Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WOKF Daily with me
Speaker 1: your girl, Daniel Moody recording pre recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: you know, I get a lot of messages from all
Speaker 1: of you that asked me really important questions about how
Speaker 1: you can best use your energy and time, how not
Speaker 1: to lose your mind, and what are the best ways
Speaker 1: to actually get involved right and not just feel hopeless
Speaker 1: and like you are doing nothing. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: excited for today's conversation with the executive director of the
Speaker 1: Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. This conversation I thought was really
Speaker 1: important and necessary because often times we think that we
Speaker 1: understand what ballot initiatives are and ballot measures and what
Speaker 1: the far right is pushing, and how we understand how
Speaker 1: to push back, and a part of that is really
Speaker 1: understanding the ways in which we have been led astray
Speaker 1: purposefully in our understanding of civics and actually how government works.
Speaker 1: And so this conversation with the executive director of BISK,
Speaker 1: Chris Melody Field's figarato, is a really important conversation for
Speaker 1: her to break down how we understand and use ballot
Speaker 1: measures to our advantage, how states like Kansas and Wisconsin
Speaker 1: were able to push back against their abortion bands by
Speaker 1: ballot measures that the citizens put together in order to
Speaker 1: have a voice. Right, Because it isn't enough just to
Speaker 1: send these representatives in at the state, local, and fed
Speaker 1: level and think that they're going to do the work.
Speaker 1: There are other ways, other mechanations of our democratic system
Speaker 1: that allow the people to have a voice. Now, don't
Speaker 1: get it twisted. Republicans are coming for this as well,
Speaker 1: but it is really important. I think that in this conversation,
Speaker 1: and I was grateful to Chris to teach me some
Speaker 1: things that I didn't know, and that I think that
Speaker 1: is really important as we are trying to hold on
Speaker 1: to our democracy, as we are flexing our voice and
Speaker 1: our power as the people, what it actually means to
Speaker 1: put back. So this conversation with Chris, the executive director
Speaker 1: of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, is coming up next
Speaker 1: and they also offer a way for you all to
Speaker 1: get involved, to learn more and to build out community folks.
Speaker 1: I am very excited to welcome to OKAP Daily for
Speaker 1: the first time. Chris Melody Fields Bigaretto, who is like yes,
Speaker 1: who is the executive director of Ballot Initiative Strategy Center,
Speaker 1: an organization that works to create the vision, strategic planning,
Speaker 1: and fundraising efforts around really important ballot measures that we
Speaker 1: all end up voting on. Chris, I want to start
Speaker 1: off with, first of all, explaining the difference, because we
Speaker 1: just asked this before we started recording. Explain it. The
Speaker 1: difference between what we are seeing past in state legislatures
Speaker 1: regarding the erasure the criminalization of queer people, particularly trans
Speaker 1: people in states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and the
Speaker 1: list goes on, and actual ballot measures.
Speaker 2: So the rajor difference between ballot measures and what we
Speaker 2: see are alleged representatives and governments. And I say alleged
Speaker 2: because I don't think they actually for the most part
Speaker 2: listen to the people some of them, and what we're
Speaker 2: seeing at the state legislative level is ballot measures actually
Speaker 2: are a tool for us. You and me are community
Speaker 2: members to go into our community raise some signatures so
Speaker 2: on a different issue, right, different topics like raising the
Speaker 2: minimum wage, affirming reproductive healthcare right. We actually have the
Speaker 2: power in about half the country twenty five states plus DC,
Speaker 2: to sign petitions and take these issues to the ballot
Speaker 2: and then vote on them. Now, state legislators like of
Speaker 2: Florida or a Tennessee or my home state of Texas
Speaker 2: also have the power and authority to refer an issue
Speaker 2: to the ballot measure, So the legislature can refer a
Speaker 2: constitutional amendment on a number of issues. Now, that's the
Speaker 2: major difference between what a bouot measure is. The intent
Speaker 2: is really for it to be citizen led or citizen.
Speaker 1: Driven, Okay.
Speaker 2: And then our representative and governments are passing these laws
Speaker 2: across and I think the opportunity we actually have right
Speaker 2: now from bout measures, because these four hundred plus bills
Speaker 2: that are, like you just said, a racing queer people
Speaker 2: like myself across the country, is we the people actually
Speaker 2: have the power and agency to say something different through
Speaker 2: ballot measures. You know, some states like an Oregan that
Speaker 2: is considering a reproductive healthcare bouot measure is actually looking
Speaker 2: how they protect trans healthcare in their measure as well.
