Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok ev Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker.
Speaker 1: I really hope that this week will be better than
Speaker 1: the last few weeks. I don't know about you, but
Speaker 1: I walk into these Mondays these days extraordinarily exhausted and
Speaker 1: just depleted and wondering what fresh hell is going to
Speaker 1: be waiting for us at the end of another week.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, I'm excited about today's conversation.
Speaker 1: We welcome back to the show Executive director Chris Melody
Speaker 1: Fields Figuredo from the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center to talk
Speaker 1: about some good things that are happening that we don't
Speaker 1: hear a lot about, which are the ballot initiatives around
Speaker 1: abortion that folks are going to be voting on around
Speaker 1: the country this November. That they will not only be
Speaker 1: voting for who is in control of the executive branch,
Speaker 1: but also whether or not, in states that have banned
Speaker 1: abortion outright, if they will go back to a place
Speaker 1: of bodily autonomy. And I think that it's really critical
Speaker 1: for us to understand the importance of ballot measures and
Speaker 1: why they matter. We've seen in such places like Ohio
Speaker 1: when it's Wisconsin and Kentucky, in places that put up
Speaker 1: ballot initiatives which require a certain amount of signatures right
Speaker 1: to be vetted and seen to restore abortion to the people.
Speaker 1: What the Supreme Court did you know a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago when they overturn Roe v. Wade was set
Speaker 1: a fire this country and precedent and what we thought
Speaker 1: to be true. They have been reimagining this country, one
Speaker 1: decision at a time, and ballot measures allow the people
Speaker 1: to take some power back. And so in my conversation today,
Speaker 1: we get into a conversation about the fundamentals around democracy,
Speaker 1: why ballot initiatives matter, and what is at stake, as
Speaker 1: if we all don't know each and every pressing day.
Speaker 1: Each day that we get closer to November, I tell
Speaker 1: you that the not inside of my stomach grows by
Speaker 1: the day. But it's important for us to be able
Speaker 1: to find different ways of having these conversations with friends
Speaker 1: and family and colleagues until November. People are, in my
Speaker 1: humble opinion, not really coming to a moment of reckoning,
Speaker 1: like the people of France just did to unite against
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and the far right, and this theocratic reimagining
Speaker 1: of America that they want. So I hope that you
Speaker 1: glean some hopefulness from the conversation with Chris, which is
Speaker 1: coming up.
Speaker 2: Next, folks.
Speaker 1: I am very happy to welcome back to WOKF Daily
Speaker 1: the executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Chris
Speaker 1: Melody Fields Figuretto And we spoke back Chris in April,
Speaker 1: where I don't know, I'd kind of like to go
Speaker 1: backwards in time right now, and you were giving us
Speaker 1: the rundown on all of the important ballot initiatives that
Speaker 1: are coming up, and we know that twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: November is going to be no different. Talk to us
Speaker 1: about abortion being on the ballot, not just the presidency, right,
Speaker 1: but being on the ballot in multiple states.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean a lot has changed since April. It
Speaker 3: feels like every day, every week is different. But you know,
Speaker 3: I think there is hope for folks when it comes
Speaker 3: to reproductive freedom on the ballot this year. Really, the
Speaker 3: people kind of heard the Supreme Court, Okay, you're going
Speaker 3: to strike down an important protection. Then we're going to
Speaker 3: take power into our hands. And it's really showing across
Speaker 3: the states how the people are harnessing the power of
Speaker 3: direct democracy to advance reproductive freedom in a way that
Speaker 3: prioritizes the autonomy of pregnant people across the country, So
Speaker 3: it could be as many as eleven states this November,
Speaker 3: thanks to really hard work in the state's grassroots organizations
Speaker 3: who have channeled their power to put abortion on the
Speaker 3: ballot in November. And just last week it was a
Speaker 3: really big week in ballot measure wind. A number of
Speaker 3: states Arizona, Nebraska, and Arkansas have put in their signatures
Speaker 3: to qualify for the November election, and one of the
Speaker 3: really key highlights is how overwhelmingly the numbers have been
Speaker 3: or these signatures. In many states like Arizona, they gathered
Speaker 3: more than double I mean, like more than eight hundred
Speaker 3: and twenty thousand petitions to put abortion on the ballot
Speaker 3: in Arizona, more than double what they need to qualify.
Speaker 3: That's one in five Arizonans. We're out there signing these
Speaker 3: petitions to put it on the ballot. And that's really
Speaker 3: been this really great story of how really this is
Speaker 3: this big trend of how overwhelmingly people are out there
Speaker 3: signing these petitions and with large volunteer numbers that should
Speaker 3: be really exciting for folks who who want to believe
Speaker 3: and things are possible in our democracy.
