In last week's newsletter, I wrote that fall was almost upon us. This week, it's here already! And since Labor Day is now in the rear view mirror, it really is time to get ourselves in gear and get going. Voting is already happening in North Carolina and may soon begin here as well. Municipal clerks by law must send absentee ballots to everyone who has already requested them by September 17, according to the Wisconsin Election Commission. September 17 is a mere nine days from now. So Wisconsin voters should have ballots in hand by the 19th or 21st of this month. Another way to think about this: Get Out the Vote work — traditionally the focus of the last weekend before election day — is already on the bubble. And Grassroots North Shore is beginning its GOTV effort by doing follow-up phone calls with people we've recently sent postcards to. We'll be calling two different populations: women on the North Shore in Milwaukee County and younger voters (ages 18-40) in the city. All the targets are at least leaning toward voting for Democrats, so these should be easy calls to make. You can sign up now. We should have everything ready to go by the begging of next week.

And don't forget to tune in to our Zoom picnic morphed into a candidate forum on Sunday, September 13. The event begins at 4:30 but the "waiting room" opens at 4:15. You'll want to be there to hear from a quartet of Democratic candidates, three of whom who are running to unseat incumbent Republicans. Deb Andraca is running for Assembly District 23. Her territory includes Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, Bayside, and a big chunk of eastern Ozaukee County. Emily Siegrist is running for Assembly District 24, with territory in Glendale, Brown Deer, a piece of west Ozaukee County, and a chunk of Washington County. And Neal Plotkin is running to unseat Alberta Darling in the 8th state Senate District. That district includes Assembly District 23 and Assembly District 24. Dora Drake, the fourth candidate in our forum, is running for an open seat in Assembly District 11.

Each candidate will give a 10-minute presentation followed by a Question and Answer period with Edgar Lin, an attorney with experience in the State Public Defenders Office. So by the end of the event, you'll be well informed about the race in your Assembly District and in a state Senate District. Why is this important? We're counting on you to do the vital work of relational organizing, a fancy term for talking with your friends and neighbors about these outstanding candidates. And about the need to overcome the gerrymandering the GOP legislature put in place in 2011. If Republicans gain a supermajority in both of the legislative chambers in this election, they will be able to over-ride the Governor's veto of the rigged electoral maps they're sure to concoct in 2011, ensuring Republican control of the legislature until 2031. We can't let that happen!

So join us for this candidate forum by signing up on our website. You'll then receive an email with the information you need to connect with the zoom meeting. Sign up here.

And for a little pick-me-up, try the Republican-leaning Rasmussen poll for Wisconsin. It has Biden leading the evil buffoon in the White House by 8%, 51% to 43%. "Among the 84% of Wisconsin voters who are already certain how they will vote, Biden leads 54% to 46%." Will you look at that! The BLUE team is fired up and ready to vote.

Fall is almost upon us. So in a normal year, we'd be getting geared up for our annual picnic at Cahill Park. Alas, not this year. Instead we're venturing into the weird territory of online events. So you'll have to supply your own food and drink! But don't worry. Grassroots North Shore will supply the REAL MEAT (or should I say MEET): four excellent candidates for legislative positions in Wisconsin. Dora Drake is running in the 11th Assembly District; Deb Andraca is running (against Jim Ott) in the 23rd Assembly District; Emily Siegrist is running (against Dan Knodl) in the 24th Assembly District; and Neal Plotkin is running (against Alberta Darling) in the 8th Senate District. All four will introduce themselves to our North Shore supporters in succinct presentations, followed by a 10-minute question and answer session moderated by Edgar Lin.

All of these candidates are first rate but three of them face especially difficult races because the electoral maps Republican drew after the last census in 2010 tried to lock in Republican domination of those districts. Fortunately, in the last election cycle, the tide seems to be turning. So we have a good chance to make some inroads into the GOP dominated legislature. You can (and should) help. First attend the "picnic" turned candidate forum on Sunday, September 13 at 4:30pm (the Zoom waiting room opens at 4:15pm). Plus, display the appropriate yard signs for your district. (You can check which Assembly and Senate district you live in here.) And of course donate — even if only $5 — and/or volunteer to make phone calls or do other forms of outreach. Here's where to go to help each candidate.

