Great. There are two sheets, one on top of the other. So be sure to sign
both.
Thanks,
Eileen
On Sun, May 24, 2020 at 9:47 AM Sarah Bansen <sarah.bansen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
We’ll be by to sign!
Sarah
Sent from my iPhone
On May 23, 2020, at 10:46 PM, Eileen Ryan <eileenelizabethryan@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Eileen Ryan <eileenelizabethryan@xxxxxxxxx>
I am helping Ann Munson and Watertown Faces Climate Change collect
signatures for two ballot questions to get them on the ballot for this
November's election. The message below was written by Ann Munson.
Petitions will be on my porch, 48 Pearl Street, on the green bench for the
next couple of days. I will leave out a couple of pens, but best to bring
your own. Please sign each ballot question legibly and write in your
street address. All signatures on each sheet are for Watertown residents
only. Thanks. Eileen
Hi friends and fellow citizens of the 29th Middlesex,
I'm writing to ask you to do something for me, and well frankly for
yourselves. To cut to the chase would you come over to my porch at 48
Pearl Street and sign 2 petitions to put 2 different questions on the
ballot in November. (Note that you can also download your own forms
*double-sided per order of the Secy of State* at the website at bottom of
this email, get your family to sign and then return to my porch.)
One question is about climate and frankly a no brainer (see both
questions below). The other one, about the Mass State House of
Representatives, might take a bit of explaining.
In Massachusetts, important progressive legislation is blocked year after
year. Many
issues — like climate change, voting rights, protecting immigrants, LGBTQ
issues and reproductive
justice — enjoy strong popular support and Democratic legislative
supermajorities yet
nothing seems to happen.
Why? A major problem is that Massachusetts has one of the least
transparent state
governments in the country. Massachusetts is in the minority of states
that do not make
committee votes public. In most states, you can go to the website of the
legislature, and
look up how your elected representatives voted. Not here. Here a bill
can have a majority of sponsors, including committee members, but it won't
get voted out of committee and no one ever knows how their representatives
is voting. They can literally sponsor a bill and then not vote for it
behind closed doors.
In November, you will get a chance to vote on two questions, *IF* we are
able to qualify
for the ballot with a non-binding referendum:
To get both questions on the ballot in November, we need just 200 people
in to fill out a simple petition form. Here are the questions:
*Democracy Reform Ballot Question*•
*“Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in
favor of changesto the Legislature’s rules that would make the results of
all votes in Legislativecommittees publicly available on the Legislature’s
website?”*
*100% Renewable Ballot Question*•
“Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in
favor of
legislation that would require Massachusetts to achieve 100% renewable
energy
use within the next two decades, starting immediately and making
significant
progress within the first five years while protecting impacted workers and
businesses?”
If you would like to help in the effort to both qualify for the ballot,
and to get it passed in Middlesex 29th, you can also go to
https://maclimatedemocracy.org/vol/ for information.
This ballot initiative is sponsored by ActOnMass.org
<https://actonmass.org/info> and 350Mass.org
<https://350mass.betterfutureproject.org/>
Thanks for reading all the way to the end!!
