After Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the voter-approved marriage equality legislation into law, opponents immediately worked to block the law. They submitted 200,000 signatures seeking a public vote on the issue. To show that the majority of Washingtonians support marriage equality, Washington United for Marriage’s campaign manager Zach Silk started a MoveOn Petition urging voters to approve Referendum 74.
When the GOP-controlled Minnesota Legislature agreed to put a pro-voter ID constitutional amendment on the November 6 ballot, they thought it would be a sure win. Voting rights groups immediately denounced the ballot measure as a way to suppress turnout by elderly people, young people, and minorities, who are least likely to have identification showing their current address. Liz Loeb started a MoveOn Petition asking the state legislature to stop voter suppression.
When Clear Channel-owned billboards stating “Voter Fraud is a Felony” appeared in African-American and Latino neighborhoods in Cleveland, it was clear they were designed to intimidate minority voters from casting legal votes. In response, voting rights groups demanded that Clear Channel take them down immediately. Rashad Robinson of the organization Color of Change started a MoveOn Petition.
Juveniles in California can be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Human Rights Watch found nationally that 59% of juveniles sentenced to life without parole were first-time offenders. California’s use of this sentence for youth is among the most unjust in the nation. Kevan Insko from Friends Committee on Legislation of California gathered nearly 3,000 signatures in support of Senate Bill 9. If enacted, the bill gives hundreds of juveniles a chance to earn parole after serving a minimum of 25 years.
In an attempt to limit voter access to the polls, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted ordered all early voting to stop on Friday afternoon before Election Day. Following unprecedented African-American voter turnout in Ohio during the 2008 presidential election, Republicans there have been looking for ways to diminish the community’s electoral power. Color of Change, one of many organizations working to stop voter suppression, started a MoveOn Petition calling for the restoration of early voting rights in Ohio.
In Washington state, there are roughly twenty high schools with Native American mascots. Matt Remle, who runs a web-based group called Indigenous Action, circulated a MoveOn Petition to formally ask the Washington State Board of Education to end the use of Native American mascots in public schools.
When University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe announced that the university press would be phased out starting in July to save a $400,000 yearly subsidy, thousands of people protested by writing letters to Wolfe and signing Ned Stuckey-French’s MoveOn Petition.
When Keith and Michelle Norris’ daughter Brittani was killed in a tragic car accident three days before her twenty-third birthday—just a week before her college graduation—she had student loans she still had to pay off. While her parents grieved, Citibank continued to demand payment. After more than three years of pleading with Citibank, they started a MoveOn Petition.
When Gov. Gary Herbert and the Utah Senate appointed EnergySolutions executive David Shrum to the Radiation Control Board, an advisory panel that helps set policy for the state’s radioactive materials regulation program, it jeopardized the board’s effectiveness and created a conflict of interest. But Ty Markham started a MoveOn Petition urging opposing Shrum’s appointment to the board.
When the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed House Bill 934, a voter ID restriction, the legislation guaranteed many eligible voters would be turned away at the polls. A Pittsburgh teacher, Steven Signer, a Pittsburgh teacher, started a MoveOn Petition opposing the law.