Speaker 1: You know, Chris, I'm assuming that the ballots changed from
Speaker 1: state to state, right, Like what it means to have
Speaker 1: an initiative put up for a vote on the ballot.
Speaker 1: Can you talk to us about some of the differences
Speaker 1: and how people have been able to get abortion. And
Speaker 1: I also want to dig into what we mean when
Speaker 1: we're saying abortion is on the ballot, Like what specifically
Speaker 1: are these ballot measures calling for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean a leven states with eleven different rules,
Speaker 3: and some were actually referred by the state legislature, like
Speaker 3: in New York, in the Maryland, So it looks different
Speaker 3: in every state. For those states that are doing the
Speaker 3: citizen led process, so right going into their community gathering
Speaker 3: these signatures signing the petitions, they're going to have different
Speaker 3: rules of how many signatures they have to gather, where
Speaker 3: in the state they have to gather signatures. And then
Speaker 3: there are other states like I mentioned before, that legislatures
Speaker 3: can refer something to the so it doesn't go through
Speaker 3: the citizen led process. Legislators in the states actually put
Speaker 3: the issue on the ballot. So in states like New
Speaker 3: York is a way more expansive look and does it
Speaker 3: only include protections for pregnant people. It's more expansive, and
Speaker 3: it's kind of an Equal Rights Amendment style ballot measure
Speaker 3: that includes abortion protections. And then you have a state
Speaker 3: like Colorado that is not only codifying the rights to
Speaker 3: an abortion their state constitution, they're actually trying to overturn
Speaker 3: a law that prevents state funding or abortions, which is
Speaker 3: so incredibly important when we talk about access, especially for
Speaker 3: people living in poverty and are you know, have meditate
Speaker 3: in order to pay for their health care. And then
Speaker 3: you know, other states like a Missouri are only looking
Speaker 3: for an abortion protection into their constitution. They're looking at
Speaker 3: other things, you know, looking at what the Supreme Court
Speaker 3: decision was vent thinking about how the not just the funding,
Speaker 3: but what are the other protections that are needed.
Speaker 2: So while it doesn't.
Speaker 3: Specifically name IVF as a protection, the way it is
Speaker 3: written would allow for protections like in vitroclertalization.
Speaker 2: And then by and large, the rest of the.
Speaker 3: States are looking at just affirmatively having constitutional protections around abortions.
Speaker 1: When we look at all of this and it does
Speaker 1: it makes me feel like democracy is working when we're
Speaker 1: talking about valid initiatives. It makes me feel as if
Speaker 1: people are paying attention to what can and should be done.
Speaker 1: When you see what the Supreme Court's agenda is right,
Speaker 1: which is to roll us back into the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: And so in a lot of these places, one they're
Speaker 1: looking to codify abortion, but they're looking it sounds like
Speaker 1: to also expand rights to people understanding what is at stake.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this most recently, Project twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure you're very familiar with the listeners of
Speaker 1: this show are because I talk about it at nauseum
Speaker 1: plans to come in and gut every single agency, plans
Speaker 1: to have nationwide abortion bands. If in fact, that houthscape
Speaker 1: does come into reality, what does a ballot measure ensure
Speaker 1: when you have that kind of authority coming in in
Speaker 1: the executive branch.
Speaker 3: Well, this is why, Yes, we have the federal government,
Speaker 3: and then we also have states that govern laws as well,
Speaker 3: and this is where it'll be really incredibly important. With
Speaker 3: those state constitutions that have these guaranteed protections, that is
Speaker 3: what is going to come into play in the event
Speaker 3: the worst happens, right, That is where those protections that
Speaker 3: are in state constitutions are really going to give people protections.
Speaker 3: And that is why you know, so many advocates in
Speaker 3: the states have turned to the ballot measure process to
Speaker 3: the failure in many ways of central government.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: If you think about what the Supreme Court is do,
Speaker 3: has done, and is doing and will continue to do,
Speaker 3: that is so critical and why in many places, you know,
Speaker 3: a state like Arizona or Florida, right, which is pretty
Speaker 3: much close to near total bands in their state. Those
Speaker 3: are deserts in that part of the country. Florida for
Speaker 3: an example, there is no other state in the southeast
Speaker 3: part of the country right now that can deliver abortions
Speaker 3: that is eighty thousand patients a year. No one can
Speaker 3: take that on and that's why it's so critical for
Speaker 3: And listen, we're also talking about the global South when
Speaker 3: we're talking about Florida too, right, we're talking about the
Speaker 3: Caribbean as well. And that's why these are so important.
Speaker 3: Is it guarantees those very specific protections and places where
Speaker 3: you know, you've seen these New York Times articles, these
Speaker 3: Washington Post, these other media stories coming out which I
Speaker 3: think we talked about last time about Louisiana, where people
Speaker 3: are traveling to states like from Texas, my home state,
Speaker 3: to a Colorado right to get an abortion, because just
Speaker 3: having a band doesn't mean that important healthcare disappears.
