Sierra Club Missouri
Our democracy and our environment are under threat. Corporate polluters spend big money on elections and lobbying to suppress voters’ voices and roll back environmental safeguards so they can keep polluting and padding their bottom lines. And many of the same communities targeted with voter suppression and gerrymandering are experiencing the most extreme consequences of the climate crisis and have some of the most polluted water and air in the country. For decades, these discriminatory and racist practices have kept politicians beholden to the interests of corporate polluters over those of the people they are elected to represent.
The Sierra Club is partnering with allies at the local, state, and national level to get at the root problems preventing us from achieving the future we seek, where all Americans live in safe and healthy communities, have good-paying jobs, have access to clean air, water, and public lands, and have made a successful, just transition to a 100 percent clean, renewable economy. To achieve this requires that the people most harmed by pollution and the climate crisis have an equal chance to have their voices heard and to vote for the issues that matter to them.
That’s why this election year, several ballot initiatives in key states are offering an opportunity to reverse that cycle, promising progress in making our democracy more, well, democratic. If these measures pass they will fundamentally shift who has power in these states.
For the first time, the Sierra Club is supporting 10 democracy-focused ballot measures during one election cycle -- the most ever at one time. These range from establishing Election-Day Voter Registration in Maryland, to establishing public financing for Baltimore County, Maryland, candidates, to creating independent redistricting in Colorado and Utah. In three key states in particular -- Michigan, Missouri, and Florida -- the Sierra Club’s Democracy Program is coordinating closely with our state chapters to double down on our work to defend and strengthen democracy. We’ve hired organizers to mobilize our hundreds of thousands of members and supporters to vote and volunteer to mobilize other voters. We are educating and activating our grassroots network through phone banks, door-knocking, emails, earned media, texts, peer-to-peer texting, and paid digital ads statewide in Michigan, Missouri, and Florida.
FLORIDA
Florida is the state most susceptible to the climate crisis because it is vulnerable to flooding as sea levels continue to rise. According to polls, a majority of Floridians are worried about climate change, but their current governor, Rick Scott, has left environmental devastation in his wake. Many of the people most affected by the climate crisis are blocked from voting and having a say in issues that impact their lives. Sierra Club Florida has joined with allies across the state to support the passage of Amendment 4:
Amendment 4: More than 10 percent of Floridians over the age of 18 are barred from voting for life. Florida is one of only four states that prohibits anyone with a felony conviction, even those who’ve fully served their time for nonviolent crimes, from voting. This is a racist policy established after the Civil War. It has undue implications for Black Floridians, 1 in 4 of whom are prevented from voting because of it. Amendment 4 would reinstate voting rights for the 1.4 million Floridians with nonviolent felony convictions who’ve served their full time in prison, probation, and parole.
MICHIGAN
In the state ravaged by the Flint water crisis, Democrats have won the popular vote for Congress, State House, and Senate in every election since 2011, yet Republicans maintain a majority in all three bodies. After Republicans led an extreme partisan effort to gerrymander themselves into power, they maintained control even though this is not reflective of the voters.The Michigan Sierra Club joined coalitions working with allies to pass Proposal 2 and Proposal 3:
Promote the Vote (Prop 3): Will create more ways to cast a ballot, make voting easier and more secure. It will establish automatic voter registration, Election Day Registration, reinstate straight party voting, vote by mail, audits post-election, and more.
Voters Not Politicians (Prop 2): This proposal calls for a fair, transparent, independent redistricting process, one that doesn’t favor corporate lobbyists or political parties but the voters themselves. A system where the people choose their politicians, not the other way around.
MISSOURI
Politicians have gerrymandered themselves to stay in power and there is little opportunity to hold them accountable for anti-environmental, anti-worker, anti-people policies. Sierra Club Missouri is working with allies supporting two ballot measures:
CLEAN Missouri (Amendment 1): CLEAN Missouri will eliminate nearly all lobbyist gifts, increase transparency, lower campaign contribution limits, and create unbiased state legislative redistricting. This measure will reduce the influence fossil fuel companies and their lobbyists can have in state government. A report compiled by Sierra Club Missouri, highlighted how the three largest corporate polluters are buying influence in the legislature.
Raise Up Missouri (Proposition B): This proposition will raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour. Pro-worker policies are a cornerstone of the environmental movement. We must fight back against exploitation to ensure equity and fair payment.
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