WV Democracy Leaders: We need your voice and your support

Dear Friends, Partners, and Allies, 

As we begin a new year with a new president, we are rededicating ourselves to the work to hold our government accountable to ensure we create a state and country where everyone can thrive. We remain committed to increasing transparency and accountability in our elections, and to strengthening our democracy by furthering fairness and impartiality in our courts. And with your continued support, we will be able to continue this work.

To that end, I’m reaching out with a few of requests. 

The WV C3 Voter Engagement Table is circulating a sign-on letter demanding legislative leaders to hold an Open Session that provides allow public access to an open, transparent legislative session that ensures those affected by proposed legislation can have meaningful input. Participation in the legislative process is essential to holding our elected officials accountable. Deadline: TODAY, Monday, January 25 at 5pm.

Some of you know we hosted a virtual town hall on Saturday, Jan. 16 with the NAACP WV, Our Future WV and others in support of HR 1, a bold federal democracy reform package to clean up our political system, expand and protect voting rights, end gerrymandering, and counter the power of big money in politics. 

We had a request from the national Declaration for American Democracy coalition asking state groups to join an HR1 sign-on letter to send to Capitol Hill offices. More than 150 national/state groups have already signed on, but more organizations from WV are needed. Deadline: COB on Friday, January 29

Making pro-democracy reforms is critical to seeing rapid progress on the issues, so please lend your voice to this effort. (Several of your part of national organizations that are part of the DFAD coalition.)

We value our partnerships and collaborations with you and we’re counting on you to be a major part of our efforts as we continue fighting for free, fair, and safe elections for West Virginians and a fair and impartial court system.

However, we could really use your financial support, too, so we can continue our work to organize West Virginians, and bring our communities together to strengthen our democracy and protect our institutions.

A generous supporter has agreed to match every donation up to $10,000 we receive between now and the end of January, so your donation will have double the impact. As of this writing, we need to raise about $2,500 in order to reach our goal.

You can donate online or by sending a check to OVEC* at PO Box 6753, Huntington, WV 25773. (Please be sure to include “WV Pro-Democracy Match” in the comment field or memo/for line.) Deadline: January 31

Thanks, again, for your past and continued support. We can’t do this without you!

Sincerely,

Julie

*Note: OVEC serves as the fiscal agent for this project.

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