Speaker 1: You know, I guess one of my concerns and you
Speaker 1: know this is I guess a fear for another day.
Speaker 1: But you tell me if you think about it as well,
Speaker 1: because while we have states rights right, we also see
Speaker 1: the ways in which those states rights become limited when
Speaker 1: you have a Supreme Court come in, for instance in
Speaker 1: New York and overturn our hundred year old gun policies
Speaker 1: to protect a very densely populated place. And you know,
Speaker 1: we saw, for instance, during the Trump administration the height
Speaker 1: of COVID where Donald Trump was denying FEMA to different
Speaker 1: states and denying you know, New Yorkers the ability to
Speaker 1: get global entry for instance, to be able to sign
Speaker 1: up for that when traveling globally. So when you think
Speaker 1: about these things and the ways in which the federal
Speaker 1: government can weaponize against the states, how do states do
Speaker 1: you think like manage this, Like when they're putting these
Speaker 1: ballot initiatives together, the people are putting them together. Do
Speaker 1: they still understand that there are ways that the federal
Speaker 1: government can weaponize I think.
Speaker 3: People are acutely aware of that, and at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, they don't think government should interfere with
Speaker 3: medical decisions, period. And that's true across the board, and
Speaker 3: it transcends partisan lines. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 3: the states that have already stopped abortion bands at the
Speaker 3: ballot or have done firmative protections for reproductive healthcare, that
Speaker 3: is Democrats, Republicans, and independents coming together overwhelmingly. And I
Speaker 3: think what is interesting is in many ways it is
Speaker 3: destigmatizing an issue across not just partisan lines, but community
Speaker 3: lines about what it means to have this healthcare decision made.
Speaker 3: You know, I've talked to folks in Arizona. I've I've
Speaker 3: talked to folks in Florida, and you know, five of
Speaker 3: those states are going to have huge Latino populations, huge
Speaker 3: black and brown populations that will make a decision.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you look.
Speaker 3: At states like Ohio, where black men and women were
Speaker 3: critical last year in twenty twenty three for the reproductive
Speaker 3: freedom about measure, if you look at where you know,
Speaker 3: the stigmatization or Latinos being too catholic right to support
Speaker 3: reproductive health care, but actually isn't panning out in a
Speaker 3: majority of these states. And if anything, you know, by me,
Speaker 3: you know, by someone in someone's family sharing their abortion story,
Speaker 3: you know, a younger generation, millennials and gen Z, that
Speaker 3: is giving permission to older generations. You know, I'm on
Speaker 3: the custom gen X and in Millennia, you know, I'll
Speaker 3: say Genet's our younger posts, right, right, so some boomers, right,
Speaker 3: and that is giving permission to our abuelas rtias, our
Speaker 3: aunties to say, you know what, this is actually also
Speaker 3: true for me too, And I think that is what
Speaker 3: is happening, is like the people are saying the government
Speaker 3: actually doesn't speak for me and what I need to do.
Speaker 1: Do you think that this abortion and also again just
Speaker 1: you know, lifting up Project twenty twenty five and their
Speaker 1: desire to not only ban IVF but also contraception, is
Speaker 1: this going to be in your mind like the single
Speaker 1: issue that get people to the polls as disarrayed as
Speaker 1: Democrats seem right now, I think.
Speaker 3: People are motivated, and I actually don't think there are
Speaker 3: these stories being told about voter apathy that are actually
Speaker 3: just untrue and I see it every day. Not only
Speaker 3: was reproductive freedom and the amount of petitions that are
Speaker 3: being turned in, the amount of volunteers that are being
Speaker 3: a part of these efforts, It's also about the other
Speaker 3: key issue that people care about right now. It's inflation too,
Speaker 3: and you know, states are going to raise them. I
Speaker 3: mean they also have minimum wage and pay the lead
Speaker 3: that are going to come out to about what we
Speaker 3: know and what we've been able to see pretty solidly
Speaker 3: since twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: Our issues are the driver.
Speaker 3: Issues are the driving factor more than candidates in many
Speaker 3: states for voters. And I think, yes, abortion, no question
Speaker 3: is going to be a huge factor.
Speaker 2: Of hyps people go to the polls this year.
Speaker 3: But I think it's these other issues to like economic justice,
Speaker 3: right like our democracy. You know, Ohio just last week
Speaker 3: turned in petitions for redistricting over seven hundred thousand. So
Speaker 3: I think, you know, people want to see progress, period
Speaker 3: and if they're elected officials aren't going to do it,
Speaker 3: They're going to do it for themselves.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that it's heartening. One I agree
Speaker 1: with you in terms of the stories that come out
Speaker 1: with regard to voter apathy. I think that we've been
Speaker 1: hearing those same stories every election, right, every election cycle,
Speaker 1: we're told that people aren't going to come out and vote,
Speaker 1: that young people aren't going to vote, that black people
Speaker 1: are moving to Trump, that Latino people are moving to Trump.
