Response to Coronavirus Pandemic
It is after much deliberation and with a heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of the March to End Corruption, due to COVID-19. Additionally, the nonviolent direct actions as planned for May 4, are POSTPONED until further notice. We are continuing to monitor the situation and to strategize the best tactics to push our bills through creative and nonviolent means.
We cannot express our gratitude and pride in all of our amazing volunteers across the state, particularly our York team, who put in so much work to make this year’s march a reality.
The march is a moving community, a moving family, a moving school - and every year it brings unmatched joy to connect activists in such an intimate way, learning from each other while walking long miles across Pennsylvania. We will miss the time spent with friends.
However, changing tactics does not mean giving up. It means responding to the immediate needs of our communities while continuing to keep the bigger picture in mind: creating a government that represents and works for OUR needs, not the needs of corporations.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Because the Legislature will not be meeting regularly for the time being, , we will still be lobbying (via phone conferences) for HB 1945, Gift Ban. All upcoming ‘Community-Powered Lobbying Days’ in the Capitol are canceled until further notice.
In light of the upcoming presidential primary in the midst of this crisis, we will also be lobbying for Representative Boyle’s legislation, HB 2637, that would mail a mail-in ballot application to every registered Pennsylvania voter.
Resources that would be spent towards the March to End Corruption will be redirected toward ensuring that every Pennsylvanian has received and completed their mail-in ballots.
In addition to advocating for this legislation and educating voters on how to request their mail-in ballot, we will be shifting to ‘projects of survival,’ working with communities and mutual-aid groups across Pennsylvania to do our part to make sure that folks’ basic human rights are met. Particularly, we will be working on grocery and food delivery.
Who knew just how valuable passing mail-in ballots would be?
In times like these, it is important to remember that the current terror ripping through poor and working-class communities around finding housing or making rent, putting food on the table, finding access to clean water, does not have to be this way. We have the resources to end poverty and end those struggles.
In the meantime, please continue to call your representatives to ask them to co-sponser to #HB2367. Through this emergency electoral reform, we can reduce transmission risks and ensure voter enfranchisement in our upcoming elections:
If have not done so already, please request your mail-in ballot here.