Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with Me your Girl, Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, I'm very excited for you to hear this episode coming up because we have had the good, good pleasure of speaking with Chris Melody Fields Figurio at BALLID Initiative Strategy
Center on a number of occasions. Right, and this time this conversation takes place with roughly, as she says, for tuesdays to go until the election is over, right, because I think that we need a really important reframing around election day. They are already more than half of the states in this country have begun voting in this election, and so November fifth is not the first day, but
the last day to vote. And Chris walks us through the different ways that the Republican Party is using lies and distortion and gas lighting in order to confuse voters with a number of ballot initiatives that they are running in states like Nebraska and Colorado and Arizona where you have really important issues that are on the ballot, whether that be an abortion ban, whether that is defunding of public schools, as what is on the ballot in Colorado,
whether it is lowering wages for workers as it is in Arizona. Republicans know that they can't win. They can't win on their policies because their policies are unpopular, and rather than address the needs of the American people, they choose instead to force feed the public, whether they want it or notitiatives and doing so under the cloak of
darkness or the cloak of lies. And you know, it is the work that Chris is doing at Ballot Initiative Strategy Center to ensure that people know what they're voting for and understand what their yes and no vote actually means to their future, to their day to day lives.
And you know, if you can imagine, there are close to one hundred and fifty ballot measures that people will be voting on in roughly forty one states across this country, as well as the presidential But the only thing that we're focusing on is that top of the ticket, But on people's ballots after you're checking down those boxes, when you flip over, there are really important ballot initiatives that are out there that are there to either give you
more rights or take away your rights. So I implore people to do your actual real research and head over to the Ballot Initiative where they provide the context that you need to understand so you know what you are voting for. So that conversation, important conversation with Chris is coming up next, folks. I am so happy when I have the opportunity to sit down with our friend over at Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Chris Melody Fields Figuriedo. Chris.
There are I don't even know, let's just say they're like, I think we're at the time of this recording, thirty three days until the election, correct, and which every time I say that I and the ticker goes down, it's
like my stomach drops. And you know, while we're focused obviously at the top of the ticket and who the next president of the United States will be and whether or not democracy survive, there are an overwhelming number of ballot measures that Americans across the country in forty one states and Washington, DC will be voting on that your
organization is following. Talk to us about just you know, I know, I ask you every time that you come on to kind of lay out to us what ballot measures are, the importance of them, give it to us in the context of some that like what's at stake in some of these states, so that people understand that after they finished checking president, you know this that the other thing that for many you got to turn over your ballot and here are all of the initiatives in your state. So talk to us about that.
I would love to and thank you for having me again, and not to give you any more anxiety, but to give you even more compacts. We are four tuesdays away, y'all. Okay, people are already voting. Okay, right, And so in the states across the country. Really, the fundamental thing that is at stake that is also playing out with Bawel measures is freedom and democracy. And if you think about it from the perspective of the reproductive rights ballel measures, the
fight for reproductive freedom is the fight for democracy. Think about the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs and overturning roversus Wade right, that's a part of our democracy. And then the effect of that has been not only these abortion bands in the States and these bills that have been passed, but it has been upon us, the people, the active participants of our democracy, to say that those decisions that were made for us are actually not the world that
we want to live with. And so we are engaging in our democracy and in ten states we are going to vote yes for reproductive freedom because we think that this is a private medical decision between a person who is pregnant and their doctor, and then we shouldn't criminalize
people and their doctors, right like. That is what is at stake here in the in the freedom and I think the majority of us, and what we've already seen is we actually do agree on things like reproductive freedom, life, the importance of public education, life, the importance of raising wages for people. The more of us, regardless of our party affiliation, sometimes actually believe that is a way of caring for each other. And so we are taking the
power and the agency into our own hands. And that is why we are seeing these tricks come up, which we always do in every ce, see these these dirty tricks in every election cycle that can make it really confusing for voters of what they may or may not vote on. So that's what is really at stake in this selection. And let's get into detail about exactly what what are those those dirty tricks that I know you're thinking about.
Yeah, because here's the thing, Like, it's one thing to get the signatures that you need to put up the initiatives free and clear of distortion, free and clear of lies, and allow the voters to have their say. But what you all have been following, I want to go to Nebraska first. Where you have been following are nefarious tactics that are being used. So talk to us about the twelve week abortion ban. They are in Nebraska titled the Protect Women and Children Constitutional Amendment.
