UPDATE: This meeting, the only one we’re having in January, will only be on Zoom, not also in person as previously announced. Don’t go to the library, instead look for an email a day or two pre-meeting providing the Zoom link.
Here are the agenda highlights:
Voter Protection
DPVA is eliminating its statewide Voter Protection Department, so we and other local committees need to meet and establish our own VoPro committees. Priority #1 is to recruit an army of volunteers to help voters who have Election Day problems, including any voters whose eligibility is challenged. These people need to be in place for this November’s election so we can use that experience to prepare for the November 2024 presidential election, where it could really matter! Kristin Clarens will brief us on the evolving voter protection strategy.
2023 Primaries
There will likely be primaries in June 2023 for City Council, House of Delegates, and State Senate elections. We’ll share what we know about the primaries at this meeting.
Update on Ranked Choice Voting (RCV)
Delegate Hudson told the Executive Committee last month that, due to electronic voting equipment limitations, City Council won’t have the ability to use RCV in a 6/2023 primary, but could authorize its use starting as soon as the 11/2023 general election. Sally asked the Executive Committee to consider having the Full Committee pass a resolution telling City Council whether we support or oppose an ordinance authorizing RCV for City Council elections.
Sally shared a document with some of her perspectives on RCV (please look it over before the meeting):
The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center continues to be harassed by Confederate-sympathizing plaintiffs suing it to try to further delay the Swords into Plowshares repurposing of the Lee statue into inclusive art (an already City Council-approved project). Please join us on Monday, January 9 at 3pm at Charlottesville Circuit Court, 315 E High St., to show our support for Dr. Andrea Douglas and the JSAAHC as she answers some questions in advance of the trial.
“Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed significant investments to begin to catch up after decades of underfunding critical mental health care programs. While I applaud the governor for his intentions, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind him and my colleagues in the General Assembly that these proposed investments should be viewed as the floor, not the ceiling. If our goal is to keep people out of crisis, then we have more work to do. The governor’s plan is a crisis-first response, closely resembling that of Arizona’s. The premise of the plan is centered around regional crisis centers with the idea that these centers would service individuals in need faster, get police officers out of emergency rooms, and take pressure off of ERs and hospitals — all policies that we can agree on and ultimately support. There’s no question that we need this response, but instead of having a “crisis-first mentality” we can do more to fix our broken system now.”