Week in Review 9/28/2017

We woke up the morning of Nov. 9, 2016 having elected Donald Trump as our nation's 45th President. There was deep shock then, and there is deep shock now. At that pivotal moment, our country changed in ways that we still struggle to understand.

Trump won because only 58 percent of eligible voters participated in the election; and he won because people thought he wouldn't win. Complacency  and apathy were the big enemy. According to the Pew Research group, the U.S. trails most developed countries in voter turnout.

More than 75,000 Obama voters in Detroit did not bother to vote for Hillary Clinton. They didn't vote for Trump either. These people simply stayed home. If even a fraction of these voters went to the polls, Michigan would have stayed blue and possibly changed the course of that fateful night.

Trump's presidency has been an assault on women, supported by an anti-women Congress. Elections have consequences. Yet 32.5 percent of unmarried women eligible to vote are not registered.

Today we pay the price for that disengagement. The rights we thought were secure - such as reproductive freedom - are in jeopardy. We are again fighting battles we thought we won because the officials who were elected are not on our side.
 
This week Trump chose to engage in spats with the NFL and its football players while the Senate tried to strip healthcare insurance from millions of people and eliminate insurance coverage for abortion services. Unfortunately, lost in this turmoil was Tuesday's National Voters Registration Day. Imagine how different this week would have been if everyone eligible to vote participated last November. 

Roy Moore won the Alabama GOP primary Tuesday night. Moore has said 
homosexuality should be against the law; evolution is fake; terror attacks are caused by "godlessness;" and Muslims shouldn't serve in Congress. 

Only 14 percent of those registered voted in Alabama's primary.

The Alt-right's Steve Bannon supported Moore and has promised to field candidates, like Moore, in races across the country. If these candidates win, they will impact your future from Washington, DC. Elections matter.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Support JAC.  We are working to elect candidates who share our values and dedicated to protecting our rights. Make a donation to JAC today.

Contact your county clerk to become a deputy voter registrar. Help register voters in your communities so in 2018 we will be ready to take back Congress. Remember: Every vote counts.

source: Forbes, Voter Participation Center, Pew Research Center