Unfortunately, we do not yet have signs for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, though we're making a list of those who want one. We also do not yet have signs for Dora. Keep watching this newsletter for updates on those situations. And we do have all the information you need to work for the Biden-Harris campaign.

On Thursday, September 3, our renowned MythBusters series will resume with Dr. Bill Holahan, emeritus professor of economics, demonstrating the lie that the economy under tRump was so spectacular until the coronavirus came along. The program will be available on our Facebook page at 7pm that day.

Finally, Pat Slutske has provided us with a thoughtful essay on Fascism and the tRump's administration's enactment of it. You can find the entirety of it on our website, but here's a key excerpt:

There are many ways to get engaged with Grassroots North Shore as we head into the heart of the 2020 Campaign. Since we cannot campaign in some traditional ways, we are making as much use of alternative means as we can. So far, we have sent out more that 7500 postcards to people in Ozaukee County as well as to people in our North Shore Milwaukee County communities. And we're about to launch another postcard campaign to thousands more Democrats who live in the city. To do that, we need to buy a lot more stamps! Can you give a little? Your stamp donation will mean so much to us. And you will help Get Out the Vote!

A more time-consuming way to help is to get engaged directly with the Biden-Harris campaign. The Democratic National Convention earned rave reviews, both for it's tech prowess and for the empathetic and warm speeches from its leaders and from the ordinary Americans who make up our diverse coalition. Download a one-page pdf from the campaign to find the many ways you can help out. Once you have downloaded and opened it, you will find a host of links to get you started.

Grassroots North Shore isn't entirely forgoing tradition, though. Our annual picnic has simply morphed into a candidate forum: starring Neal Plotkin, running to boot out Alberta Darling in the 8th State Senate District; Emily Siegrist, running to oust Representative Dan Knodl in the 24th Assembly District; Deb Andraca, running to put Jim Ott in the 23rd Assembly District out to pasture; and Dora Drake, running to replace Jason Fields, who has stepped down from the 11th Assembly District.

At this virtual meeting, each candidate will give a short presentation followed by a 10-minute Q&A with moderator Edgar Lin. Bring your own food and drink and join us at 4:30pm on Sunday, September 13, to meet our future legislators. (The Zoom waiting room will open at 4:15pm.) Once you RSVP, you'll receive an email with a link for joining the virtual event.

And while you're noodling around the internet and avoiding the REAL Republican National Convention, have a giggle by visiting an ALTERNATIVE REPUBLICAN NATIONALIST CONVENTION, brought to you by Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. (And you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy it.) The group's email states that the site "exposes who they really are and what they stand for: using fear and division to hold onto power and enrich themselves, while putting our lives in danger." When you visit, you can "fill out the form to get your media credentials" and read about the GOP's "COVID-19 Safety Plan," among other delights.

The election events are heating up. The list below has many to choose from, some virtual and some in person. I hope you'll sign up for something, if not a campaign event then an issue-oriented program or a protest march. We have plenty of social justice issues here in Wisconsin that we need to address. The Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha is only the latest. Needless to say, in the current political climate, the shooting has received national coverage. Here's today's New York Times account.

Today's Election Day. If you have already voted, great! If you haven't yet, you have to get to your polling place before 8pm. You can look up where to vote at myvote.wi.gov.

But the bigger news is the announcement about speakers at the Democratic National Convention, now only six days away. You won't want to miss the addresses by such luminaries as Michelle Obama and her husband! You can review the line-up at Daily Kos and speculate with the pundit about what this cast of notables tells of us about Biden's VP pick. Go here to find out how to watch. (You can skip the uninformative video and scroll down the page for how-to links and information.) Hint: almost any internet connected device and service will get you there. Watch on your tv, your computer, your phone, your tablet. Use Roku or Alexa or one of the other devices I personally know nothing about. It may be a virtual event, but it's going to be fun and exciting nevertheless. Most of us would have seen it on television anyway, so having it be virtual is really not all that different. Let's show the enthusiasm the media keeps telling us we lack.

