The Georgia Senate runoff elections are this coming Tuesday, January 5, 2021. Early voting ends today, December 31, though in some counties it ended yesterday. Both races are neck-and-neck, so we need a final push to help flip these Senate seats and give Joe Biden and Kamala Harris a more receptive team to work with in the United States Senate.
There are myriad opportunities to help Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win their runoff races in the few remaining days.
Take a Victory Lap! Key ROE Act Provisions are now Law in MA
2020 has been a tough year, but thanks to the tireless efforts of many members, we have another victory to celebrate and a success to build on in 2021. This week, the MA legislature voted to override Governor Baker’s Christmas Eve veto of the bill containing key provisions of the ROE Act. Thenew law, which takes effect immediately, codifies the right to abortion, allows abortions after 24 weeks in the case of fatal fetal anomalies, and enables people age 16 or older to make their own decisions about terminating a pregnancy.
When the ROE Act was introduced almost two years ago, Minuteman Indivisible joined with other local Indivisible groups and allies to lobby for passage of these provisions as part of the ROE Act Coalition. MI members attended lobby days and a marathon hearing in 2019, hosted speakers and organized postcard writing events, and participated in Boston Red Cloakspodcastsand demonstrations dressed as handmaids to call attention to the bill. It took two years, and three separate votes by state legislators in the waning days of the session, but our hard work has paid off.
Join Fellow MI Members Fighting to Bring Transparency to the State House
In Massachusetts, many progressive bills with lots of co-sponsors and public support die in committee, in part because of rules that the legislature has adopted that allow committee votes to remain private. Same Day Voter Registration bills and the Safe Communities Act have been introduced in multiple legislative sessions and have never come up for vote. This year the House and Senate did vote on critical climate and environmental justice legislation, but the conference committee charged with reconciling differences between the two versions has not yet reported out a consensus bill despite months of deliberation, so it appears that nothing will be passed again this session.
Act on Mass has launched a Transparency is Power campaignto lobby our legislators to change these rules and many Indivisible members have already signed up to join them. The campaign is organizing teams of volunteers in legislative districts across the state to contact legislators before new rules are voted on when the next legislative session begins in January. A few weeks ago, Minuteman Indivisible members and other Lexington residents met with Representative Michelle Ciccolo via Zoom to urge her to vote for rules changes and will be following up with emails and calls before the vote in January. Learn more about the campaign and sign up to lobby your state representative here.
While Minuteman Indivisible is not meeting now, we will hold a meeting in the New Year to celebrate four years since we came together to RESIST. Stay tuned. We have a lot to celebrate and to plan for the future.
