Vote YES for Gillum & Amendment 4!
NWL supports the election of Andrew Gillum for Florida Governor and the passage of proposed Amendment 4, the Voting Restoration Amendment, also known as “Second Chances” in the upcoming election.
Florida voters have a huge impact on the nation, the stakes are high! We all have a chance to make feminist and social justice history!
If you are excited to fight for Andrew Gillum for Governor and Amendment 4, we encourage you to canvass with the Gillum Campaign, and join us in phonebanking NWL members and organizers to encourage them to vote. If you're interested in phonebanking, or canvassing with an NWL group any weekend, contact us via email at nwl@womensliberation.org.
Second Chances (Amendment 4) would restore the right to vote to more than 10% of Florida residents — more than 1.4 million Floridians of all races. Currently, Florida is one of only three states in the country to take away a person's right to vote permanently when they are convicted of a felony.
Passing Amendment 4 would change this. It would be a win for the feminist movement because we need more democracy in our voting system to hold onto and win more feminist gains. It would mean that our representatives would feel beholden to us all. It would mean winning some justice by ending a system started in the 1860s, a Jim Crow-era Florida law which restricted the voting rights of the recently freed African American population. And it would mean that Floridians will have a better chance of reversing the right-wing shift that resulted in Florida voting for Donald Trump in 2016.
Andrew Gillum would be a progressive leader in the governor’s office. He is a feminist, anti-racist, pro-immigrant, pro-public education, pro-labor union, and is concerned about protecting Florida’s environment. He will fight to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to 800,000 more Floridians. If Medicaid expansion were passed, Floridian individuals making up to $16,753 a year would qualify for free healthcare. And Florida would finally join 33 other states plus the District of Columbia that already have the ACA Medicaid expansion.
For too long the governor’s office has been used to block women’s reproductive freedom, push anti-worker policies and the privatization of education. With Andrew Gillum as governor, social justice movements have a better chance at fighting back against unlivable wages, out of control and out of reach healthcare costs, and the status quo of more guns and more prisons.
In NWL, we are also moved to support Gillum because of his commitment to fighting racism and because of the Dream Defenders’ early endorsement of him. Gillum supported the Dream Defenders' month long sit-in at Gov. Rick Scott’s office, and is currently pushing forward the Trayvon Martin Act. And when the neo-Nazis came to the University of Florida campus in 2017, Chris King, Gillum’s pick for Lt. Governor, protested with NWL and students, when many people in power were urging residents to stay home. (Read the Dream Defenders’ sharp, beautiful endorsement of Gillum here.)
NWL national organizers did consciousness-raising on how their lives would change by winning these campaigns:
“Amendment Four affects my life because I have disenfranchised family members who would be able to vote if it passes. It would make a huge difference to how I feel about voting and the state of democracy. The numbers of disenfranchised, and the transparent reasons behind keeping people from voting, infuriate me.”
“Our organizing now can help elect as governor someone who will fight for state workers. I was a Florida state worker for 10 years. My last workplace was kind of wrapped in the dread of when would we be privatized like almost all the other Florida public psychiatric healthcare facilities before us. Gov. Scott hired GEO Care to run them — a PRISON corporation. I also watched while most of the healthcare workers' jobs in the state prison system were privatized. Gillum's campaign is prioritizing strengthening the state workforce by increasing teacher start salaries to $50k. This is a first step for rebuilding the state workforce that Gov. Scott has openly opposed and slashed during his administration. A public workforce is crucial to providing services for people, rather than for profit.”
“Gillum would expand Medicaid via the Affordable Care Act funds, which would help one of my little brothers, and be a huge stress relief to me. He would increase the wages of teachers and budget for early childhood education programs, which impacts me as a parent. And he says that he's committed to protecting the environment in Florida if the EPA won't, which means that Florida can remain habitable. By working on the Gillum campaign I'll also have the opportunity to talk to voters about Second Chances. Over 10% of our residents are disenfranchised by a felony conviction. Winning Second Chances could transform the makeup of Florida's voters.”
“Gillum organized a sit-in for affirmative action in 2000 when he was a FAMU student. I went to that march and know how Gov. Jeb Bush, then Gov. Scott, dismantled gains of the civil rights and feminist movements. We need progressive movement fighters at all levels, but to see two up top willing to speak up for the kind of things we need in this state is so refreshing. My life would materially be better if we had progressive leadership in the governor’s office. At my job in the labor union world, we sit across from boards appointed by the Governor who do not even care about the students they are supposed to serve, let alone paid family leave, fair disciplinary procedures, discrimination or fair wages. As an NWL leader, I will work very hard for Gillum and King because I actually believe in their platform and the things that they say resonate with me as a working person. We must do all we can!”