Still, there has been some grumbling about the fact that our nominee will not be coming to Milwaukee to give his acceptance speech. Some people are warning that his failure to do so echoes Hillary Clinton's lack of campaigning in Wisconsin after she secured the nomination. But conditions today are dramatically different than they were four years ago. For one thing, giving the speech here would have meant orating to an empty arena! Dr. Ian Gilson's letter to former Vice President Biden explains just why the decision is appropriate this time around.

Looking ahead, there are several things you can and should be doing right now and in the near future. For one thing, we need people to volunteer for the next Weekend of Action, on August 30 and 31. I'll be sending out links to sign up in next week's newsletter, but please mark your calendars now. Shifts on the Virtual Phone Banks will begin at 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm on Saturday. On Sunday, they will begin at 12pm, 3pm, and 6pm.

The changes at the US Postal Service, including the new price of stamps for absentee ballots, are disturbing and may be disruptive in November. Jamelle Bouie at the New York Times has an op-ed today, "How to Foil Drumpf’s Election Night Strategy", that is worth your time to read. He discusses how to thwart Drumpf's loudly telegraphed strategy to claim victory on November 3 and to insist that only ballots counted that day are valid. Voting absentee, however, is still the safest way to cast your ballot. And that's why we strongly recommend that everyone voting absentee do two things:

1. Fill out your ballot as soon as you possibly can (and don't forget you need to sign your certification envelope and you need a witness to sign it and include her address on it too);
   
   
2. Use a drop box or drop location in your community rather than putting your ballot in the US mail.

Just in case you're unsure about how to complete an absentee ballot, you can watch a quick video. Share it widely. And as always, sign up for an activity or event and get engaged!

The partisan primary is a week from today. If you have already received your absentee ballot, you should return it through one of the drop boxes most of our North Shore and Ozaukee communities provide. The US Postal Service is experiencing significant delays, at least in Philadelphia and perhaps around the country. The new Postmaster General may be slowing the mail through his new cost-cutting policies, as he says, or he may be having that effect in order to please Drumpf by disrupting voting by mail. Or both. It hardly matters. Absentee voting is still the safest way for your voice to be heard, but in order to be counted your ballot must reach your election officials by 8pm on Tuesday, August 11. So instead of mailing your ballot back in the envelope provided, take your ballot sealed in its certification envelope with its witness signature and address to the drop box for your municipality. Here's a list of locations.

North Shore in Milwaukee County

Getting your absentee ballot returned safely isn't the only thing to think about this week. If you did not receive an absentee ballot, you can vote by what's known as "early voting" or "in-person absentee voting" until 5pm on Friday, August 6. If for some reason you miss that opportunity, then your last option is to vote on Election Day. Polls are open from 7am to 8pm. If you're not sure you know where your polling place for this primary is, myvote.wi.gov will provide you with that information.

If you still need to register to vote — you can and should check your registration status at myvote.wi.gov — you will need to take required material with you either when you vote early in person or when you go to the polls on Election Day. You will need proof of residency and proof of identity (aka PhotoID).

In Covid-19 news, Governor Evers declared a public health emergency and has ordered masks to be worn statewide. Republicans are threatening to overturn it. I'm not sure why they want the virus to spread, especially to voters outside Milwaukee County, but that's the state of play as of today. There's lots of other news to review, but it will have to wait until next week! Right now, VOTE and get engaged. You'll find plenty of opportunities in the Events list.

In-person absentee voting has begun for the August 11 primary. So if you have not yet requested an absentee ballot, there's no time to lose. Using a smartphone to make uploading a digital picture of your Photo ID, just follow the instructions at myvote.wi.gov. For a visual guide to the process, see our step-by-step, illustrated instructions or a Citizen Action video. And if you have already requested or even received your ballot, return it ASAP. See below for an alternative method that allows you to bypass the postal service.

Voter suppression is occurring all around us in Wisconsin. So I want to take a few minutes to outline many of the ways voting can be discouraged or denied. And some of the ways each and every one of us can combat these problems.