Well there it is right there in the title, and that is what is often very confusing to people. And what I ask of people is like to read between the lines and read the details. So if you're a voter in Nebraska, you're going to have two about measures about abortion. One that is going to actually give reproductive freedom and allow people to get that healthcare access, and
then there's one that is an actual ban. And in particular in Nebraska, that abortion ban is the first thing that's going to be when you go to that section on your ballot. That's the first thing that's going to appear. And on the bottom of the five measures that you can vote on in Nebraska, at the bottom is the one that actually is going to give you reproductive freedom. So this is what we call a countermeasure. So we
know that reproductive freedom is incredibly popular. They gathered enough signatures, we have been gathered singers across the country to put these issues on the reproductive freedom on the ballot, and then we've seen this countermeasure by the opposition that also will confuse voters and they're not going to know exactly what they're voting on. So that's why voter education is so critically important this year. There's another ballot measure in Arizona.
The way it is titled is the Tips Worker Protection Act, which if you hear that on its well, that sounds great, right, but actually it is going to treat tipped workers as a subclass of workers and they could be paid twenty five percent less per hour than the minimum wage in the states. So that's something that what is playing out. I mean, in Ohio they also were handed really bad language on their redistricting ballot measure from the ballot board.
This is something they legally challenge and what we've seen across the countries, everything is coming up in these legal challenges where again the language, the way it is written
is incredibly biased, it's incredibly deceptive. We know that ohioans that we are in fair of ending jerry managering in their state and won a fair redistricting process, but the way that the language is written makes people think that that's not what they're voting for when you actually yes, you should vote yes for that redistricting bowel measure in Ohio because it is actually going to create a more fair, citizen driven process to draw the lines in your state.
And so this is what we often see, and we've seen it escalate, especially around these reproductive freedom measures, as we have seen that really the people are in opposition to our elected officials, to the people that we're putting into office. They're actually not listening to the will of the voters, and they are pulling out every trick in the book to undermine our power, to undermine our voices through these deceptive light, these deceptive languages, through this missing
disinformation that we're seeing out there. And what is really required of all of us is to do the hard work and read between the lines and really understand the language and not just read the title right that can be the very confusing, but really read the details of what we may need to vote for, like in the case of Ohio, was redistricting or what we may need to vote against, like that Arizona proposition of one point thirty eight that actually is not going to help tip towards.
The reality here is that Republicans are liars, Like it isn't just Donald Trump, it isn't just a JD Vance, It is the entire infrastructure that commands the Republican Party. Because why would you have to lie to voters about a ballot initiative that you thought that they would readily vote yes on. Why would you have to use deceptive tactics in order to change your fonts or misconstrue your language and not just say clear what it is.
Well, it's because the reality is they can't win unfair terms, and so they're changing the rules. They are deceiving voters because that is the only way they know how to win, because they are not on the side of the majority of voters. And this is including their own constituents. If you look at many of these progressive quote unquote progressive right issues like raising the minimum wage, like Medicaid expansion, like reproductive freedom, like very districting right, they have won
regardless party affiliation. That means Republicans, Democrats, independents are all coming to vote together to vote yes on these issues. And that is an opposition of their decided upon agenda of what they are trying to push when they are in power. And that is why these issues are so fundamental to our democracy because in an ideal world, our representative government right, it's responsive to us. But the reality
is we are moving closer to authoritarianism. We are towards minority rule because unfortunately one particular party does not think that they can win on fair frounds.
It just becomes so incredibly disheartening, Chris, for us to try and work inside of a system that is becoming increasingly rigged by the Republican Party. Like you said, they move the goalpost consistently, they rewrite the rules consistently so that they can win. So what is it that organizations like yours now are tasked with doing that is different than let's say, eight and nine years ago, given how the seeds of doubt and confusion have been planted about our systems in general.
It's such a good question, Danielle, because at the same time, an award that often comes up to me is simultaneity, we're asking people to have faith in a system that, for many of us, and we've talked about this before, was never designed for us, especially if you're talking about black and brown folks, if you're talking about queer folks, right, you're talking about women. We're asking them to have faith in a system that at the same time, those who
are in power are trying to change those rules. And we're saying, hey, I need you to vote or be a part of this, because actually, the only way we change that system is by forcing those people who are not listening either out of office or taking power into our own hands and putting these issues before the ballot.
