Make a Difference. Act.
Get Involved
There are many ways you can help make your community, our state, and our country, better. Here are just a few actions you can take to make a difference.
It’s also important to keep track of issues before your local boards and councils, as well as the Sawyer County Board and Wisconsin Legislature.
Attend meetings in person or online, and contact local officials about issues you care about. Responsible citizenship includes holding officials accountable, as well as voting.
Spread the Word ] Support Badger Care ] Protect Voting Rights
End Gerrymandering ] Oppose Pipeline Projects ] End Wolf Hunt Abuses
Spread the Word . . .
About the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the Covid-19 Stimulus Package, is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021. The goal is to speed the country’s recovery from the economic and health effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession.
Recent estimates are that Wisconsin will receive $2.5 billion in funds over two years. In addition to money being sent to the state, Wisconsin counties and municipalities are expected to receive about $2.3 billion.
One significant provision of the ARPA is the enhanced Child Tax Credit, which boosts monthly cash payments to eligible families with children 17 and younger. The payments, which start July 15, boosts the credit from $2,000 to $3,600 for each child under 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17.
Learn more and provide input to local officials’ plans for spending the money. Finally, talk up the plan to friends and neighbors to help them see the difference electing Democrats makes.
Support BadgerCare Expansion
In early May 2021, Wisconsin legislative Republicans voted to remove 380 items from Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed biennial budget, thereby rejecting $1.6 billion in federal funds the state would have received for expanding BadgerCare. BadgerCare, short for BadgerCare Plus, is a type of Medicaid program.
This year because of the pandemic, the federal government included an additional $1 billion along with the $600 million the state would receive to cover the expansion, if Republicans had accepted it. Republican legislators have refused to expand BadgerCare ever since the Affordable Care Act first passed 11 years ago, and they refused to do so again this year.
As a result, Wisconsin remains one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid and similar programs like BadgerCare. Republicans’ latest refusal to expand BadgerCare continues their cruel and misguided campaign to prevent hard-working, low-income Wisconsinites from receiving the same health care benefits legislators themselves receive.
Failure to expand BadgerCare again this year is disappointing, but Democrats will continue the fight to broaden access to health care benefits across the state. Continue to speak up for expansion of BadgerCare.
Learn more.
BadgerCare Plus | Wisconsin Department of Health Services
Take action.
Call your state legislative representatives and tell them to show common sense and compassion and expand BadgerCare.
Protect Voting Rights
Since the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, state legislators throughout the United States have introduced hundreds of bills that would restrict access to voting. Many of these bills are rooted in Donald Trump’s “big lie” that he won the 2020 election. These bills would cripple local and state voting systems historically designed to uphold voters’ rights. They are a blow to democracy.
Federal action via the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is one important way to protect the rights of voters, especially the rights of black, brown, and low-income voters. Congressional passage of these bills has been called a crucial step toward guaranteeing every American a baseline level of voting access, free from efforts to hamper, dilute, or nullify their votes.
However, as these bills have stalled in the U.S. Senate, Democrats and civil rights groups are working on ways outside of Congress to combat Republican-led voting restrictions across the country. One effort is being advanced by the Democratic National Committee, while the Poor People’s Campaign is promoting another.
Initiatives like these are not a replacement for federal legislation, but they are necessary in the face of a new wave of voting laws in many key states ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Learn more.
Vice President Harris Announces $25 Million Expansion of DNC’s ‘I Will Vote’ Initiative - Democrats
Season of Nonviolent Moral Direct Action (poorpeoplescampaign.org)
Take action.
Contact Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to thank her for her support of both bills. Contact Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to urge him to do what he can to enable passage of the bills.
Volunteer with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (WisDems) to register voters and get them to the polls.
End Gerrymandering, Support Fair Maps
New electoral maps will soon be drawn in Wisconsin based on the 2020 Census data. The Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition wants that to be a fair process. “How our district maps are drawn will impact voters and representation for the next decade” a coalition statement says. “We must stop partisan politicians from drawing rigged maps to further entrench those in power and silence the voice of voters.”
Partisan drawing of electoral maps is called gerrymandering. In Wisconsin, gerrymandering has given Republicans an unfair advantage in both state and congressional elections. Gerrymandered maps have allowed Republicans to hold on to their majority in the legislature even when Democrats win more votes statewide. Gerrymandering has also proved a significant barrier to Democratic candidates vying for Congress in the 7th District.
The Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition is a group of state and national organizations working to advocate for and enact, in law and practice, an independent and nonpartisan redistricting method in Wisconsin. The Fair Elections Project and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign are just two member organizations of the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition.
Learn more.
Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition (fairmapswi.com)
Homepage - Fair Elections Project
Gerrymandering 101 - Fair Elections Project
Take action.
Tell your legislators to pass fair maps.
Oppose Pipeline Projects
The Democratic Party of Sawyer County and Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation opposes the expansion of Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline and the relocation of its Line 5 oil pipeline.
Line 3 is a proposed pipeline expansion to bring nearly a million barrels of tar sands per day from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin. It was proposed in 2014 by Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the United States.
A big chunk of the Line 3 pipeline corridor runs through Minnesota—crossing untouched wetlands and the treaty territory of Native American peoples. The last 14 miles of the Line 3 pipeline corridor is in Wisconsin, ending at the Superior Terminal in Douglas County.
Climate justice organizations, Native American groups, and the Minnesota Department of Commerce oppose the project due to concerns over climate change, environmental degradation, violation of treaty rights, and limited benefits.
Line 5 is an existing pipeline running from Superior to the upper peninsula of Michigan through the Straits of Mackinac and lower peninsula of Michigan to Canada. Line 5 currently crosses through approximately 12 miles of the Bad River Reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Enbridge proposes to relocate a 41-mile-long portion of the existing Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Reservation. The reroute lies within Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron County, Wisconsin. Enbridge must receive all necessary local, state, and federal permits and/or approvals before construction of the Line 5 relocation project can begin.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin 2021 platform says “we must prioritize public health, environmental protection, and the land and water treaty rights of native communities in the planning and implementation of all mining projects, including frac sand extraction.” This is why Sawyer County/LCO Democrats oppose the Line 3 and Line 5 pipeline projects.
Learn more.
Enbridge Pipeline Projects in Wisconsin | Wisconsin DNR
Environmental Impact Statement May Deal Blow to Line 5 Pipeline Upgrades | Our Daily Planet
Take action.
Shut Down Line 5 - Michigan Climate Action Network (miclimateaction.org)
End Wolf Hunt Abuses
UPDATE, SEPT. 8, 2021: Several animal wellness and wildlife groups are filing a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin ahead of a wolf hunt in November. A quota of 300 wolves has been set for the hunt, which comes after 218 wolves were known to be killed during the February hunt. The animal rights groups are calling the state's 300 wolf quota "reckless and politically motivated," and say that more than half the wolf population could be eliminated by the two hunts of 2021.
GET MORE DETAILS from this article in Patch—Across Wisconsin: Animal Protection, Wildlife Groups File Lawsuit Over Wolf Hunt | Across Wisconsin, WI Patch
ORIGINAL POST, JULY 2021: Here’s what the Washington Post said about Wisconsin’s wolf hunt in late February: “[The hunt] generated outrage across the state and the country. In less than three days, hunters and trappers killed 216 wolves, 20 percent of the state’s population and far above their state-imposed quota of 119.
“Throngs of unlicensed hunters joined those with licenses with packs of dogs, snowmobiles and GPS technology. The wolves stood no chance.”
Now the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is updating the state’s wolf management plan for the 2022 season, and the department is expected to change the rules to prevent the 2021 fiasco. But the DNR needs to hear from you in order to change things.
Learn More.
Wolf Hunting and Trapping, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Outrage Over Wisconsin’s Wolf Hunt Threatens the 2022 Season, Field and Stream
Take Action.
Support Transformative Police Reform
The murders of black Americans George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville by white police officers in 2020 proved a tipping point that resulted in the introduction of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the U.S. House of Representatives in February 2021. The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House on a mostly party-line vote of 220–212, but it has not yet been voted upon by the Senate.
In Wisconsin, which saw the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha in August 2020, a number of police reform bills have been introduced at the Legislature. However, activists say the bills fall far short of the transformative change needed to end the ongoing epidemic of police violence against people of color.
It’s important to convey your support of meaningful policing reform to both state and congressional representatives.
Learn More.
Here's what the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would do (nbcnews.com)
Wisconsin Democrats Introduce More Progressive Police Reform (upnorthnewswi.com)
Take Action.
Contact Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to thank her for her support of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Call your state legislative representatives and tell them to support meaningful policing reform.
Area residents at Democracy Square in Hayward following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.