UU the Vote Quick Links:
What is UU the Vote?!
Carol and Barb (founders of SFUU the Vote) at the Big Send collection point, October 16, 2020 (Roke Whitson in background)
UU the Vote is a non-partisan faith initiative to engage our neighbors, educate our communities, mobilize voters, and rally around key ballot initiatives; it was born out of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s work for justice and inclusion. Congregations around the country partner with local organizations to promote candidates and polices that are aligned with our core values. At SFUU, your UU the Vote team began work prior to the 2020 election and continues to offer opportunities to those of you interested in working to make a difference.
School Board: Parent Notification
At the PUHSD Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday 1/16, Superintendent Jeff Tooker stated that, at the request of trustee Spaid, “parent notification” would be a discussion item at the February meeting (Tuesday, Feb 20 at 5:30 pm). As you may know, “parent notification” is the sanitized term for “trans outing.” These policies (already passed by Roseville and Rocklin school boards) would require school personnel to notify parents within 48 hours if a student asks to be identified by a gender other than the one assigned them at birth. As local PFLAG board member puts it, “outing someone before they are ready or feel it is safe to come out can cause irreparable harm. In fact, parents are often the last people an LGBTQ+ youth or adult will come out to, often with good reason: parents are the people whose love and support, or withdrawal thereof, is the most important, and therefore carries the highest risk.” Read about this in Parent Magazine.
Parent notification runs counter to SFUU’s commitment as a Welcoming Congregation to undoing homophobia and transphobia. You can get ahead of this issue emailing our trustees before Feb 20 to let them know that we oppose any “parent notification” / “trans outing” policy. Let them know that there is a large community of people who support their Board, but want to keep politics out of our schools.
To make this easy, write one email, address it to all board members and cc Dr. Tooker. Hit send and done!
Here are some tips:
Identify yourself as a parent, student, alumni or resident of the high school district.
Choose 1 or 2 talking points – your email can be brief. Here are some ideas:
Parents are united in wanting schools to be a safe place for their kids, and to have their kids prepared for college and career. “Parent Notification” is a highly partisan, political policy that is a huge distraction from the critical work of the board in creating and supporting a strong educational environment for students.
Parent notification/trans outing policies cause harm by creating an unwelcome and unsafe environment for LBGTQ+ students
The attorney general of CA has put school districts on notice that these policies are unlawful
Schools and students are just getting back to normal after the hardship of covid years. Students have achievement and learning gaps and the board needs to focus on helping students achieve rather than introducing divisive policies t hat have nothing to do with students’ education.
Thank the board for their responsible and faithful stewardship of our students’ education.
Here are the email addresses you need:
Debbie Brannam (board president) dbrannam@puhsd.k12.ca.us
Casey Jeffreys cjeffreys@puhsd.k12.ca.us
David Underwood dunderwood@puhsd.k12.ca.us
Ron Oates roates@puhsd.k12.ca.us
Jessica Spaid jspaid@puhsd.k12.ca.us
Superintendent Dr. Jeff Tooker datkins@puhsd.k12.ca.us
From Left to Right: David Underwood, Casey Jeffreys, Jessica Spaid, Dr. Jeffrey Tooker (Superintendent), Deborah Brannam, and Ron Oates
Candidate Forum
Do you wonder about the positions advocated by the candidates for the Placer County Board of Supervisors? The League of Women Voters (LWV) is hosting a candidate forum where you will have a chance to meet the candidates, hear their opinions, and ask questions about the issues that matter to you. Be an informed voter and attend this forum!
When: Thursday February 1, 5:30pm (doors open at 5 pm)
Where: Maidu Community Center located at 1550 Maidu Dr., Roseville, meeting room 1
For more information about the candidates, try these links:
Two Incumbent Supervisors Vie for District 5 Seat (Sierra Sun, Jan. 21, 2024)
Placer County Supervisor races take shape as candidate filing for March primary closes (Gold Country Media, Dec. 12, 2023)
Vote411 (non-partisan site run by the LWV) - put in your address to get ballot information; scroll down to get the Board of Supervisors
SFUU the Vote - 2024
Are you feeling like you want to do something to influence the outcome of the 2024 election so that the values that we hold dear are represented in our government? If so, come to a planning meeting right after church on Sunday February 25th to learn about activities (both small and large) that that you could do to make an impact. Do you already have ideas percolating in your head - let’s brainstorm so that we can do our part in 2024!
When: Sunday, February 25; 11:10 am
Where: SFUU sanctuary
Come to church that Sunday (the social justice team will be speaking about how social justice can nourish the spirit) - grab a snack in the Social Hall after the service, and then meet back in the Sanctuary to brainstorm! We need your input!
An End of the Year Reflection on Hope
“When I hope for something, I have to work to make it so.” - Joan Lacktis
During the December 31, 2023 Sunday Service, Joan Lacktis offered a moving reflection on the loss of the optimism of her youth and moving into hope for the future. In the words of Barack Obama: “Hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it. Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.”
