New North Carolina Project Weekly Bulletin
Introducing our regional organizers, voting rights, more redistricting news & our progress so far, from the desk of our digital director, Kristen Havlik.
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Voting Rights is Essential to Have a Democracy
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the vote for voting legislation would come up for a vote after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Unfortunately, all 50 Republicans, and two Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin do not support a carve out in the filibuster in order to obtain voting rights. Sinema and Manchin however do support the package that the House passed earlier this week combining The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Supporting blocking a bill that you support doesn't make sense.
President Biden did not seem hopeful on Thursday afternoon that the voting rights package would be passed next week. We need voting rights legislation to pass for multiple reasons- not just in North Carolina, but across the nation, we are facing partisan gerrymandered maps and voter suppression bills. The combined Freedom to Vote John Lewis Act would give many voter protections to ensure we all have equal access to the ballot box.
North Carolina is not the only state experiencing partisan gerrymandered maps. The Freedom to Vote Act would require establishing specific redistricting criteria for fair maps. The Freedom to Vote Act does not include HR-1's requirement of nonpartisan redistricting commissions to be established in every state.
Many state legislatures have passed voter suppression bills that have been signed into law over the last year. Even in NC, Republicans snuck in anti-voter provisions into the 2021 budget that Roy Cooper signed to dedicate $5 million towards pursuing the racist voter ID law. (Requiring a state ID is not currently legal in NC, but we are keeping an eye on the ongoing trials in courts.)
The Freedom to Vote John Lewis Act would also seek to make campaign finance and court decisions more transparent, would put provisions in place to protect election workers from harassment and intimidation, makes interfering with voter registration a crime, protects the integrity of ballots and election materials, make Election Day a federal holiday, make voter registration online, restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated people, improve voter registration resources and outreach and so much more.
Without secure and equal voting rights and fair maps, we do not have a democracy.
But we will not be silent. We will continue in this work, because communities of color do not have the privilege of giving up. We have hope because people of North Carolina are coming together to make sure that everyone can have the power to change our society for the better.
As Dr. Aimy Steele on a recent presentation, "As Iong as I have breath in my body and as long as I have life in these lungs, I will keep fighting."
Meet the Triad Regional Organizer, Celeste Cornelius
Celeste is the regional organizer for the Triad area- in Forsyth, Guilford and Rockingham Counties.
Celeste was born and raised in Greensboro and has been organizing her community since she was 18 years old. Celeste received her undergraduate degree from NC A&T and most recently graduated in December with a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Government.
Join Celeste for Phone Banking this month on January 15th, 18th and 20th as well as the 3rd Saturday of the month or for canvassing in Greensboro on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month starting in February.
NC Redistricting Trial
After a week of debating in front of a three judge panel last week, on Tuesday, the justices of the panel decided to uphold the partisan gerrymandered maps even after calling them "a result of intentional, pro-Republican partisan redistricting". The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which is representing Common Cause in the case filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court and oral arguments will start on February 2nd.
I spoke to voting rights attorney Marc Elias from Democracy Docket, today on a Twitter Spaces session, who has been working on some of the redistricting cases in NC and across the country. Even with a Republican Chief Justice on our state Supreme Court, Marc said that he thinks that, "they don't want to regress back to a place where it is acceptable for Republicans to draw partisan lines."
Our primary date has been moved to May 17th, but the filing period for candidates starts again on February 24th. A decision will need to be made quickly by the state Supreme Court, and if they do strike down the maps, as Lekha Shupeck from All on the Line said on our redistricting town hall last week, that the legislature will have about 2 weeks to redraw the maps in time for the filing period to open.
Upcoming Events
Our next Town Hall is about Infrastructure and it's coming up this Wednesday, January 19. We're excited to have Kinston City Councilor Chris Suggs, Greensboro City Councilor Justin Outling and Carrboro Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Foushee joining the panel.
Weekly Progress
This past weekend, our team and volunteers knocked on 123 doors in Greensboro, 96 in the Triangle and made 1800 calls!! This is an incredible start for 2022, to reach our goal of 125,000 doors and 500,000 calls.
Dr. Aimy Steele was quoted in The Washington Post this week regarding Biden's speech in Atlanta:
Volunteer Opportunities
We also have a big day of action coming up on January 22, 2022 in Robeson County, NC. 4,000 pairs of chino pants have been donated to us to distribute to the Indigenous community in NC. We are seeking partnerships with clothing companies in NC that can donate clothing and perishable items. E-mail us if you can help with this effort at [email protected]
We also need 40 volunteers to help us set up and take down as well as serve the community during the day. Please sign up for a shift!https://www.mobilize.us/newncproject/event/428729/
If you're in Durham, we'll be canvassing with Senator Natalie Murdock in East Durham on Monday at 10AM to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through a day of action. Sign up to join us!
Canvassing and Phone Banking is happening THIS WEEKEND. Join us Saturday or Sunday on the phones, or knocking doors in Durham, Raleigh and Wilmington.
The Supreme Court of the United States Strikes Down Half of the
Biden Administration's Vaccine Mandate
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to uphold the vaccine mandate only for healthcare workers, which affects 17 million Americans, and estimates to save thousands of lives every month. However, the Supreme Court blocked the vaccine mandate that was going to apply to large private companies with over 100 employees. The Biden Administration announced yesterday that on top of the original 500 million tests that were going to be available to Americans that they have purchased an additional 500 million tests that will be available to apply for online. And they will make high-quality masks available for free.
More testing sites have been made available statewide in NC. You can find a testing site near you on the NC DHHS website.
"In this juncture of our nation’s history, there is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership. If we are to solve the problems ahead and make racial justice a reality, this leadership must be fourfold."
Honoring and Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On May 16, 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech on voting rights, "Give Us The Ballot".
To this day, we are still fighting to secure equitable voting rights for every American. The entire Republican party and two Democrats are standing in the way of making sure every state has fair maps, that voting will be accessible to everyone everywhere, and that even people that are incarcerated will have the right to vote again.
We urge President Biden and the entire US Senate to put people over profit so that we can have a democracy. Without equal voting rights, there is no democracy.
Solidarity with the families of Jason Walker and
José Daniel Argueta Turcios
Last weekend, Jason Walker, was murdered by an off-duty police officer while he was crossing a street in Fayetteville. And this past Tuesday, José Daniel Argueta Turcios was murdered by Raleigh police after he was involved in a car accident.
We hope that the Cumberland and Wake County criminal systems, Fayetteville and Raleigh Police Departments and the State Bureau of Investigation holds the officers involved accountable.
Jason and José should still be alive today.
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Check Your Voter Registration
We’re no stranger to voter suppression in our state. So we encourage you to check your voter registration often as board of elections offices purge voters from time to time.
Help us reach our goals in 2022
With your generosity, we are able to build a permanent infrastructure that will increase voter registration and turnout as well as take care of our communities of color, in and outside of election cycles.
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