OK, a random extra post between sessions. I walked around the exhibition hall this morning and stopped at some really great booths that are exciting, both for campaigners’ work at Care2, and just for the general public.
Perhaps the most exciting was MAPlight.org. I’m not sure if I just missed the boat on this before, or if it’s a fairly new thing, but either way, it’s exciting. What they do is basically pull data about bills, financing, etc. and allow you to access the financial contributors, committees, timeline, history, etc. of bills, interest groups and legislators. Basically, this is a campaigner’s dream. There are lots of other websites out there like this, but this one pulls information together in a really nice, one-stop kind of way. For example: Care2 did a lot of campaigns on the recent Climate Security Act. Well, look that up on MAPlight, and it comes up with all kinds of info that is really valuable: check it out (particularly the “committees” and “history and status” tabs are useful for this bill).
Another great org’s table that I visited was National Popular Vote, Inc. This nonprofit is working to propose a nationwide popular election for the President. (We joked, “what a ridiculous idea!”) It wold basically reform the Electoral College so a candidate with the most poplar votes would be guaranteed a majority. It’s about time.
And of course, there were a lot of our great nonprofit clients who had tables, including 1sky, ACLU, Alliance for Justice and Public Citizen.
OK, lunch time. (also posted on the Care2 Campaigner blog here…)
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC). The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The bill would make every vote politically relevant in a presidential election. It would make every vote equal.
The National Popular Vote bill has been approved by 20 legislative chambers (one house in Colorado, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Washington, and two houses in Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont). It has been enacted into law in Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These states have 50 (19%) of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring this legislation into effect.
To be involved in the National Popular Vote bill effort . . .
Check the status of the bill in your state at http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/statesactivity.php
If it’s still in play in your state, let your legislator(s) know what you think. If you need help to identify and/or contact your state representatives, senators, and/or governor about National Popular Vote, you can search by your zip code using online sites such as http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home .
Sign up to get email updates – http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/getemailupdates.php
Help get the word out and show your support.
Tell a friend- http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/tellafriend.php
Distribute literature at political, civic, or other meeting, convention, or conference.
Post on discussion groups.
Write letters to editors, OpEds, and/or blog.
Responses to many common misinformed critiques are at http://nationalpopularvote.com/pages/faq.php
Up-to-date information and materials are at http://www.NationalPopularVote.com/pages/explanation.php
see http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
susan
[...] started off by telling us about some fantastic resource sites, much like MAPlight.org, which I just wrote about, that allow you to see various types of information about bills, lobbyists, funding, etc. His [...]
[...] started off by telling us about some fantastic resource sites, much like MAPlight.org, which I just wrote about, that allow you to see various types of information about bills, lobbyists, funding, etc. His [...]