Voting rights is our thing, and we'll do everything in our power to protect the most vulnerable voters. While it's disappointing that the Senate failed to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act last week, we know the road can be a long one. Together, we can still accomplish vital legislation in 2022.
It's been 12 years of dark money: It's been 12 years since the landmark decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission U.S. Supreme Court case. Since then, the rise of independent expenditures and lack of disclosure have created an ocean of dark money in politics. Meanwhile in Maine, our partner organization MCCE continues to fight big money in politics with important reforms: establishing municipal clean elections in Portland and a foreign contribution ban in state elections.
Urge Your Candidate to Run Clean in 2022: Now is the time to contact the individuals running in your district for State House and Senate races and urge them to run a Clean Elections campaign — focusing on their constituents, not big spenders or corporate donors. Use this link to look up your Maine legislators.
We are working to support several bills carried over from the First Legislative Session in 2021. Those include semi-open primaries (LD 231) and audits and election transparency (LD 1155), as well as these two new ones:
- Protecting Election Integrity (LD 1779): This bill requires that town and city clerks retain possession, custody, and control of sealed ballots unless the law expressly authorizes transfer to another entity. It also prohibits transfer of custody or control of a voting machine or voting device to any person except as authorized by the Secretary of State. We testified in support last week. The work session is scheduled for Friday, January 28, at 1:00 PM.
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An Act To Make Interfering with an Election Official a Class C Crime (LD 1821): This bill makes it a Class C crime (a felony) to intentionally interfere with a public official performing an official function relating to a federal, state, or municipal election. Under current law, this is a Class D crime, a misdemeanor. We testified in support in support last week. The work session is scheduled for Friday, January 28 at 1:00 PM.
Hunger Strike for Voting Rights!
Last week, League members participated in a hunger strike for democracy, in solidarity with young activists, hoping to pressure Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to advance the bill. While we are incredibly disappointed, we know that the fight is long and hard. We will continue to urge our senators to support and pass national voting rights legislation — our democracy depends on it.
"We're either going to ensure that every eligible American is able to vote and has that right protected, or we are looking to a return to the days when people of color, young people, people who have a harder time accessing the polls are not going to have the same rights to vote as other Americans," said Anna Kellar, Executive Director of LWVME.
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