Last week, I had the opportunity to publish an op-ed in Slate about the calculated attack on voting rights. In the piece, I covered a lot but today, I wanted to speak with you about one critical takeaway:

Hi there,

Last week I had the opportunity to publish an op-ed in Slate about the calculated attack on voting rights. In the piece, I covered a lot but today, I wanted to speak with you about one critical takeaway. 

It’s no secret that our democracy is facing a widespread attack on voting rights — just last year, state legislators in 49 states introduced more than 440 bills to restrict voting, and 34 of these attacks on our democracy succeeded and became law.

But while these attacks have garnered lots of media attention, these same state legislatures are attacking another critical part of our democracy: the citizen-driven ballot measure process.

For over a century, American voters have been able to petition and place issues on the ballot and enact them directly into law, forcing their government to respond to their needs. Not taking the threat direct democracy faces seriously means risking the loss of a vital tool in American self-governance.

Since our creation in 2016, we’ve won 23 of the 24 ballot measure campaigns we’ve run. And these very measures have helped provide workers with higher wages, expanded and improved health care access, and provided so many more life-changing improvements for millions of Americans in blue, purple, and red states across the country.

We’ve seen an electoral pattern emerge: When voters have a chance to choose policy, even in some of the most conservative states, they tend to choose progress.

And that is why ballot measures are now facing a very real and under-the-radar, existential threat. Officials in majority-conservative state legislatures across the country have seen this progress, and often these attacks on the ballot measure process are in direct reaction to the success of progressive-leaning initiatives.

It’s why we launched our Ballot Measure Rescue Campaign — a $5 million effort to protect direct democracy in states across the country. ​​If people are denied access to ballot measures, voters will lose their only guaranteed pathway to making progress — on wages, on health care, on paid leave, and on protecting voting rights themselves.

If you’re with us in the fight to protect the ballot measure process and continue our work towards progress, will you chip in to fuel our efforts today?

DONATE

Thanks for your support,

Kelly Hall
Executive Director
Fairness Project
 
   

Thanks to grassroots supporters like you, our team at the Fairness Project has won 23 people-powered ballot measure campaigns since 2016, changing over 18 million lives by expanding health care, raising wages, guaranteeing paid leave, and ending predatory lending directly at the ballot box when politicians refuse to act. Your support allows us to make this progress possible.

 
 
Contributions or gifts to the Fairness Project are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Contributions to the Fairness Project support its many efforts nationwide and any focus is at the Fairness Project’s sole discretion. Contributions will not necessarily be used to support activity in any one state.


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