Voter ID law Attacks Democracy

By Judith Browne Dianis (co-director of Advancement Project) and Jayme Montgomery (Wisconsin director of the League of Young Voters)

Originally published in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

A year from now, the people of Wisconsin will be going to the polls to exercise one of the most cherished rights of our democracy: the right to vote. It is the fundamental pillar of our democracy that in the voting booth we are all equal – black or white, young or old, rich or poor. When we cast our ballot, we all raise an equal voice to determine the shape of our government.

Wisconsin legislators would deny that right. Strict new voter identification laws were proposed in 34 states, including our own. Wisconsin’s new voter identification restrictions, which passed the Legislature this year, are now the strictest in the country.

Text ID to 69866 if you need assistance getting an ID to vote.

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Jayme Montgomery

Voter ID Bill Accuses WI Voters of Cheating

Last week the Wisconsin state legislature introduced a Voter ID bill that would basically require voters to show their ID before they can cast their ballot. Enacting such a law would help to cut back on illegal voting.

My Mama once told me, “If a man accuses you of cheating (and you know you are not cheating, nor conducting yourself in a way that might give off that impression) then 9 times out of 10 he is probably the one doing the cheating.”

You might be asking yourself right now, what does my Mama’s idioms have to do with the voter ID bill?

Supports of the voter ID bill, say this bill is needed to help stop voter fraud. However, when you look at the cases of voter fraud from the 2008 Presidential election there were only 8 cases found out of 8 million votes caste statewide. Of those votes, 5 were felons, which this bill would not catch. So now we are talking about 3 illegal votes out of 8 million. But Wisconsin has a problem with voting fraud, huh???

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Jayme Montgomery

2010 Put The Guns Down Festival Wrap Up

The 6th annual Put The Guns Down Festival was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who showed up, volunteered and partied with us! See you next year!

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Jayme Montgomery

CAV’s Ms. Marna fights to make Wisconsin streets more safe!

Marna Winbush, aka Ms. Marna, is an elder in the Milwaukee community and she is a leader in the Campaign Against Violence (WI-Affiliate of LYVEF). When Ms. Marna isn’t teaching CAV leaders how to garden or mentoring young people, she leads a group called Mothers Against Gun Violence (MAGV). The group is made up primarily of women who have lost their children to homicide.

Over the years, Ms. Marna and her brave band of mothers have worked tirelessly for the Responsible Gun Ownership Bill, an effort to restrict person to person guns sales by requiring background checks on all guns sold in the state of WI. While the opposition is well funded, MAGV refuses to give up.

This week, there were a series of hearings in Madison about the bill. Ms. Marna was in attendance along with other community groups including Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort and Urban Underground .

Watch the video and check out Ms. Marna’s testimony. All we can say is she is one powerful “mama.”

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Jayme Montgomery

COP15: Fasting for Survival?

Follow all of Jayme’s and Marcia’s copenhagen coverage at http://youngvoter.org/cop15

Fasting today and my stomach hurts. Not because of fasting but because if we don’t get a deal, we should not have children. It is a matter of survival.

Heard yesterday that the negotiations are going to go at least through the weekend. We HAVE to keep on pushing! Contact your Congress person NOW!

~Marcia Lee

I really don’t like to miss meals i.e. fast. But when we, meaning the U.S., are making a conscious decision to not take all the steps to stop global climate change I have NO CHOICE but to turn my fork down. Join the movement before it really is too late.

~Jayme Montgomery-Baker

From the folks at Climate Justice Fast…

We, the participants of Climate Justice Fast!, are undertaking our international hunger strike in order to call upon world leaders – and all people, everywhere – to act with courage and good faith for our common, global good, by implementing the most rapid possible transition to stabilise atmospheric greenhouse gases below 350ppm CO2-e, and by committing to deliver justice for the global poor and future generations – who are the least responsible for causing climate change, yet who suffer the most from its effects.

Climate Justice for the poor and for future generations can be delivered by funding climate adaptation and mitigation activities in
developing nations with at least US$195 billion per year; by reducing and rejecting over-consumption, wherever it exists, and by phasing out both deforestation and fossil fuels completely – starting with the elimination of developed countries’ fossil fuel subsidies, shifting them
 wholly to renewable energy and international climate finance.

We urge all people, everywhere, to make a commitment to join the movement for climate justice, and to not to give up until we succeed in these demands being met.

Fasting today and my stomach hurts. Not because of fasting but because if we don’t get a deal, we should not have children. It is a matter of survival.

Posted by:

Jayme Montgomery