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Take Action Tuesday,
5 Calls
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Greetings!
Greetings, everyone.
Just a quick note with a big shout out to Kathy and Richard Greathouse for doing their homework by visiting Larry's Music and Sound store to get what Kathy needed to submit and receive the Grow Grant from Indivisible National. We now have the funds to purchase our own sound system. I also want to thank Scott DeMattos and Michael Collins for providing sound in the past during our biggest rallies.
Friends, the next few weeks are going to be crucial leading up to the midterms. Please review the opportunities for training to be part of our Election Defense Corps and consider attending the training on September 22nd as well as doing the online training offered by DemocracyNC.
Thanks for all you are doing and a special thanks to our Rally and Legislative Committee! In the words of civil rights legend Joyce Hobson Johnson, "Walk together children, and don't you get weary. I want you to know today that there's hope on the other side" (adapted from the Black spiritual song Walk Together Children).
Blessings to all,
Deb
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ICCV Monthly Meeting Canceled
WE ARE ATTENDING A TRAINING!
When: Sept 22 @ 6:00-7:30 PM
Where: Ridgeview Branch Library, 706 1st St. SW, Hickory, NC 28602
Are you ready for the 2026 elections? Do you have questions about voting, the issues on the ballot, or how you can help protect voters in our community?
Join ICCV, Common Cause NC and both local branches of the NAACP for the Ready to Vote 2026 Training Series, hosted by Common Cause North Carolina! This training is what you need to get ready.
This 90-minute training will provide valuable election resources, help you connect the ballot to community concerns, and show you how to get involved in protecting voters in our community. This training is a must for those of us who will be on the Election Defense Corps, during early voting.
Whether you're an experienced organizer or new to community involvement, there's a place for you! Let's work together to keep our community informed and empowered.
Want to know more about the duties of the Election Defense Corp and this training? Visit our webpage.
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The League of Women Voters of Catawba Valley cordially invites ICCV members and friends to attend the Catawba County Board of Commissioners Forum to be held Oct. 1, at the Catawba County Library in Newton, from 6:00-7:30 PM.
The time for submitting questions has passed.
ICCV has three members running for County Commissioner: Aubrey Gregory, Jesse Alden, and Phyllis Michaux. Let's come out and support them. Others on the ballot include Sherry Butler, Cole Setzer, and Jay Moore. All have been invited and will attend.
The Forum will also be livestreamed at https://lwvcv.org and on the League's Facebook Page
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The League of Women Voters of Catawba Valley cordially invites ICCV members and friends to attend the Catawba County School Board Forum to be held Oct. 8, at the Catawba County Library in Newton, from 6:00-7:30 PM.
Submit your questions for the candidates from now until September 25, at this link.
ICCV has two members running for Catawba County School Board: Kevin Hawley and Khristy Womack Smith. Let's come out and support these candidates. Others on the ballot are: Matthew Fox, Greg Whitener, Don Sigmon, and Tim Settlemyre. All have been invited.
The Forum will also be livestreamed at https://lwvcv.org and on the League's Facebook Page
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Todos Somos America
When: Saturday, Sept. 26
Time: 3:00 to 8:00 PM
Where: Downtown Newton, NC
We’d like to have a huge presence at Todos Somos America for the entire festival to ensure our Latino friends and neighbors feel safe to celebrate. So please wear your ICCV shirt and come out to show your support.
"It can be an amazing time of healing in our Latino community and those standing with them, like all of you. It would be an amazing time for us to show up in numbers and support Centro Latino and the incredible work they do and the pain they have endured," said Devin Murphy. "This is a joyous event with amazing food, dancing, and history. Your presence would be deeply appreciated."
Volunteer for a shift here. You will just need to wear your Indivisible shirt and walk around the perimeter.
Let’s do all we can to show up for and support this wonderful event!
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There will be a forum for the candidates running for all NC House and NC Senate offices.
In our area, that will be Spider Thompson (D) running against the incumbent, Michell Setzer (R) in NC House 89.
Park Inglefield (D) is challenging Jay Adams (R) in NC House 96.
Greg Cranford (D) is challenging Mark Hollo (R) for NC Senate 45.
All the Democratic candidates have confirmed they will attend. The Republicans have not responded at the time of publication.
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We Were at Catawba Pride!
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Visit Our WebPage
If you have not had an opportunity to visit the Indivisible Citizens of Catawba Valley webpage, go on over there now and be amazed.
Our webmaster and marketing chair, Jeffrey Katz, has put up all manner of information that you can use to find out what is going on and what we have done already to protect democracy.
The homepage is chock full of photos and videos of events and protests we have organized and attended. You can even find a few videos of the speeches.
There are archives for ALL the Take Action Tuesday posts and all the newsletters.