And then the reality is it is and I tell people this that, like your vote is hurt, three of a longer process, right, it's just the beginning of a longer process for all of us to be civic participants in the decisions that matter for our lives. So we are asking you to have faith in maybe not in the system, but in the people who are working that
are on your side. I have faith in you and myself and my community, in the organizations that we work with, because I know how much they care and love their communities and I have faith in them, and so I'm asking you to participate in the system that may not
be perfect. It is not perfect, right, But the only way we can potentially change that system moving forward is not by simply abandoning it, is by participating in it and then going back and making demands, whether it's through our state legislature, whether it's through a rules process, right like, these are the things that this is how we are governed in this country, and we just can't sit back after election day and the reality after this particular election day,
the process is not going to be over. We are going to have to think about the certification of these elections. And so what I'm asking folks is is like to be these active participants, to hold power accountable and to do the work to change those systems that aren't right now working for us.
I appreciate the idea that we have to have faith in each other at a time when institutions and infrastructure are being tested, that we have to have faith in in the people. And I think that that, to me is probably the most insidious piece of what has helped to distort and undo our faith in democracy is to pit neighbor against neighbor, person against person is to instill
this sense of distrust and fear. And so because the idea is that if you lose faith in institution and you lose faith in people, then that is how authoritarianism comes in. As people have begun voting in more than half of the states, That's the thing that I kind of had a reframe around is that the election is not in four tuesdays, as you said, but the election is over in four tuesdays because the election has already begun.
So what do you say to folks right now that are feeling a sense of disillusionment that are just you know, we at the time of this recording, we had yet another bomb drop with regard to Donald Trump in January sixth and trying to overturn the election and turn our elections into a circus essentially, right, like, we're here because of the decisions that were made four years ago to discount the results of an election. If Donald Trump had said, yes, I lost, and then but I'm running again in twenty
twenty four, we all would have gone about our business. Okay, see you again in twenty twenty four, right, But that's not what they did. So what do you say to people now that are readying their ballots to cast or have already about the future of our democracy and their place in it.
It's such an important question because I go back to this, this word that is constantly in my head around simultanety. Many things can be true at once, and this what is happening right now with the people who are voting now, yes, the election ends and for Tuesday is it's a question about what conditions do we want to continue to fight it.
We have lived under a Trump presidency. We have already seen in our states what happens when we let authoritarianism's the authoritarian minded people be in governance likea Georgia, like of Florida, like my home state of Texas that are facing these abortion bands where momas are dying. That is literally what is happening right now. We know what that world looks like, and I think all of us, I think the majority, the overwhelming majority of us, does not
want that to be our story. And so if we allow those people to maintain power, and even if the system is not exactly ideal, it is truly about the conditions that we want to fight under and who we can put pressure on because they don't care. Authoritarianism that it doesn't care. It's all about maintaining power. They don't care about your voice. They don't care about the majority of people. And that is what I think people really
have to think about. It's like, what are the conditions that I want to go and fight for reproductive freedom or hold accountability around what's happening in cause of right? What are the conditions that I want to fight under in the future.
I think that that is the main that's the main thing.
Right.
They say, you know, keep the main thing, the main thing, and that is it. It is what are the conditions that we want to fight under? Because I think that two folks have to realize that this is our new normal, having to fight for our voice and our vote. This is something that we thought was one and done with
the Voting Rights Act, and it isn't. Because we realize that the Republicans continue to be really slick in their maneuvering to do their best to undo democracy and it will continue whether or not Donald Trump is elected in November. They'll just find another wolf to fill the sheep's clothing. I can't thank you enough, Chris for the work that you continue to do for the fight that you continue
to have. And just as we close out, please tell people how they can connect, how they can stay informed, because it's necessary.
Absolutely well. We have about measure Hub on our website dot org. We try to keep it really simple for folks. You can follow us on social media at Ballot Strategy and that's where we're going to be sharing voter guides the information from our partners in the states that are working on these different issues. So I encourage you to go to our website. The bout measure Hub is a
treasure trow of information for you. And then on social media we're sharing things like voter guides, like and in Arizona where there is a voter guide to tell you all the things to vote know on and other things to vote yes for. So please follow us on all the ways you like to get your information.
Chris, I can't thank you enough for making the time for WOKF and you know, I hope we will speak to you after the election and see where things stand. Really really appreciate you.
Thanks for having me, Daniel, I love talking to you.
That is it for me today, dear friends on WOKF. As always, power to the people, and to all the people power get woke and stay woke as fuck.