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The taped Mayoral debate on public safety will air again in its entirety at the following times on cable channel 21 (PCTV) between now and the election:
It’s not too late! You can still hear what the candidates had to say about safety in our neighborhoods five more times between now and the election, May 19th.
So Pennsylvania might finally join the 31 other states in having the option to cast an early ballot for elections.
Early voting legislation recently introduced by Rep. DePasquale in the state House and parallel legislation in the state Senate by Sen. Leach seeks to make counties offer times for people to cast their ballot on at minimum the weekends and possibly some weekdays starting two weeks before an election.
The legislation would allow those whose work schedules or other commitments or constraints to make sure they can get their ballot cast. It would also allow get-out-the-vote efforts more time to mobilize voters, and help reduce long lines and machine errors on election day from keeping voters away.
This legislation is partially necessary because the state constitution does not allow absentee ballots to be used for anything other than the specific reasons listed. (And heck, even Iraq has early voting.)
The PA League of Young Voters is collecting petition signatures to give to the Senate committees indicating the support for this legislation.
Support Early Voting in PA
Volunteer to help with the petition drive — join our canvassing efforts or request copies of the petition to distribute yourself. Email mac@paleague.com.
Tags: absentee, disenfranchised, early voting, pa league of young voters, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, voters, Voting
So today the President signed into law the hard-fought Economic Stimulus Package legislation, allowing for $787 BILLION dollars to be poured into projects that are designed to keep or make 3.5 MILLION jobs.
Those are big, fat numbers, and it’s certainly been a hot topic for debate whether it will work to boost or stabilize the economy or not. We here at the PA League, we’re not economic experts, so hell if we know. But what we DO know is that this is certainly the first time we, the people, will be provided with so much accessible, transparent information on where our money is going.
Check out www.recovery.gov, designed to explain the plans for the economic stimulus, give a timeline for how the money is to be allocated and reported on, and eventually report back on “how, when, and where it is spent.” (And if you are either feeling really smart or really masochistic, you can also read the full bill as written.)
Having the background info for how the stimulus plan was put together is useful, but what will be really exciting is the updates on how the plan is actually working out.
And it’s a good-looking site too, with clear infographics (timelines, proportional circles, bar graphs– see below) that make some general comparisons at-a-glance.
If only we could have something as transparent for other federal, state, and local arenas of public spending and campaign contributions, we could pretty much count on a cleaner government and better opportunity for public discourse.
I’ll admit it; I’m impressed. I hope it’s all it could be: a portal for the everyman –not just political in-the-knows — to better understand, participate, and give feedback to their elected government. We’ll see; this might be THE example for government transparency efforts to come.
-Carly
Tags: accountability, economic stimulus, election, government, infographics, pa league of young voters, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, politics, president barack obama, timeline, transparency, vote, Youth
Terry encouraging Pitt students to call County Executive Dan Onorato and ask him to verify the county's electronic voting machine software before the Nov. 4th election.
In a democracy such as ours, when those who represent our interests to our government fall short of doing the work of the people, to whom do we turn? Each other! The PA League of Young Voters has been calling for the people of Allegheny County to address their concerns about the integrity of the operating software in the electronic touch-screen voting machines to our county officials. When Michelle Obama came to University of Pittsburgh campus on October, 16th, Leaguers passed out some 800 leaflets containing the County Executive’s office phone number, instructions for writing a letter to the editor of the local newspapers, and information about our local government to a crowd of hundreds of eager voters. Everyone pulled out their cell phones, began making calls, and passed the information on to each other.
Terry took to the wall, walking along the line of speech-goers, proclaiming the importance of ratcheting up public pressure to direct the County Executive and the Board of Elections to take all necessary and reasonable steps to ensure that the paperless voting machines record and count each and every vote in Allegheny County on November, 4th, and in every election. Consequently, hundreds of people from around the Pittsburgh area who care to have their voices heard have experienced their collective power and the duty to influence the decisions of our elected officials. The flood of phone calls reportedly tied up County Executive Dan Onorato’s phone line for a good portion of the morning.
Now go the the Board of Elections meeting this Tuesday October 21st, 10am, and be there when the County Executive and the two At-Large County Councilmen make the decision. Our presence will influence!
We got a spot in the Post-Gazette for our jail registration work in conjunction with Just Harvest; Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN; the Community Voters Project; Work for Progress; and Duquesne University nursing and political science students last week!
Tags: allegheny county, Allegheny County Jail, disenfranchised, election, ex-offenders, inmates, pa league of young voters, pa league of young voters education fund, Pennsylvania, registration, unlock the vote, vote, voter, Voting“Spearheaded by inmate program director Jack Pishke, it was the largest registration effort to date at the jail and the only one jail officials knew of statewide, in anticipation of the last registration day: Oct. 6.
