Educate Yourself

OUR DEMOCRACY AT RISK
What you should know

Groups you should know:

Checks and Balances: group of attorneys who would traditionally be considered conservative or libertarian and who believe in the constitution

CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington): the citizen’s watchdog for ethics in government (Claudine Schneider serves on their Board)

Issue One: a nonpartisan organization of 200 Former Members of Congress and others dedicated to uniting Republicans, Democrats, and independents in the fight to fix our broken political system. (Claudine Schneider is a Member)

The Fulcrum: Issue One’s nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news outlet focused exclusively on efforts to reverse the dysfunctions plaguing American democracy.

Taxpayers for Common Sense: “independent, nonpartisan, tracker of how Congress spends our tax dollars (Claudine Schneider is on their Board)

Open Secrets: tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy

Vote Smart.org: Vote Smart's mission is to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials. Founded by former government officials to support voting on facts - not campaign hype.

League of Women Voters: encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy


Why this is important?

Here is a random sample of Republican efforts to threaten our democracy:

  • The RNC and Trump campaign is suing Pennsylvania for installing drop boxes, arguing they’re not safe and invite fraud.

  • In 36 states, Republicans have attempted, in the courts, to limit eligibility to vote, purge voter rolls, change voter ID requirements.

  • In Ohio, the Secretary of State allows only one drop box per county, prompting Democrats to sue.

  • The United States Postmaster General, a Trump mega-donor has engineered delays in mail delivery during this critical election period when many Americans are likely to vote by mail.

  • The saving grace of our election is the decentralized nature of our election system, including the power of local authorities to use tools like drop boxes.