July 23, 2007
Voting Rights Gets Final Push in Senate
After next week, Washington's wheels will grind to a sudden month-long halt as members of Congress leave the city for their traditional August recess. Armed with that deadline, voting rights activists are making a last-minute push in the U.S. Senate.
When we last checked, legislation to grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives was ready to be debated on the floor of the Senate, though supporters of the bill admitted to having only 51 confirmed votes in its favor. Since then, more senators have jumped on-board, though the measure is still three votes short of the number needed to head off a filibuster. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has asked Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for a vote before August 3, and voting rights activists will know in the next few days if they have the votes to move forward or not.
Hoping to avoid pushing the debate over District voting rights into September, D.C. Vote is organizing a National Call-In Day for Voting Rights tomorrow. Anyone can call 1-866-346-3008 toll-free between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., where they will be offered some handy talking points and be patched through to their senators. Not having our own senator to pester, District residents will go straight to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The folks at D.C. Vote will also be holding a rally on Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in front of the Hart and Dirksen Senate Office Buildings.
And if none of this works, we're confident that Sen. Reid will organize another of those all-night debate-a-thons with cots, cold pizza and a cranky Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) making even less sense than he does during normal working hours.
Image snapped by BeyondDC
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Regardless of your views on voting rights, or this bill in particular, a mass call-in in perhaps the least effective, and most annoying, lobbying technique you could use. Having worked in a Congressional office for long enough to know what's what, I can tell you that after call 2 repeating the same talking points, all other calls will be ignored.
Got to agree with comment [1], which will go double for DC citizens calling Mitch McConnell.
It is a lot more effective to have out-of-town friends and relations call or email their own elected senators in favor of the DC House Voting Rights Act (S. 1257).
The DC Vote web site even has a “Tell a Friend” link you can send them with minimal strain.
dcvote[dot]org[slash]advocacy[slash]alerts[dot]cfm
Not going to happen in 2007 and how about the Bush veto which will be hard to over-ride?
This issue is like a bottle of Paul Mason; It's before its' time.