• Restrictive laws for registering to vote (residency periods & voter ID)
• Restrictive laws for absentee voting (witness signature & address)
• Restrictions on early voting (times & locations)
• Restrictive laws for voting on Election Day (photo id)
• Closed or moved polling places (a big problem in April)
• Closed municipal offices
• Disruption of the postal service
• Poll observer challenges and intimidation
• Fear
• Manufactured apathy / Media manipulation

There are undoubtedly others.

Laws governing voting are hard to change. So knowing what the laws require is vital. Proving that you are who you say you are and that you live where you say you live can become huge obstacles for some. Under quarantine or isolation protocols, safely obtaining a witness signature and address on a mail-in ballot can pose problems. A solution: Be in touch with people you know who live alone and find out what they need to vote safely. In Wisconsin, anyone can vote absentee — no excuse is necessary. Help others provide their Photo ID electronically. Use safe social distancing to witness ballots. But the witness does not need to reside where the voter is registered to vote. The city of Milwaukee is providing a number of locations where people can get their ballots witnessed and drop them off. Even if you live in Ozaukee County, you can get your certification envelope witnessed at one of the city's early voting locations, though you'll have to post your ballot (or drop it off — see below) at your municipal office.

To register to vote in Wisconsin, a citizen must be able to prove that she resides at a specific location. Proof requires one of many approved documents. The full list can be found on the Wisconsin Election Commission website. The voter must have resided at that location for the 28 days preceding election day. Otherwise, the voter has to return to her previous location and vote at the polling location for that address. If she needs to register on election day or during the early in-person voting period, she will need proof of residence at that location! A solution: Help others plan ahead to acquire the needed documentation to register during the early voting period or at the polls on election day.

To exercise his right to vote in person on election day, a citizen must show proof of identity (also known as Photo ID) and must audibly recite his name and address so that any poll observers can challenge the voter. He must also sign the poll book. People with physical disabilities may find both the enunciation of their name and address and the requirement to sign the poll book to be problematic. A solution: People who might find those tasks challenging are entitled to assistance. You can volunteer to help people you know but who might have some trouble voting by taking them to their polling location and helping them do whatever is necessary to cast a ballot.

More troubling still is finding traditional polling places moved to new locations or closed altogether. For the April election, the city of Milwaukee was so short of poll workers that it could staff only FIVE polling locations instead of the 180 places it traditionally supported. To address this problem, the city needs to recruit hundreds of new poll workers. To work at the polls on election days, you need to be 1) eligible to vote; 2) live in the county where you intend to work; and 3) be available for training. A solution: If you live in Milwaukee County, you can apply to be an Election Inspector (aka poll worker) either through the Democratic Party's Election Protection Team or on the city's website. All voting districts have been allocated the funds to ensure that polls are as safe for poll workers and for voters as possible. And the city is paying Election Inspectors $230 for each election day. Ozaukee County residents can be poll workers at polling locations in Ozaukee County. In Ozaukee, you can sign up through the Democratic Party.

Urban Milwaukee recently published an article documenting that Mail-In Ballots Indicate Huge Turnout for August Primary. The absentee ballots have pre-paid postage on them but you do not have to mail them back. The US postal service seems to be experiencing some difficulties these days. For one thing, the newly appointed head of the organization has apparently banned any overtime work. And the problems may grow more severe in the fall. Moreover, the courts have ruled that mail-in ballots must be received by 8pm on election day. The confluence of these two edicts makes the postal service less reliable than we might wish. A solution: Use the drop boxes that many (if not most) municipalities provide. Here are the locations for drop boxes in Milwaukee's North Shore communities:

• Bayside: Deposit box outside the front door;
• Brown Deer: Brown mailbox on the sidewalk as you approach the building;
• Fox Point: Mail slot in the front door;
• Glendale: Metal drop box in the parking lot;
• River Hills: Slot in the front door;
• Shorewood: White mailbox in the parking lot;
• Whitefish Bay: Depository inside the front door.

In Ozaukee County, contact your municipal clerk for information. Phone numbers for Ozaukee communities can be found on the Grassroots North Shore Elections 2020 page.