In a dizzying two hours, the group helped to complete 456 new registrations and about 700 absentee ballot applications.
Unlike most of the younger volunteers, Ms. Rabinowitz, 67, of Park Place, had been in jail before. She was locked up with a group of organizers for two separate stretches in 1963, after the group was arrested for registering rural black voters in the south with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Those voters, she said, were scared because “they’d never had the right to vote before and we couldn’t tell them it wasn’t dangerous.”
The jail inmates today were just eager. And hopeful.”
456 new voters enfranchised!
Roxanne Banks-Williams and Terry Griffin (and former League interns Justin Witmer and Moshe Sherman) and about 50 more amazing volunteers registered the inmates at the Allegheny County Jail today — and came back with 456 new voter registrations!
Now don’t you wish you were there? Volunteer to help copy and stamp all of these so we can turn them in to the Division of Elections!
Tags: allegheny county, disenfranchised, election, inmates, jail, pa league of young voters, pittsburgh, unlock the vote, vote, voter, voter registration
Congressman Steve Cohen and Field Coordinator Terry Griffin
Our business brought us to Washington D.C. to collaborate Election Day efforts with partner organizations, and to also promote our mission to ourselves. Monday and Tuesday proved to be very busy days on Capitol Hill, as Wall Street and banking interests, market accountability advocates, congressmen, and Treasury Department officials gathered to prod questions about this century’s Great Depression.
D.C. provided certain lessons and revelations. For one, it truly is where the big levers of our nation (and in many ways, our world) are pulled. But those congressmen, staffers, police, White House officials, and D.C. itself are nothing but people, like the rest of us, albeit with a little more pomp and polish than is evidently deserved. However, there are a few good ones who do care about the fallout and consequences of the decisions made in America’s Rome, not because they will personally loose out, but because their country at large is losing out. There are individual congressmen, organizers, directors, lawyers, and staffers who do devote themselves to pointing out corrupt and unprincipled practices at the public’s expense. They are doing what we need them to do.
But they can not do it alone. They do it to help us inform ourselves so that we can take action in a stronger and sounder capacity. All eyes are on D.C. and our representatives’ practices. Going to D.C. this week better helped us Young Voters understand that if our nation’s culture is lead around by the wrong motivations, and not held to account for upholding our best interests, then we have no choice but to correct the decisions of our elected officials, and do a hell of a lot better when it is time to decide who will be pulling the levers.
Sincerely,
Terry Griffin
Get yourself orientated to be able to get out that vote for this election!
Sure, you probably think that people would have to be crazy to not vote in an election that’s received as much attention as this one has, but you would also be surprised. People need to be encouraged, to know that others think it is important, to overcome apathy, and to vote down the whole ballot, dagnabit.
So, to be able to motivate and mobilize those voters for the future of PA,
come to our volunteer orientation!
Some things that will be covered:
- history of the League
- the Fall strategy for election turnout
- the keys to successful voter mobilization
- volunteer opportunities before and on election day
Any questions, email field-pa@theleague.com
Tags: Education, election, orientation, Outreach, pa league of young voters, training, volunteer, voterWe’re still locked in a court battled with the Port Authority over their refusal to let us advertise ex-offender voting rights on buses. But the ACLU has our back, and we’re waiting for our jury trial to be scheduled to see if they think the Port Authority acted constitutionally by rejecting the ad.
Here’s a summary, taken from Judge McVerry’s opinion against partial summary judgment in our favor:
“Plaintiffs, Pittsburgh League of Young Voters Education Fund (“Fund”) and American Civil Liberties Foundation of Pennsylvania (“ACLU”), brought this lawsuit on December 8, 2006 by filing an amended complaint pursuant to 42 U.S. C. § 1983 alleging that defendants violated their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution by refusing to accept and display their proposed ex-offender voter-education advertisements.
Plaintiffs have filed the instant motion for partial summary judgment in which they contend that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of the defendants’ liability because 1) Port Authority designated its bus-advertising space as a public forum, 2) Port Authority acted unreasonably and committed viewpoint discrimination by refusing to run their advertisements despite having run similar advertisements in the past, and 3) Port Authority’s advertising policy is unconstitutionally vague.”
(Read the rest if you’d like…)
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Moms n daughters…Dads n boys…brothers lending a hand in the
movement…It’s a BEAUTIFUL thing!!
Oh yeah!…and Smacky the Clown (thanks for over 40 years of service!)
Thanks to Natalia Rudiak for inviting us to the Carrick Corn Fest! It was a great
opportunity to meet some people and get a little sun! (It was HOT! But
there’s always a silver lining right? Like those ice-cold Ginger Ales?)
-Roxanne
Tags: Carrick, clowns, election, pa league of young voters, pittsburgh, summer, sun, tabling, volunteer recruitment, voter registration, Voting