This election cycle, we have witnessed the most blatant violations of our democracy in recent history. Some of these violations were obvious such as voter purges in New York, to the election fraud that took place in Arizona. Those were the obvious violations of our democracy; however, most of the violations that occur are not obvious. Most of the ways our democracy is violated are very subtle. Seemingly innocent laws have taken away the right to vote for millions of people. An example of this are Voter ID laws.

We are told that Voter ID laws are in place to prevent Voter Fraud which is in simple terms people who create false an alias/es in order to vote. It seems very reasonable and seems like it makes sense but here is the problem, Voter Fraud is something that rarely occurs. What if I told you that voter fraud is virtually non-existent? What if I told you that instead of preventing voter fraud, Voter ID Laws restricts 11 percent of the population from voting, the majority who are minorities and younger voters?

According to the Brennan Center NYU School of Law, “it is more likely that an individual will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.” The odds of being struck by lightning is 1 in 576,000.

Voter ID Laws prevent more than 3.2 million people from voting. Voter ID laws are not in place to prevent voter fraud and ensure clean elections. If politicians really wanted to ensure that elections are clean and fair, they would get rid of the voting machines that has been proven can be easily hacked. It’s clear clean elections are not their priority.

Furthermore, every year millions of additional people are unable to vote because they decided to register as an independent. As of June 2016, 43 percent of the country are registered as an independent including 50 percent of new voters. In New York alone, more than 3 million people were unable to vote in the primaries because they were registered as an independent. Preventing independents from voting allows the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and RNC (Republican National Committee) to hand pick their candidates and force the people to choose between their handpicked candidates. The same independents who are not allowed to vote in the primaries are then forced to pick between the candidates they never supported. These people are being punished because neither of the two major parties represents their values. It is not right at all. We need to change our political system. In order to do that, we must get involved.

How do we get involved?

ACTIVISM- the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

We must become active in the political process. Please support Unity for Democracy, an organization that is fighting to take back our democracy. Our democracy is in grave danger. If we do not fight for it, we will lose it.

On October 23, 2016, Unity for Democracy is having a “Take Back Democracy March” in Washington DC. So far a few thousand people are interested in attending which is great. The more the merrier.

In order to have the most successful March possible, we need to have enough to fund the March. There are many costs associated with this March. In order to cover expenses such as water, food trucks, merchandise, travel, port- a- potties, clean up services for the March, security fees, rental fees for the area we will be protesting at, web page costs, etc. Unity for Democracy must raise at least $5,000. So far they have raised just over $1,500. The March is in a little under two weeks. $3,500 more is needed to cover these expenses. Any donation will help.

If you would like to know more about the March, please visit the Facebook page by clicking here, or you can visit the website by clicking here. If you would like to donate, you can click here. If you have any questions, you can send an email to info@unityfordemocracy.org. If you would like to order any merchandise like tee-shirts or hoodies, please message me by clicking here or march organizer Raelyn Williams by clicking here. If you would like to volunteer for to the March, you can contact Sunday Daskalea by clicking here.

Below is an outline of what Unity for Democracy is fighting for and the speakers who will be at the March. If $5,000 is raised by the end of the week, one of the March organizers (Kristina Marie) and I (Diandre Miller) will create a Facebook live video talking about what got us into activism and answer any questions you may have about the March or anything in general. Let’s smash this goal. Stay tuned.

Take Back Democracy March on DC, October 23, 2016.

About Take Back Democracy:

"Take Back Democracy March on DC" is a nationwide event that anyone from any political party or leaning can get behind!

Our primary goal is to demand a government truly of, by and for the people. We will achieve this by marching on our nation’s capital in Washington DC on October 23, 2016.

Our demands include:
- Automatic voter registration
- Paper ballots
- Hand counting
- Independent audits
- Independent exit polls
- Campaign finance reform
- United Nations election monitoring
- Election Fraud investigation
- Investigate and prosecute corruption
- Eliminate gerrymandering
- Imposing term limits on all elected offices
- Elimination of Electoral College

Please join us in letting our leaders know that WE THE PEOPLE aren't standing down and want Democracy as the basis of our government.

Speakers:

Raelyn Williams (March Organizer)

Kristina Marie (March Organizer)

Lee Camp

Fair Vote

Jacqui Lugman

Steven Gambine

Tim Black

Jeff Day

Bruce Carter

Tim Black

Jeff Day

Niko Claudia