Joan Lacktis’ December 31, 2023 reflection on hope.
Get-Out-The-Vote letter-writing at SFUU Block Party
Participants engaged in writing GOTV letters in the SFUU Social justice area at the Oct 8, 2022 SFUU block party.
For the last two years running, SFUU has partnered with Indivisible Auburn to write Get-Out-the-Vote letters during our block parties (October 2022 and October 2023). In 2023, letters were written to Virginia where all 140 seats in the General Assembly were up for grabs due to newly drawn congressional district maps. Control of the House of Delegates and State Senate in Virginia impacted voting on policies related to our values, such as women’s rights.
Thank you for writing Get-Out-The-Vote Letters for the 2022 Midterm Elections!
4500 letters!
We collected and mailed 4500 Get Out The Vote letters written by SFUU members and our partners (Auburn Indivisible, Auburn Democrats, St Luke’s Episcopal Church and Placer Earth care Action). Thank you to all who participated! To learn more about how to join a Vote Forward letter-writing campaign, scroll down.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
Letter collection on October 29, 2022.
Congrats to Our 2020 UUtheVote Rock Stars!
Thirty SFUU members participated in our SFUU the Vote get-out-the-vote letter writing campaign through Vote Forward. Combined we wrote a total of 7,779 letters to add to the 17 million wrote nationwide in the Big Send. Hopefully our efforts will make a difference for UU-endorsed issues such as democracy, immigrant-rights, equity, human and civil rights, anti-racism, and environmental sustainability. During our October meeting we gave a shout out to some of our ‘rock stars‘: Roke Whitson for getting us started on this path and being our go-to person as we moved forward, Mary and Tom Piette who wrote a combined 2,505 letters and inspired many of us to get involved and up our game, and Kia Hatch who wrote 625 letters, each of which were a decorated marvel.
Vote Forward Information
Vote forward is a non-profit organization involved in encouraging registered voters, who are likely to vote for progressive issues that speak to our values, to vote. Their mission is to increase civic participation of traditionally under-represented groups.
The lists of voters come from state election authorities and are narrowed down using demographics to groups such as racial minorities that have been historically under-represented in the electorate. We are focus on voters swing states, because these are be places were even a small uptick in progressive voter turn out can make a difference.
Every letter uses non-partisan language and simply asks the voter to vote in the upcoming election. What you add to the letter is your own reasons for voting. You are asked to handwrite this information (and handwrite the address on the envelope) in the hopes that recipients would be more likely to open and read such a letter.
The process is simple, all it requires is prior registration with Vote Forward (to get the letters and addresses), a printer, and an idea of why you vote. The complete procedure it given below.
As you write your letters, be sure to record how many you wrote in our spread sheet by clicking the button below:
PROCEDURE
To start, go to: https://votefwd.org/uu.
SIGN UP or LOG IN
If you are NOT registered, then create an account as directed. The site uses a short vetting process before you begin. Once your account is approved, you will get an email, then you are ready to go!
If you are already registered, then click on “Already signed up? Log into your account” (just below the red sign up button).
ADOPT VOTERS
Once you are logged in, select “Dashboard” from the button bar on the upper right side of the web page. Your active campaign should show up here, if not, then you can select “View All Active Campaigns” to see what else is available. Once you choose a campaign, it automatically will be placed on your dashboard.
Once in your dashboard, you can begin adopting - you can choose as few as 5 at a time - once you adopt them, they will not be assigned to anyone else, so be sure to follow through!
DOWNLOAD & PRINT
After you click the Adopt button, your ‘adoptees’ will appear in the lower part of your dashboard (scroll down if necessary).
Click on "Download and print these letters” it will take a moment to get your batch of letters ready, you can either print them directly, or save them as pdfs to print later.
Each batch comes with a cover letter with specific instructions, including a check off list of the voters and their addresses (the voter name and address is also given at the bottom of each individual letter).
PERSONALIZE THE LETTER
Hand write the following:
recipients first name
why you vote*
your signature (first name)
*If unsure of what to write, then click here for some suggestions.
ADDRESS, STAMP, SEAL
Hand write your return address on each envelope as follows:
First Name Last initial (eg: Barb M.)
Vote Forward
Hand write the recipients name and address then fold and stuff the letter.
Seal each letter and stamp it. Do not mail yet! Vote Forward wants it to arrive just in time to nudge the voter to participate in the election. If you check the cover letter it will tell you when to mail your letters.
MARK “PREPARED“
Go back to your dashboard and click on the “Prepare? >” button so that Vote Forward knows that you have prepared the letters and they are ready to go.
SET ASIDE UNTIL THE SEND DATE
The ‘please vote’ letters need to be sent 7 days before the election - the send date is given on the instruction sheet that comes with each batch of letters that you adopt.
SENT!
Once you mail your letters, go back to your dashboard and mark each letter sent! Thank you so much for working for our democracy by encouraging voting.