This week began with Indigenous People’s Day. We honor Indigenous peoples and celebrate the heritage, invaluable contributions, and incredible resilience of Native Americans.
SFI was busy this week fighting for our voting rights and staying on top of headlines from around the world (October 13, 2024 – October 19, 2024).
Military voters are under attack. Please sign our Community Letter.
Politicians have filed lawsuits in 3 states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina – challenging military and overseas ballots. Sign our community letter urging state election officials to defend our voters!
We’re sending this letter to the chief election officer in all 50 states to urge public, unequivocal support of our community’s right to access the ballot box. We need leaders across all parties to speak out against the political attacks. With fewer than 3 weeks until Election Day, we cannot afford to delay. SIGN HERE! And urge your friends and family to sign too.
1. GOP Lawsuits Threaten to Disenfranchise Military Voters, Advocates Warn (Military.com; Oct 16, 2024). “For military families, we already run into so many stumbling blocks when it comes to registering to vote, to getting the right information to register to vote, to feel like it is achievable, and we know that when there is a lack of confidence in voting, there is less likelihood to vote,” said Khiet Ho, a Marine Corps spouse who is the lead researcher at Secure Families Initiative, a military families organization that in part works to expand military voting.
2. Military voters see ‘direct attack’ from GOP election challenges (The Hill; Oct 18, 2024). Kate Marsh Lord, communications director at Secure Families Initiative, a nonpartisan group focused on mobilizing military spouses and families, said it was a “literal direct attack” on military voters and their families. “From what we can see, it really is a political gimmick, because someone has come to the calculation that it’s worth … attacking military voters for some perceived political gain. Because there isn’t any demonstrated proof of abuse or fraud. It simply doesn’t exist.”
3. Advocates for overseas military families, ex-pats push back against GOP suits over absentee votes (ABC News; Oct 19, 2024). There is already fear among Americans at home and abroad that no matter what the result, the damage has already been done, according to Sarah Streyder, the executive director of Secure Families Initiative, a nonpartisan non-profit that advocates for military families’ rights.
SFI also filed an amicus brief in Georgia to defend our votes. Here’s a quick recap of the victory to ensure all votes are counted. Later in the week, a judge in Georgia invalidated additional new proposed election rules that we also opposed in amicus briefs.
Other News Around the World
1. Smaller But More Diverse Group of Veterans Running for Congress This Year (Military.com; Oct 11, 2024). Overall, fewer veterans will be on November’s general election ballots than during the 2022 congressional elections. But about 22% of those Republican, Democratic and third-party candidates this year are minorities, compared with about 19% two years ago, according to an analysis by the political action committee With Honor, which supports veterans running for Congress who commit to working across party lines.
2. U.S. Warns Israel of Military Aid Cut if Gazans Don’t Get More Supplies (New York Times; Oct 15, 2024). The demand from Israel’s closest ally came amid reports that the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip has grown still worse in recent weeks.
3. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar killed in Gaza, Israel says (CNN; Oct 18, 2024). Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the October 7 massacre in Israel, has been killed, according to the Israeli military. We hope, in light of this news, that this revives ceasefire talks.
Less than 20 days from Election Day
Upcoming voter registration deadlines:
- October 21: Alabama, California (mail and online), Iowa (mail and online), Michigan (mail and online), Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wyoming
- October 22: Guam
- October 25: Nebraska (in person)
- October 26: New York, Michigan
Early voting begins in these states:
- October 21: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, South Carolina, Texas
- October 22: Hawaii, Missouri, Utah, Wisconsin
- October 23: West Virginia
- October 24: Maryland
- October 25: Delaware
- October 26: Florida, New Jersey, New York
As always, if you run in to any issues with voting, please reach out to us here at SFI. We are happy to help you. Email us at info@securefamiliesinitiative.org.
If you have any voting pain points, like difficulty registering to vote, discovering you’ve been kicked off the voting roster, or you received your absentee ballot late, or any other issue, you can share your voting story in the pain points survey.
If you’d like to share your experience with your Voting Assistance Officer, whether non-existent, positive, or in-between, please let us know in the super quick Voting Assistance Officer feedback survey, and we can take the next steps to ensure all military voters are getting the support we need.
To end today’s news roundup on a fun note, here’s a look at SFI Voting Ambassador Jenn’s visit to the Smithsonian’s Postal Museum exhibit on mail-in voting. It takes a look back at our nation’s long history of mail-in voting dating back to the 1800s. (Funny that this long protected measure in our democracy is now suddenly under attack 3 weeks before Election Day.)