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Even one action per week makes a difference. Please share this with your friends.
Actions for the week of 4.7.2025
Actions for the week of 4.7.2025: League of Women Voters Oconee/Pickens (LWVOP) has a lot going on this week, so we will list the local action items first. State and National items are below.
These are just suggestions of actions you could take as an individual. If you are a League member, always remember to express your personal views, and not to speak on behalf of the League. Only League Presidents or designees can speak on behalf of the League.
Local-Level Actions
Action 1: Learn how to identify and track mis-and-disinformation at the Democracy Integrity Briefing.
Tuesday, April 8, 3:30 pm, online
LWVUS Democracy Integrity Briefings cover growing national and local trends in mis-and-disinformation. The briefing highlights pieces of disinformation that have made headlines and how best to track and address it. At the end of the briefing there is time for Q&A. Sessions occur at 3:30 PM ET on the second Tuesday of each month through June 2025. Learn more and register here.
Action 2: Get involved with your local community by attending public meetings.
Thursday, April 10: Oconee Board of Elections & Voter Registration, Regular Board Meeting at 415 South Pine St. Walhalla SC in Council Chambers at 10 am unless posted otherwise.
Monday, April 14: Oconee County School Board Meeting at the District Office at 6 pm. If you cannot attend, there is a livestream option. Also, you may find the 2025 agendas and minutes from past meetings here.
Check our calendar for more complete listings.
Action 3: Attend the LWVOP monthly program meeting “How to Run a Troll Farm: The Evolution of Disinformation”
Tuesday, April 15, 4 pm, Clemson United Methodist Church, 300 Frontage Rd, Clemson, SC.
This presentation will discuss the changing nature of how foreign states attempt to influence Western politics. Specific tactics countries like Russia and China use to manipulate social discourse, using real world examples, will be discussed.
We welcome back our favorite guest team, co-directors of the Watt Family Innovation Center Media Forensics Hub, Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren. Darren Linvill is a Clemson professor of communications. He has a B.A. and M.A. from Wake Forest University and a Ph.D. from Clemson University. His research explores social media disinformation and its influence on civil discourse (in and out of the classroom). Patrick Warren is a Clemson professor of economics, with an undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT. His research investigates the operation of organizations in the economy — for-profit and non-profit firms, bureaucracies, political parties, and even armies.
This discussion is timely and one you do not want to miss! This program is open to the public, so invite your friends.
Action 4: Help Wanted
We are updating the Oconee and Pickens County Directory of Public Officials. We need volunteers from both counties to proofread the text and make any corrections. Volunteers should be detail oriented and have working knowledge of Microsoft Word or the Apple equivalent. Please contact spurlock.pat [at] gmail.com (Pat Spurlock) or call 864-851-1992.
Action 5: Share the love!
We’d love to see your pictures, or share on Facebook #WomenDefendDemocracy. Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday for the Hands Off protests. We were pleased with the turnout! A special thanks to everyone who helped organize and an appreciation to the public safety folks. Watch a video of the Anderson event and the Seneca event.
State-Level Actions
Action 6: Call or write your SC Senators about House bill H.3309, Energy regulation. This bill is up for debate starting Tuesday, April 1.
House bill H. 3309 is now under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators should reject the provisions of this bill that will harm the public interest.
Ask your Senator to preserve the ability of the State to protect us from the power of monopolies, do not establish preferential treatment of utilities over citizens and citizen groups during regulatory processes, protect residential ratepayers; allow agencies to do their jobs in assessing individual projects, don’t reach their conclusions regarding individual projects for them, and require data centers to fully pay their own way.
As currently written H.3309 would:
- Bias the Public Service Commission (PSC) toward construction of a gas-fired plant at Canadys, before the appropriate data and arguments are considered by the PSC
- Alter the mission of the Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) to return to the demand that they consider the “financial integrity of utilities” in their representations before the PSC
- Gut important aspects of the regulatory protections put in place following the V. C. Summer debacle
- Damage ratepayers throughout South Carolina by allowing utilities to provide special negotiated rates to “transformative” and “qualifying” customers (including energy hog data centers) that would transfer the cost of providing their energy from those who will profit from the industry to residential and small business utility customers who will receive little or no benefit.
Further information is available in LWVSC testimony on H.3309, posted under Advocacy: Legislative: Environmental Policy.
Find your SC Legislators here.
Action 7: Call or write your State Senators about the Anti-DEI bill HB 3927.
This week we all witnessed an 82-32 vote in the SC House on HB 3927.
“To cap this moment: we are far beyond buzz words (or defining DEI) at this point. Remember the following: the 19th Amendment is DEI work; simply, women having the right to vote is DEI work. All citizens having access to free and fair elections is DEI work. People having the right to make medical decisions about their own bodies is DEI work. Equitable access to healthcare, housing, legal, and other resources is DEI work. I applaud you and our partners who act upon and embody the league’s mission in doing the work to keep our democracy intact, fighting for basic human rights, and keeping the current administration and its sympathizers’ HANDS-OFF our Democracy, Our Bodies, Our Health Care, and rights.”