Speaker 1: And on one hand, I'm here in New York, so
Speaker 1: I have a very skewed view of how people think
Speaker 1: and what people are doing because of the bubble that
Speaker 1: I live in in the city. But I wonder how
Speaker 1: much is needed to amplify, right, to help change the narrative,
Speaker 1: to amplify just how engage voters are.
Speaker 2: We have to tell our stories period, Like we have to.
Speaker 2: You know, it has been a bit.
Speaker 3: Frustrating to look at the news up for many reasons, right,
Speaker 3: But if I hear any more about the debate, I'm like,
Speaker 3: that is actually not playing out in people's daily lines.
Speaker 3: Like we you your podcasts, us who consume media, who
Speaker 3: want sources. We have to go out there and tell
Speaker 3: our stories. And I think the more we are out
Speaker 3: there and vocal. You know, I talked about the stigmatization
Speaker 3: we're seeing in a lot of states around reproductive rights.
Speaker 2: People have to tell their stories.
Speaker 3: They have to say this is actually why I'm going
Speaker 3: to vote this is how it impacts me and my community.
Speaker 3: And this is how out of touch these political extremits
Speaker 3: who are trying to strip Americans fundamental freedom. They are
Speaker 3: so out of touch, and the people are responding by
Speaker 3: making sure that they have protections and they're protecting themselves.
Speaker 1: Do you think that the people who are running with
Speaker 1: the narrative the mainstream media, do you find that voters
Speaker 1: these days? Where do you think that they're getting their
Speaker 1: information from? Like have they true? Like have they abandoned it?
Speaker 1: And they're like going back into community in the way
Speaker 1: that you go door to door to get these valid
Speaker 1: initiatives passed. Like where are people your people like getting
Speaker 1: their information these days?
Speaker 3: I think they're getting it from multiple places. But at
Speaker 3: the end, I'm an organizer through and through, and at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, people go to trusted resources,
Speaker 3: and that means community and that can be your direct family,
Speaker 3: that can be your pastor that can be your name
Speaker 3: on the block, right, Like, there are a number of
Speaker 3: people that people turn to at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: And I think what's going to be really critical in
Speaker 3: these next four and a half months is people being
Speaker 3: tuned into those trusted sources because they are going too tricky.
Speaker 3: Misinformation and disinformation is absolutely real, and you need to
Speaker 3: go to not just read something on social media, not
Speaker 3: something that's already construed into your algorithm, go to multiple sources,
Speaker 3: but ultimately go to the people you no one trusts
Speaker 3: and say if it doesn't feel right, maybe.
Speaker 2: I need to do a little bit more inquiry.
Speaker 3: But there are whether it's the TV, whether there it's
Speaker 3: the radio, whether it's your social media feed, or it's
Speaker 3: literally just talking to people you know out in your
Speaker 3: community about this. It's going to be so incredibly critical.
Speaker 2: And what we've already.
Speaker 3: Seen too with some of the misinformation and disinformation, especially
Speaker 3: for the petition gatherers, is the importance of being safe
Speaker 3: and protecting people in their safety because in states like Arkansas,
Speaker 3: some of those petition gatherners were docked, their private information
Speaker 3: was shared publicly, and their lives were threatened. This is
Speaker 3: going to continue to heighten as we get closer, and
Speaker 3: all I know is we protect ourselves right. Community protects
Speaker 3: you at the end of the day, and trusted sources
Speaker 3: like you are going to play such.
Speaker 2: A critical role in the coming months.
Speaker 1: Well, Chris, I thank you as always for the work
Speaker 1: that you were doing, for the messages that you are
Speaker 1: getting out, for the community that you are building to
Speaker 1: fight back against these oppressive forces. Please tell folks how
Speaker 1: they can get more information.
Speaker 3: Well, we have a fantastic research on our ballot dot
Speaker 3: org website. It's the ballot measure Hub. If you want
Speaker 3: to stay up to date with the latest, go on
Speaker 3: the Ballot Measure Hub. You can also signed up for
Speaker 3: our weekly newsletter which where we share more information. You
Speaker 3: can follow us on all the socials at Balanced Strategy.
Speaker 3: We make it pretty easy and that's where you can
Speaker 3: get it on more information. But I cannot like that
Speaker 3: Power Measure Hub like that is the place to find everything.
Speaker 1: Amazing, Chris, thank you so much as always for making
Speaker 1: the time for wok f Daily. Really really appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today. Dear friends on wok
Speaker 1: F as always, Power to the people and to all
Speaker 1: the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.