to protect the right to vote and make the promise of an inclusive democracy real for all Americans. We can’t win this fight without you. Let’s go, fight, win. -- Ben Jealous, President
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