The About Us page will make you proud to be a part of this movement, and movement it is. Don't be surprised if tears spring to your eyes by the time you finish reading it.
Finally, there are pages to Join Us, Contact Us, Find Us on social media, and of course, to Donate. There are also links to a calendar of events both within ICCV and in local government.
Visit today. It will make you proud.
www.indivisibleccv.org
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The Task before Us
by Doug Michael
If you were asked to name the most meaningful or inspiring or important words from our country’s founding documents, the chances are good that you would reference the Declaration of Independence and say, “all men are created equal.” Or, you might quote from the same sentence, about our “unalienable Rights….Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” But as closely as we hold those words, they are aspirational, and contingent. Jefferson knew this, because in the very next sentence, he stated that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Of course, the primary manner in which we give consent to our leaders is by voting. But while many of us have never had our right to vote questioned, we are deeply indebted to our forebears who struggled in the Women’s Suffrage and Civil Rights movements. Universal suffrage has not come easily.
And so, it stands as one of the greatest and most terrible paradoxes of our supposedly enlightened time that many of the very people who seek our votes, and spend millions of dollars doing so, are leaving no stone unturned in order to take away our vote and mute our voice. And this is done– in the name of “election integrity”– by twisting the English language beyond recognition and subverting the plain meaning of our laws. We’ve seen many of the strategies already. Votes are challenged, alternate lists of electors are put forth, non-decadal redistricting/gerrymandering wars play out, voter rolls are purged, restrictive voting rules are approved, polling places are closed, and the Supreme Court terminates enforcement mechanisms of the Voting Rights Act.
This week the Executive Orders relating to mail-in voting were declared illegal, but we cannot rest. Candidates and Administration members continue to threaten state and local election officials and offer support for armed federal agents at the polls. As in 2020, losing candidates will claim “fraud” and initiate meritless legal action. And recently, J. Michael Luttig, a conservative jurist, suggested that the President and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson could conspire to prevent, or at least delay, newly elected Democratic representatives from being seated in the next Congress, an act that would provoke a constitutional crisis. (1) (For more details on this issue, please look for this week's Take Action Tuesday dated 9/22/26).
We may call those who wish to govern us without our consent “illegitimate,” but they are powerful. We have a president who provoked the events of January 6, and election deniers abound in the Republican Party. A blue wave in 2026 will not end the threats to our democracy. So, we must prepare ourselves to continue the struggle as well.
At Gettysburg in 1863, during another time of crisis, Abraham Lincoln called upon our forefathers to dedicate themselves “to the great task remaining before us,” that we might experience “a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
We are not alone. We have inspiration from the past, we have each other, and we have justice on our side. And that is a very good thing.
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(1) Luttig, Michael. “The Final Battle for America’s Democracy.” The New Republic, 10 Sept. 2026, https://newrepublic.com/article/215198/2027-new-congress-final-battle-american-democracy. Accessed 18 Sept. 2026.
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Check your email, the webpage, or the private Facebook page for the latest Take Action Tuesday. If you are not receiving emails, please click this link to get on the list. The last several have focused on the war in Iran and on voting rights and NC Board of Elections actions. They include research to help you get up to speed on the facts., but doing research only works if we actually call the legislators and policy makers that can effect change. There is a script and specific action items. Please take a few minutes of your day to do this important work of saving our democracy.
Don't forget to refer back to previous TATs for relevant research when calling. They are on the website and the private FB page if you misplace your copy. Click below to access them.
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Calling our representatives can be a daunting task, but 5 Calls makes it easy by providing the numbers and a script. The Legislative Team often uses these scripts when creating the TATs.
Calling works, and you can leave a voicemail in most cases. They even have an app you can download. Make your calls today.
By the way, you can also use 5 Calls to talk about any concern, even those without a script. Get the numbers of your representatives here.
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Another way you can take action is through emails and petitions. The ACLU has a number of "Message Actions" in which you complete your details to send an email to your representatives on various issues. There are also petitions to sign.
The ACLU is also leading Know Your Rights trainings across the United States. Some of the trainings are on YouTube.
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The National Indivisible organization has weekly Zoom meetings called What's the Plan? If you cannot attend these live, you can watch on YouTube at noon on Friday after they air on Zoom on Thursdays at 3:00 PM.
They also offer trainings and informational events, and they partner with other groups like SiembraNC, MoveOn, Red Wine and Blue, 50501, the ACLU, Repairers of the Breach, Choose Democracy, and others.
Click the links above to go to the organization's main or EVENT page where you can sign up for specific events and updates. Voting rights trainings and ICE Watch trainings are some examples of offerings you might find interesting. Click the button below to see a calendar of local meetings in Catawba County. Indivisible members are encouraged to attend when possible.
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