In this era when congressmembers and state legislators war with each other over the quality and fairness in the administration of elections, one statement on which all sides can agree is that all elections should be free, equal and open. In fact, 30 state constitutions, including North Carolina, California, and South Carolina mandate that all elections should be free, with 18 of these states also stating that elections should be “equal” or “open” and 15 of these states mandating that no "civil or military power shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage". Sadly, despite being the birthplace and resting place of civil rights advocates past and present, from Martin Luther King Jr. to John Lewis, and despite having the youngest state constitution as of 1983, Georgia's state constitution does not yet provide for such a basic expectation that our right to free suffrage shall be free and shall not be intimidated or suppressed by civil or military force. We need an amendment to the Georgia State Constitution mandating free, equal and open elections so that voters have a constitutional standard by which we can judge the integrity of elections administration, redistricting and other aspects of elections law in the State of Georgia. References: https://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/free-equal-election-clauses-in-state-constitutions.aspx https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FreeEqualOnePager-9.4.19.pdf http://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/free-and-equal-elections-a-new-state-constitutionalism-for-partisan-gerrymandering/

My daughter Amaya could not easily sit down to take a biology quiz like her White classmates because proctoring software would not “recognize” her as a person. She took the test at noon with sunlight streaming through her window, and turned on all the lights in her room. It still didn’t work. She tried 10 times. She literally had to shine an LED flashlight in her face before the software would allow her to take the quiz. This type of bias piles additional stress and anxiety onto kids of color who are already dealing with the challenges of remote learning, and it tells them they don’t belong. During remote learning, thousands of schools have paid billions for proctoring software that will watch kids via their computers to ensure that they aren’t cheating. However, this type of facial recognition software is notorious for not working well on people with dark skin because the companies that develop the product mostly test it on white people. The consequences for children of color can be devastating -- higher stress, unfounded accusations of cheating, and a clear message from their school that they aren’t welcome. And it's not just students of color. Students with facial tics or differences, neurodivergent students, and students with anxiety have all been discriminated against by online proctoring software. As a special educator who has worked in elementary education for years, I know the harm this will do to kids. Please join me in urging Secretary Cardona to support equity in education and reject the use of invasive, racially biased online proctoring software in K-12 schools.

Dear Sen. Mitt Romney, Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Burgess Owens, Rep. John Curtis, Rep. Blake Moore, and Rep. Chris Stewart, An email was send out to Utah residents by the Division of Services for People with Disabilities earlier this month, that said NO NEW STATE FUNDING was allocated this year to help people get off of the wait-list for the Medicaid Waiver. Last year, the same thing happened because of the pandemic. This is devastating because almost 5,000 disabled Utahns are on this list and in desperate need of services. It is a huge blow to the Autism Community because many of us have been on the wait-list for 5+ years. Early intervention for the Autism Community will save our state money in the long run. Our kids are missing milestones while neglected parents try to "figure it out" all alone. This is counterproductive and we need a change now. This will also create thousands of jobs in Utah! The HCBS Access Act will address the Autism Community's biggest issue head on. But, we are in desperate need of adequate services for all disabled people in Utah. To those of us on the waiting list, we know that this neglecting people with disabilities is Utah's biggest shame. Not meeting the needs of people with disabilities seems to go against the core values of the majority of Utah citizens. According to an article titled "Waiting Lists May Be Eliminated For Disability Services Provided By Medicaid" in Disability Scoop, "A draft bill unveiled this month known as the HCBS Access Act would require Medicaid to provide home- and community-based services to EVERYONE who is eligible and establish a minimum set of services that states must offer. The bill is also designed to help states create a network of providers and workers to deliver such supports." WE NEED THIS! The decision earlier this year to put zero funds toward getting disabled people off of the waiting list has broken the hearts of your constituents and we need you to step up to the plate and bring this bill home. We deserve to live our best lives and we need your help to do that. Disabilities are non-partisan and this bill should be, too. Please join U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., along with Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio in drafting and voting for this bill. We are counting on you! Sincerely, Utah Citizens Advocating for Autism *Rep. Chris Stewart is not going to be sent this petition since his email address is not available to the public. To send him your thoughts and feelings, contact him through his website at https://stewart.house.gov/contact/

"Thank God these weren't around when I was 13 but also... how are teens supposed to learn to accept themselves with this sh*t?". - Demi Lovato, apologizing to her TikTok fans for using unrealistic beauty filters. Demi is right. TikTok -- immensely popular with teen girls -- has multiple types of beauty filters that let young people change their skin tone, jaw structure, facial features, body shape and more. The result is images that are more computer-generated than real -- doe-eyes, poreless skin, chiseled jawlines, and emaciated stomachs. These filters create an impossible standard for young girls forming opinions of themselves and send girls an unmistakable message that they are “not enough.” TikTok should immediately disable all beauty filters for teen accounts to support healthy and realistic standards for teen girls. It’s clear these filters fuel depression, disordered eating….TikTok knows exactly what it is doing.

