Indivisible Bangor

Category: Call To Action

  • Action 153 Protect the VOTE

    From our friends at Hancock County Democrats:

    Realization #1: Given the enormous and outrageous quantity and variety of harms that are being perpetrated on the American public by this administration through its Project 2025 and Big Ugly Budget Bill, it’s almost impossible for any single person to keep up.  Therefore the most useful thing we can each do, is pick one battle in the fight to save democracy, and focus most of our energy on it.   For Maine voters, right now, this is probably the campaign to defeat the upcoming voter suppression referendum on the November 2025 ballot. More on that below. 

    Realization #2: This concentration of effort does not mean that we neglect making phone calls to our elected officials on other important issues, but it does mean that we become more efficient, picking a simple and reliable method of getting our voices heard.  Consider the following: 

    • The “5 calls app” has a comprehensive and timely list of issues with background and suggested “scripts”.  It’s available for both apple (https://apps.apple.com/app/id1202558609) and android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.a5calls.android.a5calls&pli=1) and works on a phone or tablet. The focus is usually national.  Once you have decided to make a call, do not copy the suggested script verbatim – use your own words.  Also, make your call directly to the relevant office rather than clicking through the app. These procedures will increase your effectiveness.  Also, call your state representative and senator on the same issue.  Even if they aren’t voting on that issue, it’s important that they know where their constituents stand – especially if you are “represented” by a Republican!

    Action: (Back to Realization #1) Let’s all volunteer at https://saveabsentee.me.  This website provides all the background you need *. We MUST increase voter turnout to defeat this harmful referendum. You may think “oh, there’s three months until we vote on this issue, no emergency”.  However, one of the most important things we can do now is to organize a local canvassing effort.  This takes a lot of advance planning, training and recruitment, and there is no time to waste.  While protecting our vote should be the “foot in the door” issue, we will find people eager to discuss the myriad other threats to our future. For example, many of our friends and neighbors may lose their MaineCare, northern and downeast Maine hospitals may be doomed, and the remaining facilities in southern Maine will be swamped. 

    Urgency:  Download the “5 Calls” app this week, and start a regular program.  Many have found tapping onto “5 Calls” along with their morning coffee, and allocating a half hour to making calls, is a good way to start every day.  To defeat the Maine referendum, Sign up at https://saveabsentee.me/how-to-get-involved/  and decide how you want to help the effort.  The perpetrators of the referendum are well funded and relentless in their perverse desire to make voting difficult for YOU.  Don’t let them get away with it.

    Extra credit:

    *You can also dig through your archives or https://isledems.org/actionitems and find Action #8 which we sent in January.  Also Actions # 9, 24, 54, 77, 81, 88, 90.  The SAVE act hasn’t progressed through the Senate.  Instead, the right wingers are focused on state level voter suppression, like the Maine referendum.

    https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/live-with-robert-b-hubbell-731?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=271358&post_id=169313545&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_content=watch_now_button&r=2ycvh&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email


    Here are your legislators.  Save this in an accessible place to facilitate your contacting them    .


    Senator Susan Collins: 
    Email: www.collins.senate.gov/contact/email-senator-collins/form
    DC: (202) 224-2523 
    Augusta: (207) 622-8414
    Bangor: (207) 945-0417

    Senator Angus King: 
    Email www.king.senate.gov/contact
    DC: (202) 224-5344
    Augusta: (207) 622-8292 

    Representative Jared Golden:
    Email: golden.house.gov/contact
    DC: (202) 225-6306 
    Bangor: (207) 249-7400
    Caribou: (207) 492-6009 
    Lewiston: (207) 241-6767   

    Representative Chellie Pingree:
    Email: https://pingree.house.gov/contact/
    DC: (202) 225-6116
    Portland: (207) 774-5019  
    Waterville: (207) 873-5713  

    Find Your State Senator: Here

    Find your State Representative: 
    By name: Here
    By District: Here

    Bangor Area House Districts

    District 19 – State Representative Richard H. Campbell ( R – Orrington ) View
    District 20 – State Representative Dani L. O’Halloran ( D – Brewer ) View
    District 21 – State Representative Ambureen Rana ( D – Bangor ) View
    District 22 – State Representative Laura D. Supica ( D – Bangor ) View
    District 23 – State Representative Amy J. Roeder ( D – Bangor ) View
    District 24 – State Representative Sean Faircloth ( D – Bangor ) View
    District 25 – State Representative Laurie Osher ( D – Orono ) View
    District 26 – State Representative James F. Dill ( D – Old Town ) View
    District 27 – State Representative Gary A. Drinkwater ( R – Milford ) View

