In June, AMAC Action engaged the AMAC membership in North Carolina by asking them to contact key members of the state legislature to compel them to put vital election integrity measures back into an Omnibus bill. Apparently, some squishy Republicans in the North Carolina Senate had capitulated to outside pressure from those opposing free and fair elections and removed provisions that diluted the bill’s ability to fully improve the integrity of the state’s elections.
After AMAC members applied some pressure of their own by making over 22,000 contacts with lawmakers along with other groups, the provisions were put back into the bill and it was passed and sent to Governor Roy Cooper for his signature. The Democrat Governor promptly vetoed the bill, but the legislature recently rose and overrode his veto. This means that the bill which contains such provisions as new poll observer protections, stipulating that mail-in ballots must be received by the end of voting on election day, and making it illegal to ballot harvest using privately generated postal bar codes on ballot request forms, is now the law of the land. Thank you, AMAC North Carolina members, for standing up for election integrity in the Tar Heel State!
A curious series of events recently took place in California. In August, AMAC Action asked members there to contact their state assembly representative to oppose a bill, SB 596, that could arbitrarily criminalize parents and grandparents, who speak out against the immoral and unethical leftist and liberal indoctrination forced upon the school children of California. The bill’s premise was to “protect” school officials from “threatening” and “uncivil” behavior even though California already has enacted laws for this very purpose.
Our call-to-action campaign messaging focused on how this measure violates the freedom of speech rights for parents and grandparents by punishing them for speaking out in public forums. Our messages emphasized how First Amendment rights need to be protected and respected. Over 2,500 of these messages were sent by AMAC members to all 80 members of the California state assembly, which ultimately passed the bill that was sent to the Governor to be signed into law.
Here’s where things get interesting. Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill on October 8 specifically citing the need for “more grace, more respectful conversations, and more protection of constitutional rights for all people, especially for those with whom we disagree.” It’s not a stretch to consider that our campaign’s messaging, after touching all assembly representatives, made its way from the state assembly chamber to Governor Newsom and potentially influenced the language he used in his unexpected veto statement.
The California legislature adjourned their latest session on September 15 and is scheduled to reconvene in January of 2024. AMAC Action will continue to monitor potential threats to parental rights in the Golden State by this body when it meets again next year.