Courtesy of Hannah Parker, Board member LWVSC and LWV Florence.
Find your SC Legislators here.
Action 8: Call or write your Legislators and members of Congress about threats to Medicaid nationwide and in SC.
Federal budget proposals threaten major cuts to Medicaid, which would severely affect SC's ability to serve children, the disabled and the elderly, unless the General Assembly used state funds to offset federal cuts. These potential cuts would also gut our ability to pass Medicaid Expansion. Learn what we can do to educate our state legislators on these budget issues that could devastate our ability to serve the most vulnerable.
In late February, the US House of Representatives passed and the Senate is now considering a budget resolution to cut $880 billion, mostly from the Medicaid insurance program over the next 10 years – “pay-fors” to fund tax reductions that mainly benefit the well-to-do and corporations. These cuts are massive – equal to 29% of all state funding for Medicaid across the country. While the detailed proposals matter on the impact for each state, cuts of this level would reduce South Carolinians’ access to healthcare and severely limit our ability to close the insurance coverage gap in the future. Four approaches to cuts have been discussed:
The Honorable Lindsey Graham (Dear Senator Graham)
290 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5972
The Honorable Tim Scott (Dear Senator Scott)
104 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
202-224-6121
The Honorable Sheri Biggs (Dear Representative Biggs)
1530 Longworth Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5301 (DC), 864-224-7401 (Anderson).
Other counties, find your U.S. Representative’s name and contact information here.
National Level Actions
Action 9: CALL or WRITE your members of Congress about the Constitutional Crisis.
It has been almost two months since President Trump took the oath of office. In that time, he’s issued 89 executive orders and numerous executive memos and proclamations that roll back the rights of Americans and violate the constitutional authority of Congress. The Administration has ignored constitutional protections and laws passed by Congress by seeking to end birthright citizenship, dismantling federal agencies, and freezing federal funding.
Checks, balances, and the rule of law are necessary to ensure our democracy continues, yet Congress has taken no action to stop this illegal power grab. It is time for Congress to act. Please ask your Senators and Representatives to stand up for our democracy.
A constitutional crisis is unfolding, and at the League, we believe that Congress’ inaction signals its approval of the violation of laws and the Constitution, as well as the Administration's seizure of congressional power. Congress’ power to act is clear. Article I of the Constitution grants Congress all legislative powers and the authority to approve spending in the federal budget.
A failure to act means that Congress is enabling the actions of the executive branch, threatening the rule of law and our Constitution. Every day, congressional inaction jeopardizes our system of checks and balances, our liberties as Americans, and our democracy in its entirety.
It is time for Congress to stand up for the constitution and their constituents. It is time for Congress to resist this power grab and stand in the power that the US Constitution gives them. Contact your members of Congress and ask them to stand up for our democracy.
Source: LWV CEO Celina Stewart, 2/28/25
The Honorable Lindsey Graham (Dear Senator Graham)
290 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5972
The Honorable Tim Scott (Dear Senator Scott)
104 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
202-224-6121
The Honorable Sheri Biggs (Dear Representative Biggs)
1530 Longworth Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5301 (DC), 864-224-7401 (Anderson).
Other counties, find your U.S. Representative’s name and contact information here.
Action 10: CALL your U.S. Representative about the SAVE Act (voter suppression).
LWVUS anticipates that the US House will soon vote on this harmful voter suppression legislation. Keep using your voice to pressure representatives to vote against this bill!
The House and Senate introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require citizenship documentation to register to vote even though voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering.
It is already illegal for noncitizens to register and vote in federal or state elections. The bill’s requirement of a document to prove American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections is unnecessary and seeks to divide us. It also creates another barrier to voting.
Americans do not need MORE obstacles to vote. The SAVE Act would create one more barrier to the voting process, as many eligible voters do not have easy access to the necessary documents. Compared to white US citizens, citizens of color are three times more likely to lack documents such as birth certificates, passports, naturalization certificates, or certificates of citizenship or face difficulties accessing them. For example, while approximately half of all American adults possess a passport, two-thirds of Black Americans do not.
Americans who have changed their name — like married women and members of the trans community — would also be required to secure updated documentation to register to vote. Surveys show that eight in ten married women have changed their surname, meaning they do not possess a birth certificate that matches their current legal name and, therefore, could not present it as valid proof of citizenship. There are an estimated 69 million American women who lack the paperwork that reflects their current name.
Contact Congress today! Information for your members of Congress is above.
Action 11: Join the League (if you are not already a member!)
Help support the League in their mission of educating and informing voters.
Action 12: Sign up for the mailing list.
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We would love to hear from you about this initiative. Feel free to forward this email to others who wish to find ways to participate. Whether it’s how this made you feel, results you saw, or suggestions for future topics, please let cherie.walker.lwv [at] gmail.com (Cherie Walker) know.
