Vote Nevada Supporters,
Yesterday was a day for the history books, whether the Supreme Court’s ruling will be the beginning of the end of liberty for many or the beginning of an expansion of rights for all is yet to be seen.
Our political system allocates power to the people at both the federal and state levels to directly implement rights, so we do have options to explore before the next election. Ultimately, if the Court refuses to recognize a right to privacy as an unenumerated right, we must add an explicit right to privacy to the U.S. Constitution.
It is not easy to amend our federal constitution, but Americans have done so twenty-seven times when we needed a definitive resolution. It will be a heavy lift, so we need to start the dialogue soon.
The Dobb’s ruling shifted decision-making control over abortion access to the states; so, Nevada is protected because a group of dedicated Nevadans put our abortion laws out for a referendum vote and won. This means our abortion law cannot be changed without another vote of the people. Nevadans protected our rights through a direct democracy process.
We have another direct democracy process available in this election cycle. In November, we will have the opportunity to vote on an equal rights amendment to our state constitution. Unlike the federal ERA, this ballot question is more expansive in delineating who is guaranteed equal rights.
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this State or any of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7336/Text
If adopted, this initiative will provide further protection for reproductive rights in Nevada. If you are interested in helping to ensure this state Equal Rights Amendment passes, please contact Jeri Burton of the Nevada National Organization of Women here: https://www.nevadanow.org/contact-us
Vote Nevada is joining this effort starting with our July meeting on the 23rd, 9-10:30 am, via Zoom. We will focus on the history of the Equal Rights Movement & Avoiding Past Mistakes. You can RSVP at https://vote-nevada.news/ERA-Movement-History
On July 14th, 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Jeana Blackman is partnering with Vote Nevada to host a house party discussion about the state of voting in Nevada. We’ve invited Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Mark Wlaschin to review lessons learned from our primary that can improve the general election experience. You can RSVP here: https://fb.me/e/4Orm81h8o
Lastly, a big Whoo Hoo for Dr. Sara Hunt who convinced the Rural Regional Behavioral Health Policy Board to adopt the Nebraska model for mental and behavioral health workforce development as their Bill Draft Request (BDR) for the 2023 legislative session!
Sara is a valued member of our Vote Nevada Mental and Behavioral Health Committee and we have supported her efforts to adopt the Nebraska model in Nevada for many years. You can read more about the Nebraska model, which is strongly grounded in mentoring, about halfway down this blog page: https://vote-nevada-blog.org/mental-and-behavioral-health/
Thank you for being Nevadans with me,
Sondra
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Vote Nevada is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization. Anyone can become a supporter by emailing info@vote-nevada.org, we have no membership dues. We do, however, accept donations Here
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