Election observers are provided by political parties and the GOP has promised to recruit 50,000 poll watchers to challenge voters. A solution: To make sure voters are not harassed or intimidated, the Democratic Party is likewise recruiting as many observers as it can. You can volunteer here and the Election Protection Team will fill you in on what you need to do and to know. And by the way, you don't have to be a Wisconsin resident or voter to be an observer. So friends and family in nearby states can also sign up as long as they can get to the poll to which they will be assigned.

In these uncertain times, many people fear exposure to Covid-19 if they have to vote in person. That's why it is so important that everyone you know can vote safely by absentee ballot. A solution: The best thing you can do is help others obtain their absentee ballot, fill it and the certification (return) envelope out correctly, and drop it off at his/her municipal office, preferably ahead of election day itself.

Of all the voter suppression tactics, manufactured apathy and media manipulation may be the hardest to overcome. As the current occupent of the White House continues to claim — falsely — that mail-in voting is inherently rife with fraud (see here and here and here for three important examples), and Facebook and other social media platforms let politicians spew falsehoods about voting, most of us feel pretty helpless. A solution: Those with social media accounts and plenty of courage should speak out as often as necessary to push back. And the tactic may be self-defeating. As the Washington Post story tell us, Republicans seem to be "driving suspicion among GOP voters toward absentee ballots." So some of their voters are not availing themselves of the opportunity to vote absentee. Now wouldn't it be a delicious irony if their lies ended up suppressing Drumpf votes!

Things are starting to get really busy with the 2020 campaigns. We currently have some Biden signs and some Emily Siegrist signs (for the 24th Assembly District) available for pick up from the front porches of various houses. Once you RSVP for a Biden sign or a Siegrist sign, you will get an email telling you where you can get your sign safely. We will have Neil Plotkin signs (for the 8th State Senate District) and Deb Andraca signs (for the 23rd Assembly District) soon. So keep and eye out for the announcements.

The list of events is getting longer too. Keep an eye open for the following specials:

• July 22, a live, online debate between the three candidates running for the nomination for the 6th Congressional District. We do not endorse candidates in primaries, as a general rule, but we are hosting their candidate statements on our website —
  • • Michael Beardsly
    • Matthew Boor
    • Jessica Kink
• an upcoming Weekend of Action, July 25 & 26, with Virtual Phone Banks for each of the Neighborhood Action Teams in our area. Below you will find a link to the one for Mequon and Thiensville. In the next newsletter, we'll make sure to have links to all the rest of them. You don't need to stay in your own "area" — you can sign up for any one.
  
  
• the phone calls to follow up on postcards to Democratic women in Ozaukee county continues. You can take part in that effort by signing up on our website.

Usually, I cover some item of state or national news in the intro to the newsletter. But not this week. We all need a breather from terrible COVID-19 news, terrible commutation news, and the violence and bigotry that makes Black Lives Matter such an urgent and necessary movement. So I'm going to leave you with just one tidbit: Tangerine Man cancelled his rally in New Hampshire. It was supposed to take place last Saturday. The White House claimed the cause was bad weather in the forecast. But it was another sharpie revision to the weather map moment. The real reason appears to be lack of enthusiasm for attending a large, indoor event and risking the spread of the virus. Or maybe just lack of enthusiasm for a Trump rally. Go figure.

And go sign up for some events!

What the polls show: Nationally, the polls for the last three months show a growing lead for Joe Biden. On May 6, his lead was 5.4%; on June 6 it was 7%; on July 6 it was 9.6%. And the in that last aggregation of national polls, Biden had topped the 50% mark — at a stupendous 51.1%. Here in Wisconsin, the polls are a bit tighter. May 6 had Biden with a lead of only 2%. On June 6 it had grown to 5.6%. Yesterday, Biden's aggregate lead was at 8.1%. These aggregations all come from Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com site and show the average of many polls. The poll Silver rates the highest — the Sienna College/New York Times Upshot poll from June 8-15 — showed Biden with an 11 point lead in Wisconsin, 49% for Biden to 38% for Trump.

