Republicans are working hard to make sure they’ll never lose again: the GOP has proposed hundreds of voter suppression bills in state legislatures across the US, with an aim of disenfranchising enough blue voters that they can rule from the minority for years.
The For The People Act is a must-win because it would nullify their suppression efforts. This is the whole ballgame.
The American public needs to get behind this bill, but awareness is critically low.
Here’s how you can help.
Former White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer: The Fight Ahead for Voting Rights
On 5/11/21, DemCast welcomed Dan Pfeiffer to discuss voting rights, the filibuster, and the role for grassroots messaging.
UPDATES:
- 4/20/21 – Our Discussion with DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, from Tuesday, 4/20.
- 4/13/21 – Our Zoom update ALL ABOUT THE FILIBUSTER, from Tuesday, 4/13.
- 4/6/21 – Watch our great discussion with voting/civil rights law experts from Tuesday, 4/6.
- 3/31/21 – Watch our discussion with Senator Ron Wyden about the #ForThePeopleAct from Tuesday, 3/30.
- 3/30/21 – NEW TOOL: We have a new tool that helps people email senators about S.1. – For the People Act. We have separate emails drafted for Democrats who are co-sponsoring, Democrats who are not yet co-sponsoring, and Republicans. When you enter your Zip Code, the tool determines who your senators are and populates the letters to each of them. CHECK IT OUT!
- 3/23/21 – Watch our #ForThePeopleAct Social Media Team update on YouTube! We welcomed No Dem Left Behind’s Richard Ojeda to discuss Joe Manchin & the kind of pressure we’ll need to #PassFTPA.
- 3/20/21 – Our team has hit a huge milestone: in just two weeks we have driven 300,000,000 social media impressions for our education campaign re: #ForThePeopleAct! A-MA-ZING. Keep it up!
- 3/17/21 – Watch our 3/16/21 #ForThePeopleAct Social Media Team overview & update! Resources shared on the call: Rundown of Key FTPA Provisions; Brennan Center: How FTPA Addresses GOP Suppression Bills
Join The Team / Take Action
Most people get their news and information on social media. This joint effort between DemCast USA and the Democratic Coalition is empowering everyday activists to join a nationwide communications team pushing this bill.
If you haven’t already, click here to join our nationwide social media team. Use your social media feed to spread strategic messaging about FTPA and push it to become law.
Every Tuesday at 5:00pm PT / 8:00pm ET, DemCast and The Democratic Coalition will be hosting Zoom calls with messaging updates, calls to action & special guests. Register here!
This social media toolkit is VERY easy to use. Just one or two clicks and you can share about FTPA with all of your friends & followers. Help spread word! Activism made easy.
This very simple tool takes only a minute to use, and automatically sends custom letters supporting FTPA to your elected reps.
Messaging Strategy
The overall messaging strategy: GET (strategically) LOUD.
In a recent poll that asked Democrats what their top three legislative priorities were, only 7% mentioned the For The People Act.
We have a lot of priorities as a movement. But let’s be frank: if the GOP enacts all of its new state-based voter suppression laws and runs wild during 2021 redistricting, we won’t get anything done for a decade or more.
JOB #1 is fixing up our broken democracy. And we have to get the people behind it.
We often hear: “The left sucks at messaging.” So let’s fix it.
This is going to be an uphill climb to get the For The People Act passed through the Senate. First, we have to convince the American people that these reforms are important.
If we can drive up public opinion and demand for these reforms, it will be a lot harder for the Kyrsten Sinemas and Joe Manchins of the Senate to keep resisting filibuster reform. Yes – a change to the filibuster rule will be required to get this done. But first things first.
They won’t budge on the filibuster to pass democracy reforms unless they know that the people demand it. Right now – the people barely know what the FTPA is. We have to change that.
STEP 1
Educate & Activate the Public
STEP 2
Push Hard for Filibuster Reform
Expect a focus on educating & activating the public for March, April & May, with a pivot to a hard push for filibuster reform when the time is right as the bill progresses through the Senate.
We’ll be sharing regular updates about messaging strategy (sign up for our Zoom calls!), and offering tools to help you use your social media account strategically. Check out this toolkit on messaging from Voting Rights Lab and ASO Communications – a helpful framing for the kind of people-centered, proactive messaging we’ll be pushing out.
What's in the Bill?
Before you jump in and start messaging this bill, it’s really important to know what’s in it! Please check out a few of these fantastic resources.
Synopsis from the US House:
Synopsis from Brennan Center:
Synopsis from The Bulwark:
Summary of FTPA Sections
Endorsement: Brennan Center
Podcast from NPR:
Primer: Vote Save America
Synopsis from Vox:
