NCJW Advocacy Wrap-Up:

Friday, October 11, 2024

In this issue...

Have You Made a Plan to Vote? Invite Your Friends

Phone Bank for Abortion Rights in Missouri & Florida

Premiere Screening of Ratified 

Watch Screams Before Silence with Friends

Run for Their Lives: Sunday Belmont Shore

Have You Made a Plan to Vote?

Election Day is Tuesday, November 5

Whether you live in Los Angeles or Orange County, you should have received your ballot.  If you have not, click here to check your voter registration. In California, you can register online by Oct. 21. You can do same day registration at a Vote Center up to and including on election day.

You can track your ballot every step of the way with the Where’s My Ballot? tool – a free subscription that sends automatic notifications by text, email, or voicemail about the ballot status.

There are multiple easy return options available:

• Return by mail, no postage required – do it soon, you never know what may come up.
• Use one of 400+ Ballot Drop Box locations across Los Angeles County or the 100+ Ballot Drop Box locations in Orange County
• Beginning October 26, drop off at a local Vote Center in LA County or Orange County.

If you are returning your ballot by mail, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by your local election office no later than 7 days after Election Day. USPS recommends that voters mail their completed ballots at least one week before the due date. 

If you are returning your ballot in person or dropping it in a drop box, it must be delivered no later than the close of polls at 8 p.m. on Election Day. 

Anyone may return your ballot for you, as long as they do not get paid on a per ballot basis. For your ballot to be counted, you must fill out the authorization section found on the outside of your ballot envelope.

If an election office finds an issue with your mail ballot after you return it, you can correct the following issues after you return your ballot to your local election office:

• a missing signature
• a signature that does not compare to your signature(s) on record

This process is called ballot curing.

Your local election office will reach out to give you instructions if they find an issue with this information on your ballot. Methods of outreach may vary.

This election has a long ballot with many contests and candidates. Voters should review the instructions carefully and remember to sign and date the Return Envelope before submitting their ballot.

One More Thing

Reach out to three friends: Research shows the most effective way to motivate someone to vote is by hearing from someone they know. Can we count on you to help three friends make a plan to vote?

Phone Bank for Abortion Rights

in Missouri & Florida

Abortion is on the ballot and NCJW leaders in sections and states across the country are leading the fight!

NCJW HQ is excited to partner with Sections in Missouri and Florida to phone bank in support of their respective abortion ballot initiatives. Each phone bank has a unique registration link. Advocates from any state are invited to participate in any and all phone bank events.

• Tuesday October 15 – 4:30-6:30 pm PT: Phone Bank to Vote YES on 3 in MO
• Monday October 21 – 4-6 pm PT: Phone Bank to Vote YES on 4 in FL

Vote Forward 

As of today, NCJW advocates have written over 18,000 letters to voters! Let’s keep this energy up and hit 36,000 by election day. Write letters here.

Poll Workers Needed 

Poll workers are needed across the country. Encourage advocates to sign up as poll workers here. If you’d like a list specific to your state about where poll workers are needed most, please email me directly and I can send you that state-specific list. 

Premiere Screening of Ratified 

Monday, October 14, 6 to 9 pm 

Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles

You are invited to the premiere screening of RATIFIED on Monday, October 14, 2024, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles. This powerful documentary highlights the 100-year struggle for constitutional gender equality and tells the inspiring story of the bi-partisan, multi-racial, and multi-generational effort that led to Virginia becoming the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and the crucial role of Black women leaders in the fight for gender equality.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A panel co-hosted by the Commission and the Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University, featuring Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04); Commissioner Catalina Chacón; Vote Equality founder Kati Hornung; and moderated by the Commission’s Interim Executive Director, Darcy Totten.

This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from women involved in the fight to get Congress to publish the now fully ratified Equal Rights Amendment. Tickets are $10-$35.

Register here

Watch Screams Before Silence

with Friends, and Share

Thursday, October 24, 6:45 pm

at a member's home

Months after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, does the world know what really happened on that horrific day? Do you?

The film Screams Before Silence captures first-person testimony from survivors, first responders, eyewitnesses, released hostages, forensic experts, and advocates. Their harrowing accounts reveal the uncompromising truth that Hamas used rape, assault, and mutilation in a brutal rampage of gender-based violence. The world needs to know so that this brutality never happens again. We must bear witness.

Screams Before Silence is not an easy watch, but it is a necessary one. While the film contains graphic descriptions, it does not contain graphic images. 

“For the victims and eyewitnesses who survived, we must demand justice and hold their tormentors and rapists accountable for these crimes against humanity. And for those who did not survive, we must raise our voices, because they cannot.” — Sheryl Sandberg

Thank you for joining us in bearing witness along with your fellow NCJW friends. Please RSVP below no later than Oct. 22. For more info, contact programs@ncjwlongbeach.org.

Run for Their Lives:

Run/walk event calling for the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas 

Every Sunday, 10 am, Belmont Shore

Please join Long Beach/Orange County's weekly 18-minute walk/run to bring attention to the hostages and bring them home now. Many walk/runs take place weekly all over the world as nonpolitical and not promoting any ideology – the message is just to release the hostages and bring them home.  

The walk/run will be at 10 am at the start of the beach walk path at Alamitos Bay in Belmont Shore (where Bayshore meets Ocean). Please wear a red shirt. If you have a hostage poster, please bring it. Also, if you have flags from any of the countries that hostages are from, please bring them. 

Invite friends and family. This is a humanitarian issue so everyone is invited. One does not need to be Jewish. 

For more information, contact member Dr. Mark Dressner at cesto@aol.com.

The Advocacy Committee of NCJW GLB & WOC meets the fourth Tuesday of the month at 5 pm, currently on Zoom. 

Want to check us out or have questions?

Email advocacy@ncjwlongbeach.org

Questions about anything you have read or related to our Section’s advocacy? Email advocacy@ncjwlongbeach.org.