In other battleground states, Biden is also leading. In Michigan, he has a lead of 9.7%, in Pennsylvania it's 7.5%, and in Florida it's 6.3%. Even in Arizona, Silver's calculation shows Biden leading by 3.1%! In Ohio, Biden leads by a slim 2.5%. So at the moment, both Arizona and Ohio are winnable. Even though it's early and the narcisist occupying the White House could still eke out a win somehow, the polls show that we have a great map to run on.

Meanwhile coronavirus infections are rapidly increasing, even here in Wisconsin. Again, FiveThirtyEight.com is tracking models from 15 different organizations showing guesstimates of the total fatalities as of August 1, three weeks from now. The national death toll as of July 6 stood at 130,285. The models range from a low of 132,000 - 139,000 to a high of 151,000 - 192,000 deaths by the end of July. In short, the range of estimates is quite large. As Ryan Best and Jay Boice (the authors of the analysis) explain, "the assumptions underlying the models can lead to vastly different estimates." No one model is the correct one. "They’re not trying to tell us one precise future, but rather the range of possibilities given the facts on the ground."

The picture in Wisconsin is not as dire as the one in Texas or Arizona, for example. But it is worrisome. Deaths from the virus have slowed somewhat but the positive rate from tests processed since July 5 is an unacceptably high 9.2%. (To slow the infection rate, the positive test rate must approach 1%.) The July 6 Journal Sentinel Online reported that the "state's seven-day average of new cases, which on Monday was 572, has been rising fairly steadily since June 17, when the seven-day average was 265 new cases per day." As the maps included in the reporting show, confirmed cases and deaths are both most concentrated in the southeast quadrant of Wisconsin. Milwaukee and the WOW counties are all rated as having HIGH rates of virus transmission.

The combination of the good news from polls and the bad news from both national models and local reports about covid-19 means that we will need to work hard over the next four months. And we will continue to have to campaign from the safety of our homes. So here are the latest opportunities to step up and help out.

• For Grassroots North Shore:
  • Call the Democratic women in Ozaukee County who were sent postcards in late May and early June. We're following up with calls to encourage them to vote absentee in August and November and to be aware of the Democratic primary in the 6th Congressional District. We could use your help. Sign up.
  • Get a Biden yard sign, while they last. Once you sign up, you'll receive information for picking it up.
    
    
• For the Wisconsin Democratic Party in Whitefish Bay, Bayside, Fox Point, and River Hills there are several great opportunities:
  • Tuesday, July 7th, 7:00 - 7:45pm: Flex Callers Kick-Off
    Link: https://secure.ngpvan.com/btZiHGGRNUyaAsdyOWwdFA2
    Description: Team Launch for our weekly caller program. Volunteers will be trained on how to make calls on their own time for 3 hours a week through an OpenVPB link sent every Tuesday. The kick-off will be led by Shirley and Jack. There will be a 10-minute presentation covering setting up an ActionID, utilizing OpenVPB, navigating our Bridge Building Script, and laying out our calling strategy for the rest of the month, as well as a period to answer all-volunteer questions.
  • Thursday, July 9th, 3:00 - 4:00pm: June WFB Phone Bank Training
    Link: https://secure.ngpvan.com/a6qjO9o8-0q9brWWkeF6Ug2
    Description: Virtual Phone Bank training for new volunteers seeking more information about joining our network. There will be a 20-minute presentation covering the importance of phone banking, how to set up an ActionID, utilizing our OpenVPB system, navigating our Bridge Building Script, and recruiting for our Flex Callers and July WOA led by Shirley and Jack.
  • Tuesday, July 14th, 6:30 - 7:30pm: June WFB Phone Bank Training
    Link: https://secure.ngpvan.com/BrIElMrD6UKxcDL4Y1watA2
    Description: Virtual Phone Bank training for new volunteers seeking more information about joining our network. There will be a 20-minute presentation covering the importance of phone banking, how to set up an ActionID, utilizing our OpenVPB system, navigating our Bridge Building Script, and recruiting for our Flex Callers and July WOA led by Shirley and Jack.</br />
• For the Wisconsin Democratic Party in Thiensville and Mequon there are several more great opportunities:
  • Tuesday, July 7 at 7pm: Thiensville Democrats Meeting
    Link: https://secure.ngpvan.com/9Cn9c94pw0aH7I4gxJdYvw2
    Description: Local Democrats in Thiensville will be meeting to strategize action events and vent about the news.
  • Thursday, July 23 at 7pm: Weekend of Action Orientation for Mequon & Thiensville
    Link: https://secure.ngpvan.com/lT6Uns25HEaZ_llaq5JWMQ2
    Description: We'll be going over everything there is to know about phone banking and our objectives for the weekend. (It's essentially a training.)
  • Saturday, July 25: Weekend of Action Shifts for Mequon & Thiensville
    Link: https://secure.ngpvan.com/E7im0OpQjU-v1n2ACDqaeQ2
  • Sunday, July 26: Weekend of Action Shifts for Mequon & Thiensville
    Link: https://secure.ngpvan.com/qJTdaO0Fqk-_nH3zhDZFrg2