Speaker 2: So that's a big difference. And then I think this
Speaker 2: is the opportunity for us as citizens in this country
Speaker 2: to actually tell a different story and narrative than what
Speaker 2: we're seeing in these state legislatures to actually protect queer
Speaker 2: and transfolk.
Speaker 1: Can you talk to us about when you are living
Speaker 1: inside of a Republican supermajority in a state legislature, what
Speaker 1: it looks like, the work it goes into bringing up
Speaker 1: then a ballot measure that you know would provide voice
Speaker 1: to the people. So we saw this play out, I
Speaker 1: believe what in Wisconsin around abortion. We saw this play
Speaker 1: out in Kansas around abortion. And so I want you
Speaker 1: to be able to explain how these kind of measures
Speaker 1: work because the whole point is to give voice and
Speaker 1: power to the people. But we're living inside of these
Speaker 1: Republican supermajorities that are doing the exact opposite exactly.
Speaker 2: Actually, this has become a tool in many states that
Speaker 2: have Republican supermajority, So a Missouri, well back in the
Speaker 2: day a Michigan. Luckily that there was a flip there,
Speaker 2: so Missouri states like Missouri, Florida, Ohio where they have
Speaker 2: the citizen led process, this has actually been a tool
Speaker 2: of necessity for a number of advacy groups and citizens
Speaker 2: to take these issues that are actually widely popular by
Speaker 2: everyday citizens, like raising the minimum wage, like paid lead,
Speaker 2: like affirmatively protecting the right to an abortion. That is
Speaker 2: actually what has been happening in a lot of these
Speaker 2: Republican trifecta states across the country. It's become this tool
Speaker 2: of necessity for organizers to go in to their community,
Speaker 2: have people sign a petition saying yes, we want this
Speaker 2: issue on the ballot, and then whenever election day comes
Speaker 2: or well in most you know, in some states, election
Speaker 2: days actually may start a couple of weeks earlier through
Speaker 2: early voting or absenceee voting to actually vote yes on
Speaker 2: these issues or reject proposals like they did in Kansas,
Speaker 2: in Kentucky, in Montana last year in twenty twenty two
Speaker 2: reject abortion bands. So that's what is how it's been
Speaker 2: playing out in a lot of states where we've seen
Speaker 2: Republican trifectas. Now what we're also seeing in those same
Speaker 2: states where there are Republican tri affectas or super majorities.
Speaker 2: These GOP leaders are not happy with what the people
Speaker 2: are doing, are not in alignment with their constituents, and
Speaker 2: now our proposing changes to the BOWT measure process and
Speaker 2: actually making it harder for you and me and members
Speaker 2: of our community to take these issues that we are
Speaker 2: no we know our people better than anyone else. Yep,
Speaker 2: we know these issues are popular. They're trying now to
Speaker 2: take this, this important tool for the people away. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is literally happening right now in Ohio.
Speaker 1: And what does tell us what does that look like
Speaker 1: in terms of trying to again take away a democratic
Speaker 1: tool from the people inside of a democracy that allows
Speaker 1: you to have voice in between, you know, on election day,
Speaker 1: in between elections and what have you.
Speaker 2: So what's happening in the states right now are a
Speaker 2: couple of things. One, so we all know, to elect
Speaker 2: someone to Congress, to elect someone to our city council,
Speaker 2: it requires a simple majority, right, fifty plus one percent
Speaker 2: of the vote. That's how you win on election, right.
Speaker 2: And what we are seeing in state legislatures across the
Speaker 2: country is they are proposing bills that would require supermajorities
Speaker 2: to pass these bout measures, so raising the threshold to
Speaker 2: pass an issue at the ballot to sixty percent or
Speaker 2: as high as sixty seven percent. Right. We're also seeing
Speaker 2: state legislatures propose rules that would increase the signature how
Speaker 2: many signatures have to be gathered in a particular state. Now,
Speaker 2: you know, some people will say more signatures more democracy, right,
Speaker 2: But we also know that actually has a relationship to
Speaker 2: how costly campaigns can be. Right, more signatures, more people
Speaker 2: you got to go into communities, the more people you
Speaker 2: have to message to, more field operatives that you have
Speaker 2: to have in the ground. Right. So that's another thing
Speaker 2: that they're doing in state legislatures, and in some places
Speaker 2: they are being as brazen as they possibly can, because
Speaker 2: you know, we are in many states living under fascists.
