Voting Underway in Washington State for I-594, the Nation’s Only Statewide Background Check Initiative on Ballot This November
Moms and Gun Violence Survivors Commence GOTV Activities This Week to Support Gun Sense Champions Across the Country; gunsensevoter.org
Everytown for Gun Safety announced today – one week out from Election Day – that more than one million Americans have pledged to be “Gun Sense Voters”, part of the organization’s campaign to build a constituency of Americans who will vote on gun safety this November and in future elections. Earlier this year, Everytown launched the Gun Sense Voter campaign with the goal of signing up one million Americans to vote for leaders and laws that will prevent gun violence. Everytown also endorsed state and federal candidates and has spent more than $4 million to support Washington State’s ballot measure to reduce crime and help save lives by closing the background check loophole.
“When it comes to gun violence prevention this Election Day, the Washington that matters most is Washington State – the only place in the country where voters will cast an up-or-down vote on life-saving background checks,” said John Feinblatt, President of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We’re building a base of voters who will support gun safety candidates and policies in this election and beyond. Gun Sense Voters in Washington State will be the first to prove the polls right by showing that when Americans vote on common-sense public safety measures like background checks, gun safety wins.”
“Moms have taken the fight to keep our children safe from gun violence to Congress, to statehouses, to corporations, and now we’re bringing this issue to the voting booth,” said Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “For months, we’ve been signing up Americans to vote on gun safety – and now the time has come for us to mobilize moms across this country to turn out and vote specifically on this issue in this election, and in all elections ahead.”
Watts led the Gun Sense Voter road show and joined, or will join, local Moms chapters, gun violence survivors and other gun safety advocates to organize and volunteer for endorsed candidates at campaign stops in Oregon, Washington State, Illinois, Minnesota, California, Maryland, Maine, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Colorado, Louisiana, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada. In a number of these states, Everytown is supporting legislative candidates as part of the organization’s 2015 legislative strategy to build gun sense majorities that will pass gun safety measures.
Moms Demand Action chapters across the country will continue to mobilize voters this week by leading and participating in GOTV activities including phone banks and canvasses to support I-594 and gun sense candidates in the run-up to Election Day. In the past two weeks of GOTV, Moms volunteers have reached out to over 12,000 voters, one at a time, person to person (on the phones or at the door), in more than 400 hours of volunteering – and the group will double these numbers by Election Day.
About Everytown for Gun Safety
Everytown for Gun Safety is the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with more than two million supporters and more than 38,000 donors including moms, mayors, survivors, and everyday Americans who are fighting for public safety measures that respect the Second Amendment and help save lives. At the core of Everytown are Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a grassroots movement of American mothers founded on the day after the Sandy Hook tragedy. Learn more at www.everytown.org and follow us @Everytown
About Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a grassroots movement of American mothers fighting for public safety measures that respect the Second Amendment and protect people from gun violence. Moms Demand Action campaigns for new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of our children and families. Since its inception after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Moms Demand Action has established a chapter in every state of the country and along with Mayors Against Illegal Guns is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with more than 2 million members and more than 38,000 donors. For more information or to get involved visit www.momsdemandaction.org. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MomsDemandAction or on Twitter at @MomsDemand