The number of events in and around Milwaukee remains modest and most are still taking place online. But I'm sure you can find at least one that moves you to Zoom!

Dear {{recipient.first_name_or_friend}} — 

So the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has finally ruled and the results are terrible. The unanimous decision rules that voting laws can be fashioned to discriminate against a particular party as long as those laws are not intended to discriminate by race! So laws restricting early voting, requiring voter IDs, witnessing absentee ballots and the like are okay (or at least not "justiciable") as long as the intent is to disadvantage a political party. If those laws also have a disparate impact on protected groups (i.e. races or ethnic groups), c'est la vie. For a more informed and detailed analysis of the ruling, you can't do better than to read Richard Hasen's post.

You can help Governor Evers retain his veto power over the maps the GOP dominated legislature is sure to draw next year by attending a July 1 Zoom meeting to "Save the Veto." It's essential that the state break the gerrymandered (i.e. rigged) electoral maps for the state senate, assembly and US congressional districts if the state is ever to move Forward! again. In light of the decision by the 7th Circuit Court yesterday, the only way to do that is by preventing the GOP from gaining a veto-proof majority in the legislature this fall. And by supporting the governor's efforts to unrig the maps. You can RSVP here. The Zoom link will be sent to you once you sign up.

On the positive side of the judicial ledger, as I am sure you're aware, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana TRAP law (targeted restrictions on abortion providers) that would have left Louisiana with only one abortion provider for the entire state. Chief Justice Roberts cast the deciding vote in the 5-4 decision and he based his position on the fact that the law in question was a carbon copy of the Texas law the court had struck down four years ago. The rub is that Roberts considers the Texas case wrongly decided! He just thought that the court could not reverse itself so quickly. For a fuller account of the decision and Roberts's role in it, see the editorial in today's New York Times.

The distressing verdict from the Appeals Court and the tenuous (and probably temporary) ruling from the US Supreme Court should make it plain that the composition of the judiciary is a fundamental concern in every election, but especially perhaps in this one. And we have our work cut out for us.

Other volunteer opportunities will be coming along — our own "fast and furious" efforts as well as those of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. This past weekend was the first Weekend of Action for the Dems and several Grassroots North Shore supporters are leading neighborhood teams that help get the word out about Democratic issues and candidates. Join one of the teams! If you live in Shorewood, the person to contact is Paul Geenen. If you live in Whitefish Bay, the person to contact is Shirley Horowitz. If you live in Glendale, contact Cheryl Maranto. For Bayside, Fox Point and River Hills, contact the field organizer, Jack Ave. In Brown Deer, reach out to Nijeria Boone. And in Ozaukee County, get in touch with Bayley Connors.

In a sign that the Democratic Party is alive and well, both the Milwaukee County party office and the Ozaukee County party office are opening and are staffed. The Milwaukee County party office, at 2999 S. Delaware Ave, is open Monday - Friday from 1pm to 6pm. Biden yard signs are available there as of July 1 (tomorrow!). The Ozaukee office, located at 1930 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 030 (lower level), Grafton, is opening on July 7 and will be staffed on Tuesdays 4-6 p.m., Thursdays 1-3 p.m., and Saturdays 1-3 p.m. Volunteers will distribute signs and campaign literature and can help people register or sign up for absentee balloting. In both offices, everyone is expected to wear a mask.

