Many activists in New York are preparing to march to Albany as key votes are being held in state government. One organizer of the coalition of activists is the Fair Elections Campaign who explained their plan:
The Governor has named Fair Elections reforms, with a small-donor matching system, as a must-pass priority in his budget, and the Assembly and new Senate Majority have supported strong Fair Elections bills for decades. A broad coalition of individuals and groups across New York is coming together to ensure that comprehensive campaign finance reform, with a small-donor match, is included in the 2019 state budget.
Some local coverage of the protests can be found in an article at Rochester First by Howard Thompson:
Local grassroots activists from Rochester and Buffalo departed to Albany on Wednesday. The activists are joining the Fair Elections Campaign, which seeks reform to New York’s Voting and Campaign Finance laws. Several protests and marches outside the state capitol are planned. We caught up with local activists before they left.
Ray Ray Mitrano tells us he wants, “Basically public financing of New York State elections to disrupt the trend that Citizens United a few years ago has made for our election system being pooled up with corporate money.” Tom Bulger adds, “What we want to happen is for everyone to vote. When people turn 18 years old they could be registered automatically.”
UPDATE: Due to inclement weather, the Fair Elections Day of Action was POSTPONED to Wednesday, February 27, 2019.
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