THANK YOU election officials/poll workers/volunteers who worked & continue to work to ensure that #Midterms2022 are carried out successfully. Nationally this election has been free of major issues, and Americans should feel confident about the voting/vote counting process.
While many are focused on the horse race for control of #Congress it is worth noting that #Midterms2022 produced a number of pro-democracy gains through ballot initiatives, many of which received strong majority support. #DemocracyWins
#Arizona: The “Voters Right to Know Act” (Prop. 211) brings transparency to elections by requiring election spenders to disclose the original sources of their funding. Thank you @TerryGoddardAZ for leading on this effort. thehill.com/homenews/campa…
#Oakland, CA: “Measure W” makes this the second city in the nation to enact a voucher-based “Democracy Dollars” public financing program. campaignlegal.org/update/oakland…
#Michigan: A constitutional amendment passed that establishes early voting, rejects restrictive voter ID rules and expands access to absentee voting. freep.com/story/news/pol…
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Election Day is the heart of our #democracy. The ability to choose our elected officials should never be taken for granted. I encourage all eligible voters to make their voices heard, and if you encounter any problems, call or text 866-OUR-VOTE. #ElectionDay2022
I encourage all Americans, especially those running for office, to exercise patience after election day. This is expected to be a high-turnout election with many close races, and a number of states will not start counting mail-in ballots until election day.
Our democracy depends in part on the adherence to basic norms, by politicians and voters alike, including the acceptance of election outcomes. False information about our elections has corroded trust among far too many. #ElectionDay2022
On #NationalVoterRegistrationDay I want to commend everyone who is working to get fellow citizens registered, in particular, the work being done to restore voting rights to people with past felony convictions, including @GicolaLane, @BlairBowie and other @CampaignLegal staff.
A past felony conviction should never serve as grounds for permanently banning citizens from the voting booth. Today nearly 17m people can vote, or have their rights restored, but are effectively disenfranchised. #NationalVoterRegistrationDay LEARN MORE: campaignlegal.org/cases-actions/…
There are 3 anti-democracy “riders” buried in the “must pass” omnibus funding bill before Congress right now that are terrible news — that would damage political transparency and violate voters' right to know who is spending big money to influence our government. 🧵 1/5
The first would stop @SECGov from finalizing a rule requiring corporations to disclose their political spending to shareholders and the public. The public petition for this rulemaking at the SEC has received 1.2 million public comments — the most in the agency’s history. 2/5
The second would stop @IRSnews from creating clear definitions for nonprofit engagement in politics. Without clear guidance defining what nonprofits can and cannot do in elections, groups wanting to influence our elections w/secret money can abuse the system w/o consequences. 3/5
In @POTUS's #StateOfTheUnion speech tomorrow night, one of the things I'll be listening for is whether President @JoeBiden asks Congress to pass solutions to address congressional stock trading. President @BarackObama made a similar ask to Congress 10 years ago. 1/5
When we elect our representatives and send them to the U.S. Congress (assuming you aren't a resident of Washington, D.C. and don’t have full congressional representation but should!), we want them to make decisions in our best interest — the public interest. 2/5
After all, that’s what we are paying them to do. If we wanted someone to make decisions for the benefit of their own stock portfolio, we might prefer to send them to a stockbroker or financial adviser, not Congress. 3/5
As the 2022 midterms rapidly approach, Congress is doing what needs to be done to advance legislation protecting the freedom to vote. Protecting our democracy is not a partisan issue. 1/4
The U.S. Senate now has the opportunity to restore a strong, free and fair voting system in this country and ensure the ability for every American to participate in safe, accessible and transparent elections. 2/4
This bill contains crucial measures to strengthen our democracy—to prohibit gerrymandering, disclose money spent in federal elections, protect the freedom to vote and fight election sabotage by strengthening protections for the independence of election officials. 3/4
Throughout my time in money-in-politics & democracy advocacy (from @FEC to Colbert to @CampaignLegal), it's become clear to me that too many Americans see our political system as rigged, corrupt, secretive & unaccountable.
I noted in my July 4, 2016 speech to @chq ("A Republic—If You Can Keep It!") that, at the time, 79% of Americans thought gov't is “run by a few big interests looking out for themselves" & 75% believed “corruption is widespread throughout the government”. campaignlegal.org/document/repub…
Both Trump & Sanders capitalized on this anger. Having supermajorities of dissatisfied Americans is a real problem for our democracy. But it does not have to be this way! The Senate can pass #FreedomToVoteAct & #JohnLewisVRAA to help make the promise of democracy real for us all.