Speaker 2: They are purposed, like they tried to do in Mississippi,
Speaker 2: they try to restore their ballot measure process, but then
Speaker 2: they would give the state legislature the authority to completely
Speaker 2: overturn anything that the people voted on. So all of
Speaker 2: these are.
Speaker 1: So what they want is the appearance of demoperience. Here's
Speaker 1: here's this ballot measure that you have the ability to
Speaker 1: vote on. But oh much in the same way that
Speaker 1: we just saw the North Carolina state legislator decide to
Speaker 1: over to overthrow the will of the democratically elected governor,
Speaker 1: we're going to be able to still overthrow the will
Speaker 1: of the people and say that, oh but we went
Speaker 1: through due process.
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly, And that is what we're seeing now. More
Speaker 2: and more. And this is a response to us, the people,
Speaker 2: where we are demanding a different world than what we
Speaker 2: are seeing right now. Right, I think if you ask
Speaker 2: the majority, actually we know, if you ask the majority
Speaker 2: of Americans, they support reproductive rights. We know this to
Speaker 2: be true. And we saw that play out in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two when every single one of the abortion bands
Speaker 2: lost and every single one of the abortion the affirmatively
Speaker 2: protecting the right to abortion care all measures one in
Speaker 2: all of the states where we put raising the minimum
Speaker 2: wage at the ballot. We won. But we can't see
Speaker 2: the We don't see our representatives in government, the people
Speaker 2: who are supposed to represent us. They're not taking action
Speaker 2: on the things that we need. They're not guaranteeing us healthcare,
Speaker 2: which citizens widely want, right And this is really like,
Speaker 2: this is the big I don't know, fall like you
Speaker 2: we're in right now?
Speaker 1: Is I like to just say, yeah, we're you know,
Speaker 1: we're in a little bit of what I call a
Speaker 1: fuckery pickle.
Speaker 2: That's on that part right there, that far.
Speaker 1: You know, it's what do they say, it's a democracy
Speaker 1: so long as you can keep it right. And I
Speaker 1: think and I think that what you know, what your
Speaker 1: organization is about. It is frankly, what I would have
Speaker 1: liked when I was a teacher is actually teaching people
Speaker 1: about civics and civic engagement. Right, So can you speak
Speaker 1: so speak to that piece, because I think that when
Speaker 1: we step back and we look at all of the
Speaker 1: things that are happening in all the ways that that
Speaker 1: we see the Republican Party literally trying to chip away
Speaker 1: and I won't even say chip away anymore. It was
Speaker 1: chipping in twenty sixteen. Now they're just hacking with with
Speaker 1: the chainsaw away at our democracy.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I think about the way in which we refuse to
Speaker 1: teach history, the way that we refuse to teach civics,
Speaker 1: that a majority of people in this country really don't
Speaker 1: know how government works, right, And what we assumed was
Speaker 1: law was actually a handshake deal between the quote unquote
Speaker 1: founding fathers in the assumption that all that entered into
Speaker 1: government were going to be noble men.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So, so so talk to us about the I guess
Speaker 1: that we're starting from the back here because there is
Speaker 1: an educational hurdle that needs to that needs to be
Speaker 1: met before you even get to the initia the ballot
Speaker 1: initiative peace.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean this is actually so fundamental to what
Speaker 2: we are losing and have loss in in our education
Speaker 2: system is the basics of like how government works, how
Speaker 2: does a buil the law right? Why is it important
Speaker 2: for you to serve on your jury, which is a
Speaker 2: civic duty right? Or or to go out and vote
Speaker 2: and what does that look like and how do you
Speaker 2: engage in Like you know, one of the things I
Speaker 2: love about bowel measures and it's an imperfect tool. It
Speaker 2: is a completely imperfect tool. Like many of the things
Speaker 2: that we're created in our democracy because you and I
Speaker 2: were not included intended in the in the original design
Speaker 2: of our democracy, is it actually requires us to go
Speaker 2: into community, have conversations, knock on a door, have a
Speaker 2: telephone conversation, text, go to the barbershop, right wherever, where,
Speaker 2: wherever we communicate communist people and have a conversation about
Speaker 2: why these issues are important and why we as a
Speaker 2: community need to affirmatively protect something or are demand something.