  • Indivisible’s Weekly To Do List – July 14th

    Indivisible’s Weekly To Do List – July 14th

    1. Prepare to march this Thursday at a Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action near you. Each day brings new attacks on our rights as the Trump regime chips away at our democracy. But in the tradition of the late John Lewis, Americans across the country will rise up this Thursday in a mass, nonviolent demonstration for freedom and justice. 
    2. Learn the tools of strategic non-cooperation to fight authoritarianism at our One Million Rising training series beginning this Wednesday. There’s no escaping it; Trump and his enablers are becoming bolder and our slide toward authoritarianism is accelerating. With institutions failing to meet the challenge, it falls to us — the pro-democracy majority — to defeat fascism. Join this training to help lead the fight within your networks and pass on these skills to others. 
    3. Contact state and local Dems to demand action against masked ICE abductions. If you live in a blue city or state with a Democratic trifecta, your Democratic governor, mayor, and lawmakers have the power to stop secret police tactics like abductions by masked ICE agents. Our Blue State Defiance toolkit helps identify who to contact and what to call for.
    4. Join our “Fight Back with Friends” training on Tuesday, July 22 for new tools to help get your friends and family off the sidelines! We all know someone who wants to join our fight but isn’t sure where to start; Fight Back with Friends is a new program designed to break down that barrier. Each call details ways to get your friends involved in specific, impactful tactics to defend our rights, our safety, and our democracy. Tuesday’s will focus on our upcoming One Million Rising campaign (more info below). 
    5. Join our “What’s the Plan?” call on Thursday as Indivisible’s cofounders break down the latest news and take questions from the movement. Every Thursday at 3pm ET (12pm PT), Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin go live to take questions from Indivisible activists. This week they’ll be joined by a special guest — Professor Erica Chenoweth (the scholar behind the 3.5% rule) — to dig into the strategic logic of our One Million Rising campaign (more info below). 
    6. Check out Truth Brigade tools for pushing back on the regime’s efforts to silence dissent. Americans care deeply about free speech, so enemies of the First Amendment have to justify their attacks on constitutionally-protected speech with lies and fearmongering. This month, our disinformation-fighting Truth Brigade team has some expertly-crafted messaging you can share to help expose these authoritarian tactics.
  • Protect Maine Absentee Voting

    Protect Maine Absentee Voting

    Maine MAGA activists are working hard to suppress voting in our state.

    Fair, secure, and accessible elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. But a referendum question coming to Maine voters in November 2025 takes aim at Maine’s safe and secure voting system, including absentee voting. This referendum would make it harder for people across the state to vote – especially seniors, Mainers with a disability, and Mainers without reliable transportation.

    Your vote matters. Help us to protect Maine’s strong voting tradition and Save Maine Absentee Voting.

    • If this referendum becomes law, you’d no longer be able to pick up or drop off a ballot for your elderly parent who lives in another town.
    • Your disabled neighbor wouldn’t be able to just pick up the phone and request a ballot from their town office – even though they’ve done just that for years.
    • Local town and city clerks wouldn’t be able to check their own drop-off boxes, meaning many would simply opt to not have a drop-off box.
    • People who need to work all day on Election Day – health care workers, direct care workers, delivery drivers – would effectively lose access to absentee voting.

    Learn More at Save Maine Absentee Voting

    Become an Ambassador to Protect Absentee Voting
    This November, a ballot question will ask voters if they want to make big changes to Maine’s elections that attack our voting rights and absentee voting. The Save Maine Absentee Voting campaign, of which the League is a member, is working hard to inform our fellow Mainers about this bad legislation and encourage them to vote no. Want to learn more about the campaign and become an ambassador? There are several upcoming training sessions.

    Register below:
    Wednesday, July 9 at 3 p.m.

  • Contact Senator Collins – the BBB vote is today!

    Contact Senator Collins – the BBB vote is today!

    Urgent message from our friends at Food and Medicine and the AFL-CIO:

    Below is an important message from our friends at the Maine AFL-CIO, and we need to spread the word. If you can make one call this today, please call Senator Collins – there is a lot at stake and the vote is today! Passage of this bill could be devastating for Mainers in many ways, and we have a chance to impact Senator Collins’ vote.

    Will you give her office a call? The information and phone numbers are below. 

    -Food AND Medicine 

    The U.S. Senate will soon vote on its Big Budget Bill that slashes funding to our rural hospitals, kicks people off health insurance and cuts workers’ pensions to deliver tax cuts to the very rich. We need you to call Senator Susan Collins.

    Call Senator Susan Collins right now at 202-224-2523 & ask her to oppose the Senate Budget Bill! Or call Senator Collins locally

    Augusta  (207) 622-8414  Bangor  (207) 945-0417

    Biddeford  (207) 283-1101  Caribou  (207) 493-7873

    Lewiston  (207) 784-6969  Portland  (207) 618-5560

    This Big Budget Bill will harm working classer Mainers by:

    • Cutting taxes for the rich and making the rest of us pay for it. On average the top 1% in Maine will receive a nearly $37,000 tax cut while the majority of working people will lose out from the cuts in this bill.
    • Harming federal workers and their retirements. The Senate Republican version of the bill raids federal workers pension to pay for tax cuts for the rich. New hires would be required to pay 15.6% of their pay toward retirement – an 11% increase from current employees.
    • Harming rural hospitals, raising healthcare costs and causing 13 – 16 million people to lose health insurance. Medicaid funding cuts would cause hospitals, clinics and nursing homes to close or downsize, especially in rural communities. Estimates are that 13 – 16 million people would lose health insurance. A new analysis by the AFL-CIO finds that the bill would raise health care costs for everyone, including an estimation of up to $485 a year for the 179 million people with employment-based insurance.
    • Banning states from passing or enforcing laws protecting workers from the threats artificial intelligence (AI) poses to our rights, jobs and safety. The bill would put a 10 year ban on states passing any laws related to AI.
    • Increasing federal deficit by $4 – 5 trillion. The bill will explode the federal deficit, undermining economic stability and causing future cuts.

