LWVUS submitted a letter to members of the Senate asking for them to co-sponsor S.Res. 672, a bipartisan Senate resolution to establish September 2020 as National Democracy Month. The letter discusses the League’s long history as an organization founded on empowering voters and defending democracy, and how having a National Democracy Month can help shed a light on many needed policy changes for our democracy and how we participate. The League is working with the American Democracy Month Council to promote this resolution. Members of the LWVUS Lobby Corps will be visiting with Senate offices regarding cosponsorship of the resolution.
Dear Senator:
The League of Women Voters, with affiliates in communities across your state, joins four former Senate Majority Leaders, Bob Dole, George Mitchell, Tom Daschle, and Trent Lott, who serve on the board of the American Democracy Month Council (ADMC) in urging your co-sponsorship of S.Res. 672, a bipartisan Senate resolution to establish September 2020 as National Democracy Month. Also joining in this effort are many distinguished members of the ADMC’s Advisory Board, including George Stephanopoulos, John Negroponte, Tony Blinken, Norm Ornstein, Olympia Snowe, and Tom Korologos, among others.
The Resolution was introduced by the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein, respectively. The similar resolution passed last year with 59 Senators joining as co-sponsors.
The League of Women Voters is celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2020 and is the only organization founded before the 19th Amendment that is still in existence today. Our mission of empowering voters and defending democracy puts us on the front lines of civic engagement and voter empowerment. Attacks on our democracy in this historic election year have shown that there is much work to be done to prevent modern day voter suppression and expand access to the ballot. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for policy changes in states across the country that will increase access to absentee, early voting, and increased safety for in-person voting measures. We believe that the declaration of September as Democracy Month will also pair well with National Voter Registration Day (NVRD), a day where grassroots organizations work together to register voters. The League has maintained the status as the largest on the ground partner when registering voters in communities across the country on this day. Just as Black History Month helped educate Americans about African American history, so too National Democracy Month will focus American citizens on a revitalization of civic education and understanding and appreciation for our democracy in this historic election year.
To co-sponsor the resolution, please contact Blair Bjellos of Chairman Graham’s staff at [email protected] or Rachel Gorsky Bombach and Alexandra Heller in Senator Feinstein’s office at
[email protected] and [email protected].
We look forward to hearing of your co-sponsorship of this important resolution.
Sincerely,
Deborah Ann Turner, MD, JD
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