Speaker 2: And so that is what I've Actually one of the
Speaker 2: things I really love about ballot measures is it's like
Speaker 2: civics one oh one. It's like, actually, like you, civics
Speaker 2: is community civics is a responsibility that we have to
Speaker 2: participate into in government and also hold government accountable to
Speaker 2: us because that is essentially who they work for. They
Speaker 2: work for us, right, And that is what I've really
Speaker 2: loved about. What I love of the possibility of bowt
Speaker 2: measures is us going into community and having these conversations
Speaker 2: and the story there are in many ways of storytelling
Speaker 2: tool right, a way for us to tell our own
Speaker 2: stories about it or create a narrative of actually what
Speaker 2: we the people want. Right in Florida, right in twenty eighteen,
Speaker 2: when Amendment four passed, which was a Bowet measure that
Speaker 2: restored voting rights to one point four million formally incarcerated
Speaker 2: folks from a gym pro era law right from a
Speaker 2: gym pro era that disenfranchised people lost their right to
Speaker 2: vote if they served if they served time. One point
Speaker 2: people voted to restore it, and then the legislature tried
Speaker 2: to undermine that. But what was so important about Amendment
Speaker 2: four It was led and designed by the most impacted
Speaker 2: people from Desmond Meade, a formally incarcerated person who lost
Speaker 2: their rights right his rights. It was led by him
Speaker 2: and other returning citizens across the state like the field,
Speaker 2: like who ran the field program, who knocked on doors? Right?
Speaker 2: And that's what we're trying to do at BISK really
Speaker 2: is public policy is often never never designed by the people, right,
Speaker 2: somebody in DC or New York, San Francisco, right, often
Speaker 2: very well some lobbying shop, very wealthy folks, mostly white people.
Speaker 2: We're never included in those conversations. And what we're trying
Speaker 2: to do at BISK is actually return this tool to
Speaker 2: the people and ensuring that you know, if we're thinking
Speaker 2: about you know, a paid leave BIW measured, like, why
Speaker 2: are we not including the parents who are impacted, the
Speaker 2: workers who are impacted by not having a policy that
Speaker 2: gives them leave from work? Right? Why would we not
Speaker 2: include them? And that's what really part of what I
Speaker 2: think Florida and Amendment for show a possibility and what
Speaker 2: we're seeing more and more across the country is, yes,
Speaker 2: we have these tools in civic engagement, but are they
Speaker 2: actually ours? And who gets to design them? That's you know,
Speaker 2: that's what we're trying to do at BISK is actually
Speaker 2: include us the people in that design from the beginning.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the questions that I have for
Speaker 1: you and again is about organizing people and the tools
Speaker 1: that you're using. But how social media has both become
Speaker 1: a hindrance as well as an avenue. Right, So, on
Speaker 1: one hand, social media before a racist, misogynist, anti semitic, homophobic,
Speaker 1: transphobic billionaire decided to buy Twitter, was the public square,
Speaker 1: was how people movements and organizing was happening, right, being
Speaker 1: aided by what was happening on the ground. But you
Speaker 1: could spread the words so quickly with social media. And
Speaker 1: it's the same way with ballot initiatives and measures that
Speaker 1: happen across the country. So I wonder in the age
Speaker 1: where each and every one of us on a day
Speaker 1: to day basis is either deciding to leave the platform,
Speaker 1: leave social media altogether, but are still looking at how
Speaker 1: to connect, How is your how is bisk meeting this
Speaker 1: really critical moment where we're losing the platforms and the
Speaker 1: spaces that allowed for there to be more democratic engagement
Speaker 1: by and for the people.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is this is what earlier I told
Speaker 2: you I have a complicated relationship with Twitter because same
Speaker 2: I for so long that is where I got my news,
Speaker 2: not just my news, my cultural conversations. You know, as
Speaker 2: a latinx squeer woman like that. It was just so
Speaker 2: important and critical, and you know, it's hard to have
Speaker 2: those same conversations with so many people leaving the platform,
Speaker 2: and and you know, for us, it's returning to some
Speaker 2: of the tools that we've always known as human beings.
