Vote By Tuesday, November 7 at 8:00pm Ballots can be returned via mail (no postage needed) or at your closest ballot drop box. Thurston County Pamphlet (Missing?) We are aware that some people did not receive their Thurston County Local Voters’ Pamphlet. We are providing you with a link to a digital copy here. Campaigns, Get Active:
OI Endorsed Candidates from top left to right:
Maggie Sanders, Sarah Tonge, Jasmine Vasavada, Emily Clouse, Wayne Fournier
Action: Stay Updated on General Candidate Support Opportunities
Access OI’s Endorsed webpage for the latest opportunities to help our endorsed candidates turn out the vote for the upcoming General Election. At any time put the words Olympia Indivisible in your browser and you will find our website. --- Action: Here are campaign opportunities and actions: Special OI sign waving for our candidates. Olympia Indivisible will be turning out for sign waving at the following dates and times. If you can spare even 30 minutes it would be appreciated. Sign up here.
If you like Election Night Parties and have volunteered in this electoral cycle (Endorsement, CIT, POAT, CTA, Membership, Postcard teams, or gone out to canvas, lit drop, text, or phone bank, etc.) we have received invitations from both the Thurston County Democratic Women (TCDW) AND the Thurston County Democrats (TCD)! Tuesday, November 7 is the date for both these events.
Olympia Indivisible Volunteer Celebration. If you volunteered for any of our candidate events as a member of the Endorsement, CIT, POAT, CTA, Membership, and Postcard teams, or have canvassed, lit dropped, texted, or phone banked, etc., at any time, please join us. Wednesday, November 15, 4:00 to 5:30pm, at Traditions Fair Trade 300 5th Ave SW, Olympia. Sign up here. Local Actions:
Requesting County Commissioners' Support for Ranked Choice Voting
From our friends at FairVotesWA.
Politics are broken. Voters feel disempowered, communities don’t feel represented, and constructive disagreement has gone out the window. Ranked-choice voting (RCV) is a simple improvement to the way we vote. You can vote for candidates in the order you prefer. If your favorite can’t win, your vote counts for your next choice. In June 2023, the Washington Supreme Court specifically named ranked-choice voting as a solution for lack of fair and equitable representation at the local level of government. It is something our state needs. To stay in compliance with the Washington Voting Rights Act, it is essential that ranked-choice voting be available to any city or county in Washington that wants it. Ranked-Choice Voting Local Options Bill allows all cities and towns in Washington to adopt RCV for their local elections. The cities of Snohomish, Spokane, Seattle, Gold Bar, Bellingham, Burien, Olympia, Ferndale and Vancouver, as well as Snohomish County, have passed resolutions in support of this bill! What about Thurston County? Action: We are asking our County Commissioners to voice and affirm their support for the use of ranked-choice voting at the local level. Federal Actions:
Ask Strickland to Reject Debt Commission
Photo by by Danie Franco on Unsplash
House Republicans are demanding the establishment of a bipartisan commission to tackle the nation’s debt—including looking at the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP programs—while ignoring the importance of making the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
But one look at House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington’s (TX-19) budget, which seeks to cut $5.4 trillion from essential human needs programs, shows that there is nothing bipartisan about the proposed Debt Commission. Some of the proposed cuts in Budget Chair Arrington’s proposal include:
If Congress was serious about tackling the national debt, they’d make the ultra-wealthy and multi-billion dollar corporations start paying their fair share in taxes, not cut funding for nutrition and health programs that prevent children from going hungry. Yet the proposed House Budget resolution does not include raising revenues from the wealthiest. Corporate profits reached $2.8 trillion in 2021, but the corporate income tax is so low it provides only 10% of federal revenue. Eliminating tax breaks on capital gains for multi-millionaires could bring in hundreds of billions in revenues. Every year, the richest 1% evades $160 billion in taxes, according to the Treasury Department. That’s money that could have assured adequate funding for WIC and SNAP to help families put food on the table, while expanding access to child care and health coverage. And it could also be used to reduce the deficit. Instead of this backdoor attack on important programs, Congress should do their job—and that can and must mean committing to raising revenues while investing in human needs. Action: Ask Representative Strickland to clearly reject a Debt Commission that could lead to cuts to critical human needs programs. Restore the Endangered Species Act
Black-footed ferret. Photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie
From Our Friends at Earthjustice