The events list this week is sparser than usual, due I suppose to the 4th of July holiday. As a result, I want to end this part of the newsletter with a link to a thought-provoking article published in the New York Times on June 28, 2020. In it Charles Blow argues that we cannot excuse any slaveholders, including George Washington and other founding fathers, just because they were simply creatures of their times or were "kind" to their slaves. Blow strikes back at these justifications:

It's tough to reconsider our idealized myths about the founding of our country. But we live blinkered lives if we do not take this moment in history to confront our past and consider our future. Blow's piece is a good place to start.

You know an election cycle is in full swing when the first Grassroots North Shore endorsements appear. We have a whole page dedicated to endorsing the best candidates for statewide office in the North Shore of Milwaukee County and in Ozaukee County. And sure enough, we've made our first three endorsements:

• For the 8th State Senate District, Neal Plotkin
• For the 23rd Assembly District, Deb Andraca
• For the 24th Assembly District, Emily Siegrist

The endorsements page includes our reasoning and links to candidates' web and Facebook pages when they are available.

On our Candidate Statements page, you'll find statements of key candidate issues and links to their websites or Facebook pages for the Democrats running for the nomination for the 6th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Glenn Grothman. Grassroots North Shore typically does not endorse during a primary unless one candidate is clearly the only progressive in the race (see a recent race for sheriff in Milwaukee County!). Instead, we summarize their key issues, culled from their websites, and provide links to their campaigns so that it is easy for you to find information about who is running and what they emphasize about their candidacies. You'll find statements about the 6th Congressional candidates on our Candidate Statements page. And when they're available, we will also publish candidate statements for the 11th Assembly District.

We are all painfully aware of the gravity of the November 3, 2020 general election. However, the election in Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District is of maximum significance to the residents of that district and, quite possibly, to all Americans. August 11, 2020 is Primary Election Day. The voters of the 6th CD will choose a candidate to face the ignominious Glenn Grothman. The same Glenn

• who opposed MLK Day;
• who announced that women can buy birth control at the grocery store;
• who claims that because women do not care about money as much as men do, they earn less;
• who believes that only white left-wingers care about Kwanzaa;
• who voted to the right of 428 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives in the 116th US Congress;
• and who votes with Trump in 94% of the votes.

The good news is that three talented candidates are campaigning to send Glenn to his last Pancake Breakfast as Congressman of the 6th CD! So let's make sure every registered voter who leans toward the left gets out to vote on August 11.

Which brings me to a reminder to request an absentee ballot. Do it NOW to avoid the rush ahead of the August 11 primary. Remember, for the April 7 election, municipal clerks were overwhelmed with requests that came in close to the election. And the postal service also seems to have buckled under the rush in some places. But in case you were wondering, requesting an absentee ballot doesn't mean you can't vote in person, although it would be safer for you and kinder to poll workers if you did. Still, if conditions warrant, you can still vote in person. In many of our North Shore and Ozaukee communities, a municipal publication will include a paper form for making these requests. And the Wisconsin Election Commission intends to send a request form to every registered voter in the state, though probably not until after the primary election. So there will be plenty of reminders in addition to this one. If you need assistance with any part of the process, whether online (see our step-by-step guide) or on paper, you can contact your municipal clerk. You'll find contact information for them on our our Partisan Primary and General Elections page.

I also want to highlight the great work we have been doing while we're still all working from home. We just launched our voter purge project, to contact Democrats on the state's voter purge list to let them know and to help ensure that they are properly registered and can vote in August and November. Some 571 names are on the list in the North Shore, and volunteers are using a Virtual Phone Bank set up by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to reach out to all of them. We will also be participating in the DPW's Weekend of Action coming up on June 27 and 28 (please see the links to sign up for these phone banks in the Events list). And starting next week, we will be making phone calls to the 2160 women in Ozaukee County to whom we recently sent postcards, following up to urge them to vote — absentee if possible — in the vital primary for the 6th Congressional District. If you would like to participate in that activity, please sign up.