    Please tell Senator Collins to VOTE NO on the Senate budget reconciliation bill: 202-224-2523!

    Augusta  (207) 622-8414  Bangor  (207) 945-0417

    Biddeford  (207) 283-1101  Caribou  (207) 493-7873

    Lewiston  (207) 784-6969  Portland  (207) 618-5560

    We need a budget that puts workers first, not billionaires.

    In Solidarity,

    Matt Schlobohm, Executive Director of the Maine AFL-CIO

    PS: Can you get five other people to call Senator Collins? We need as many Mainers as possible to tell our Senator to VOTE NO on the Budget bill

  • Call Janet Mills – LD 1971

    Call Janet Mills – LD 1971


    ME LD1971

    An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities

    This bill is on Janet Mills’ desk now!

    Call her and urge her to sign it!

    Call Governor Janet Mills 207-287-353
    Email Governor Janet Mills

    Among other related things, this bill “enacts provisions to clarify the relationship of state and local law enforcement agencies, including correctional facilities, and state employees with federal immigration authorities. The bill: 1. Prohibits a law enforcement agency from stopping, investigating, interrogating, arresting or detaining a person for immigration enforcement purposes, including in response to a hold request, immigration detainer or administrative warrant issued by the United States Department of Homeland Security, or allowing the United States Department of Homeland Security access to inmates or inmate information or providing law enforcement agency resources or personnel to assist immigration enforcement activities.”

    LD 1971 includes common-sense guardrails to protect the rights and safety of Maine’s immigrants, and all of us. It ensures that state and local law enforcement aren’t stepping outside of their official duties to assist the federal government with mass deportation.

  • Action 135 – “86” Citizens United!

    Action 135 – “86” Citizens United!

    Background:  In 2023, Maine voters voted 86% * in favor of prohibiting foreign governments and entities from spending money on our elections and ballot questions.  In November 2024, we also voted around 75% to put a $5000 limit on individual contributions to Super PACs.  But neither of those referenda decisions have been enforced due to lawsuits challenging their legality. (1)  Eventually what will likely be needed is a Constitutional Amendment to undo the Supreme Court’s awful Citizens United decision of 2010 (2), which allows corporations (and unions, the few that remain) to spend unlimited funds on elections.  (Susan Collins opposes such an amendment, another reason to defeat her.)  As we explained in Action 129, a Constitutional Convention to get this amendment approved could be dangerously risky in today’s divided nation.  So, we are left with the cumbersome but effective process that has been used for all other Constitutional Amendments.  The Maine Ethics Commission (3) would like us to weigh in (4), and American Promise (5) has information and suggestions on how to do it and what you might say. (6)

    Action: Click on extra credit item (6) and use the information therein as guidance to add your voice.  Our democracy is suffering at the hands of the ultra-rich plutocrats and sociopaths.  Let’s apply resolute pressure to get Citizens United overturned.  

    Urgency:  The deadline to submit comments is June 20

    Extra Credit:

     (1) https://mainemorningstar.com/2025/01/13/maine-legislature-eyes-campaign-finance-reforms-as-court-weighs-voter-backed-referenda/
    (2)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC#:~:text=The%20Citizens%20United%20ruling%20represented,super%20PACs%2C%20and%20McCutcheon%20v
    (3) https://www.maine.gov/ethics/

    (4) https://www.maine.gov/ethics/sites/maine.gov.ethics/files/inline-files/Invitation%20to%20Comment%20-%20Constitutional%20Amendment%20on%20Campaign%20Finance.pdf

    (5) https://americanpromise.net

    (6) https://americanpromise.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Guide-to-Submit-Comment-to-Maine-Ethics-Commission.pdf?_kx=Crnlhv7DHVxa2XNYCanOkjBOrP3JmKTxexoQPZvtkmA.UyCFV8

    * total coincidence that we voted 86% when “86” is restaurant slang for take it off the menu!

  • Action 133 – YES on LD 1666. 

    Action 133 – YES on LD 1666. 

    Background: 

    LD 1666 will expand Ranked Choice Voting to state legislative and gubernatorial general elections before the November 2026 election. It has been reported out of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee and next heads to the chamber floors. Urge all Maine legislators to support LD 1666, including the Republicans (especially the reprehensible obstructionists!).  Hancock Co. doesn’t have any Reps on the VLA committee, but now that it’s before the whole legislature, it’s time to weigh in!   See the table on the next page. Remember, even if they don’t represent you right now, many of them have ambitions for higher office.  Also, how they vote affects you!  So they should listen to you!

    Action: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/please-vote-yes-on-ld-1666?source=email&

    This is a form provided by the League of Women Voters.  Feel free to contact the legislators directly, as many as you have time and patience for.  

    Urgency: today!