Speaker 2: Like you know, I'm an organizer. I grew up, you know,
Speaker 2: in politics, and you know, you go to people, you
Speaker 2: meet people where they are. For a long time, that
Speaker 2: was where social media is. But that we're still we're
Speaker 2: still We're still out in parking lots, We're still going
Speaker 2: to the grocery store. We're still going to get our
Speaker 2: hair done right, We're still go I'm still going to
Speaker 2: the nail salon, which I'm doing on this weekend because
Speaker 2: my hair, they my nails are looking rough right now.
Speaker 2: And so part of what we do is like giving
Speaker 2: folks the tools so to do that. What is now
Speaker 2: called relational organizing to me is just organizing. It's just
Speaker 2: like community, community communicating to humans and then also figuring
Speaker 2: out the other places people are gathering online right there.
Speaker 2: I mean, is it you know, making sure that people
Speaker 2: have the tools and resources in that signal chat that
Speaker 2: they're having with you know, twenty of their other friends
Speaker 2: like get making sure that we equip them with the
Speaker 2: tools there right to have that conversation with with folks
Speaker 2: and there in their their group chats, that's like signal chat.
Speaker 2: That's where my friends and I are are at. So
Speaker 2: it's also like thinking about the other places like TikTok
Speaker 2: where young people that's where they gather. That is my
Speaker 2: fifteen year old, that is where she is on a
Speaker 2: daily basis. Right, figuring out those those other avenues and
Speaker 2: the best way to use those platforms and trusted messengers
Speaker 2: in those platforms, That's the way that we've been doing it.
Speaker 2: And then asking I mean we've been asking ourselves as
Speaker 2: an organization, like is our certain platforms like a Twitter
Speaker 2: where we actually want to be? If our people aren't s,
Speaker 2: it's not, it's not a trusted resource, then you know
Speaker 2: we're all I think a lot of us are asking
Speaker 2: ourselves that question, is is that the place we want
Speaker 2: to be? And for what we're trying to do is
Speaker 2: focus ourselves, our time and other platforms.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that it's really important one for all
Speaker 1: of us who are parts or live at the intersections
Speaker 1: of communities that are under attack for us to weigh
Speaker 1: the energy, right, is it worth being on a Twitter?
Speaker 1: Is it worth being in these spaces that are set
Speaker 1: up now as attack zones, right as opposed to what
Speaker 1: they were, which was you know, the town square where
Speaker 1: we could have you know, conversations. And so before I
Speaker 1: let you go, Chris, please tell folks you know that
Speaker 1: are listening how they can get involved with your organization
Speaker 1: and how they can learn more about ballot measures that
Speaker 1: are happening in their states.
Speaker 2: Well, we try to keep it really easy for folks.
Speaker 2: We had. Our website is www dot ballot dot org.
Speaker 2: All of our social handles are at ballot Strategy. One
Speaker 2: of the cool resources that I really encourage people to
Speaker 2: go to on our website is our ballot measure Hub,
Speaker 2: and that is like a resource we updated every two
Speaker 2: weeks what are the potential ballot measures that are coming
Speaker 2: into to your state. We also feature different campaign leaders,
Speaker 2: different folks across the country that are leading amazing organizations
Speaker 2: on the local level that are I mean to us,
Speaker 2: we provide the resources to the folks on the ground,
Speaker 2: and we serve as a conduit or a community, a
Speaker 2: connector to the groups on the ground that are doing
Speaker 2: this amazing work so ballot dot org or at Ballot
Speaker 2: Strategy on all all of the socials where we actually
Speaker 2: try to explain something that's often really obtuse to and
Speaker 2: can be kind of wonky, we try to really break
Speaker 2: it down for folks.
Speaker 1: Well, Chris, thank you so much for the work that
Speaker 1: you're doing at ballot and should have Strategy Center at
Speaker 1: BISK and for making the time to join wok app.
Speaker 1: I think that you are on the front lines of
Speaker 1: a valiant fight of reconnecting people to democracy and their voice,
Speaker 1: and we just really appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it for the opportunity that is it for me today.
Speaker 1: Dear friends on wok app as always power to the
Speaker 1: people and to all the people. Power, get woke and
Speaker 1: stay woke as fuck.