Voter Safety

** If you do not feel safe voting, bring a friend. If you see anyone breaking the law (i.e. weapons, blocking entrance, giving you a hard time) – call 911 or inform election officers (not the election volunteers, supervisors best). Take pictures or video for proof. **

 

Vote Safely!  Do not let anyone stop you from legally voting (consider provisional ballots if they give you a hard time unless your criminal record does not allow you to vote). 

 

Historic Win: White House Ordered To Provide Sign Language Interpreters for COVID-19 Briefings

Today, a  federal district court ordered the White House to provide American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, live streamed on its website (whitehouse.gov/live), for all public briefings held by the President, Vice President, and Press Secretary that address the COVID-19 pandemic.  The order requires that an ASL interpreter be provided at any coronavirus briefing held on White House grounds or at any federal agency. The Court has also ordered the White House to make the interpreter feed available to all TV networks in a manner that will allow those networks to show the interpreter in their live feeds.  The injunction will take effect on October 1, 2020. 

The court had previously issued an opinion on September 9, 2020, which found that the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and five individual deaf plaintiffs were entitled to relief in some form. The court found that the plaintiffs had the right to compel the White House to provide ASL interpreters for all of its press briefings that cover the coronavirus pandemic.  The court then held another hearing on September 17, 2020 to discuss how to set up the process to have ASL interpreters during White House press briefings. 

NAD CEO Howard A. Rosenblum said, “Sign language and accurate captioning are both essential and crucial to ensuring all deaf and hard of hearing people are well informed and are able to make better decisions on how to stay safe from the pandemic. The judge’s order sets a great precedent to achieve this goal of full accessibility.” 

Read more at https://www.nad.org/2020/09/23/historic-win-white-house-ordered-to-provide-sign-language-interpreters-for-covid-19-briefings.

 

Under counting and budget impacts (US Census)

Summary below (video is captioned above):

Lack of $$$ for

  1. Schools
  2. Buses/transportation
  3. Roads
  4. Representation in congress
  5. Food Stamps
  6. Consumer protection laws – environment, insurance,
  7. National Guard
  8. Emergency fundings – i.e. hurricanes, etc
  9. Vocational Rehab
  10. Medicaid/Medicare
  11. Broadband expansion funds
  12. Rental Assistance programs
  13. Police/Fire funding
  14. Social workers and emergency services

Covid19 has resulted in fewer census employees tasked at doing door to door work. 

Delaware is @63% counted now.  Worst is Sussex County at 51.5% while rest @67%

Deadline to do your census is September 30, 2020.  Go to my2020census.gov.  ** Your information is private per law and no one else can access your personal information even the US President cannot see it. **

Links references:

https://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/?latlng=39.97712%2C-98.08594&z=4&promotedfeaturetype=states&baselayerstate=3&rtrYear=sR2020latest&infotab=info-rtrselfresponse&filterQuery=false

“Further, self-response rates for 2020 lag behind the rates for 2010 in most states. According to U.S. Census data, the overall self-response rate in Delaware is 62.4%, with New Castle County at 67.8%, Kent County at 67.2%, and Sussex County with the lowest response rate at 51.5%.” from https://news.delaware.gov/2020/09/03/attorney-general-jennings-fights-trump-administrations-attempts-to-reduce-census-efforts

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/04/728034176/2020-census-could-lead-to-worst-undercount-of-black-latinx-people-in-30-years