The Biden administration recently moved closer to undoing the Trump administration’s unprecedented damage to the regulations that interpret the Endangered Species Act. For 50 years, the Act has served as the last line of defense for countless species and habitats. Today, it is our strongest tool for tackling the worsening biodiversity crisis, which is why the Biden administration must fix the rules that implement it. Despite the broad support for restoring and strengthening the rules that implement the Act, the Biden administration declined to do everything within its power to protect endangered wildlife. It left multiple loopholes from the Trump-era rollbacks in place, which will undoubtedly jeopardize future efforts to protect wildlife and habitat. Fully undoing the damage the Trump administration inflicted upon the Endangered Species Act is necessary, but ultimately we need the Biden administration to commit to strengthening the Act. In the coming decades, a million of Earth’s species face the possibility of extinction due to climate change, pollution, and habitat loss. Even species that are not yet on the brink will face huge population declines. The biodiversity crisis means fewer pollinators for agriculture, depleted fisheries, and disappearing places like old-growth forests and wetlands that provide a long-term, low-cost source of clean air and water. Action: Tell the Biden administration to restore the Endangered Species Act regulations. Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline
Photo: KeithTurrill/Alamy
Source: Many organizations including Public Citizen, Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund, and National Resource Defense Council. Due date: Nov. 13
After many years of delays and a fatally flawed Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) written by a member of the American Petroleum Institute -- a clear conflict of interest -- the Army Corps of Engineers is finally taking public comments on this dangerous violation of the sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The pipeline also endangers the Missouri River, which affects the health and wellbeing of 17 million people downstream. The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) was already rerouted from its original course north of Bismarck, North Dakota, due to concerns that a leak would poison the city’s water supply. Yet the same risks that were deemed too great for the state capital -- and its predominantly white population -- were considered tolerable on sacred land guaranteed to the Oceti Sakowin (Sioux Nation) by the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. DAPL will worsen climate change by pumping thousands of gallons of oil to market every day it is in operation. A toxic spill would endanger the water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux and millions of people living downstream. Action: Send an email to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking them to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline immediately. Subject Line: Shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline immediately. (Scoping Comments, Dakota Access Pipeline Crossing) Message: The Dakota Access Pipeline is dangerous. If the pipeline were to break, leak, or be damaged by weather, a natural disaster, human error, or improper upkeep or repairs, the resulting toxic oil spill would destroy the water supply for the entire Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, as well as millions of others living downstream. Projected to bring 570,000 more barrels of oil to market, resulting in the release of over 100 million metric tons of CO2 -- a greenhouse gas responsible for accelerating climate change -- each year, DAPL will increase our country’s dependence on extracted oil, worsening the climate change crisis. Finally, construction of DAPL without consulting with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is an abrogation of unceded and sovereign territory rights, violating the conditions of the Treaty of Fort Laramie and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. For all these reasons, I call on the Army Corps of Engineers to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline now. Sincerely, [Your name] Have You Scheduled These Events?
Action Cafe 2023, Every Monday at Noon
OI members meet, make new friends, and take actions together. Every Cafe comes with a side order of live music and a heapin’ helpin’ of good cheer! Cafe patrons receive an email on Sunday with a sneak-peek at what we'll do at the cafe the next day. On Monday morning, Chef Lisa will send you a pdf "Menu" which has links to the actions we'll take together at the Cafe. Action: Register HERE. We will send you a Zoom link and tomorrow morning, Chef Lisa will send your "menu." --- Rep. Marilyn Strickland’s Nov. 9 Town Hall Join Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, and special guest, Washington State Department of Commerce Director Mike Fong will listen to your concerns and have an opportunity to answer questions. RSVP and submit your questions below! What: Telephone-Town Hall Who: Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, Washington State Department of Commerce Director Mike Fong Where: Dial in at 855-962-1508, Pre-register at Strickland.house.gov/live, Livestream at facebook.com/RepStricklandWA When: Thursday, November 9th at 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM PST Comments are closed.
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