Amazon controls the majority of America’s book distribution but fails to do what every other major publisher does: sell e-books and audiobooks to public libraries where kids can access them for free on apps. Amazon doesn’t just sell books, it publishes them -- including thousands of books for kids and teens and many award-winning titles. However, Amazon has refused to sell any of their e-books or audiobooks to public libraries. Shame on Amazon for undermining libraries in order to sell more books. Amazon has raked in hundreds of billions during the pandemic, with CEO Jeff Bezos 80% richer than he was a year ago! To put it mildly, the pandemic has been a windfall for this company and its CEO. Children, on the other hand, have had school and their entire lives shut down. They need access to books more than ever. Tell Amazon to stop stonewalling America’s libraries and give kids access to books

The rule change is a huge benefit for self-employed people. They can now use their gross income from their Schedule C to determine the final loan amount in the 2nd round of PPP funding. However, not allowing for the rule change to be retroactive to those who already received their 2nd round money is absolutely unfair. This decision is affecting tens of thousands of self-employed people whose only mistake was to apply and receive their 2nd round of PPP money before the rule change. A CNBC article: "How just a few days cost some small businesses thousands on their PPP forgivable loans explains the issue thoroughly.

Nuestros hijos disfrutan jugando y compartiendo todos los días en los parques de la Urbanización, y los consideramos una de las cosas que más nos gusta de nuestra comunidad. Los parques se han convertido en un punto de encuentro para nosotros, un lugar donde nuestros hijos crean nuevas amistades y muchísimas memorias. Ahora durante la pandemia, las breves salidas al parque son quizás el único entretenimiento que podemos ofrecerle a nuestros hijos. Queremos un lugar donde nuestros hijos estén seguros y disfruten.

We call to replace or alter the seal due to problems over the imagery, and most notably by modern day connections of lynchings to the African American community. The noose disrespects thousands of African Americans that where lynched and is becoming more and more of a symbol of violence against black people.

If we allow this traffic will increase through our quiet neighborhood. Non Glenaire residents will begin using the street access and our once quiet neighborhood will become a busy thoroughfare.

The Atlanta mass shooting that resulted in the death of eight people -- six of whom were Asian American women -- again proves that Americans can no longer wait for action against gun violence and hate. In 2020 alone, as though the pandemic weren't already too much to bear, gun violence rose dramatically with over 19,000 people killed in shootings and firearm-related incidents. Tragically, who is harmed by gun violence has long been determined by race, ethnicity, or gender. Asian American women -- and everyone -- deserve to feel safe. While we mourn the Atlanta shootings, we must also fight the explosive combination of guns, racism, and misogyny to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies ever happening again. The U.S. House recently passed gun legislation to tighten up background checks on gun sales, and now it’s up to the U.S. Senate to turn it into law. Tell the U.S. Senate to act against gun violence now and pass universal background checks.

Because everyday that we leave work we do not know if that is the day we are bringing this deadly disease. We do not know if it is going to kill us or one of our family members. We are tired we get cussed at daily because we are out of a product. Some of my fellow workers are going to loose their homes because they do not have enough money to cover rent because they are having to pay for child care because our children are not in school. We need help so please pass this around so we can take this back to the city council Thanks for your time please share

This is an unorthodox petition we're asking Pennsylvanians to sign. It comes in the wake of the decision of the Delaware River Basin Commission to vote to ban fracking in the basin. Governor Wolf is among the Commissioners who say in their resolution that they looked at the science and the on-the-ground impacts and concluded fracking is too dangerous to allow in the basin. When they looked at the science, they were looking data points that very often represent Pennsylvanians. When they looked at on-the-ground impacts, they were looking at the the impacts many Pennsylvanians are experiencing. We believe there should be no sacrifice zones. If fracking is too dangerous for those of us in the Delaware River Basin, it's too dangerous for Pennsylvanians everywhere. Signers' names of this petition will be delivered along with a letter containing the petition text we're delivering to Governor Wolf on April 13. It's not just the format of the letter that is out of the ordinary. We're asking people to sign with a brief description of the shale gas activities in their area and/or the impacts they have experienced. For those in areas of the state unaffected by fracking, we're asking them to add In Solidarity to their signatures. Please add your descriptions or statements of solidarity in the comments section so your signatures follow the same basic format of those of the signers of the letter.