Right now, the Maine Legislature is considering LD 1376, “An Act To Preserve the Integrity of the Voter Registration and Election Process.”

Integrity?

Don’t be fooled by the misleading title of this bill. LD 1376 does nothing but limit Maine voters’ access to their fundamental right to vote.

LD 1376 would eliminate same-day voter registration – resulting in decreased voter turnout. Period. The end.

Please email your legislator right now!

The end of same-day registration would mean disenfranchisement – plain and simple. Voters who rely most on same-day registration are those who are the most mobile, such as single moms, the young and first-time voters.

In the last Presidential election, Maine had the third highest voter participation in the country. In fact, the only states to surpass Maine were Minnesota and Wisconsin – two states that also have same day voter registration.

Maine takes pride in its strong voter turnout. Please email your legislators (right here with a couple of clicks) and ask them to reject any measure that would limit Mainers ability to vote!

The amended bill represents a very significant improvement over the initial bill that, as written, would have removed all hourly protections for teen workers, but – to be clear – it still represents a roll back to workplace protections for teens.

Read below for a statement from Laura Harper, our Director of Public Policy, on the vote:

“This law will take Maine in the wrong direction. At a time when Maine desperately needs to be creating jobs and a skilled workforce, we are undermining student success.

“Volumes of research demonstrate that once teens work over 20 hours a week, drop-out rates and even substance abuse rates increase. Further, studies show that the more hours teens work the more likely it is that their grades will decline.

“Adults need jobs. Teens need success in school to make a good living down the road. We urge lawmakers to put focus where it’s needed—creating jobs, increasing access to education, and sparking economic growth that will benefit kids, families, and our state.”

You can read her whole statement here.

The silver lining: We were successful in defeating L.D. 1346 (a bill that would have both increased the total number of hours a teen could work and create a sub-minimum wage for teen workers) and greatly modifying L.D. 516.

The truth: We couldn’t have done it without you! You and your friends, and your friends’ friends, sent a total of 860 emails and petition signatures, made phone calls, and showed up to the public hearings.

Your action helped kill L.D. 1346, and make L.D. 516 less extreme. So, THANK YOU!

Click here to check out some of the fantastic news coverage of the campaign (including some goodies from Rachel Maddow, and our own Laura Harper in the Huffington Post).

And, please take a minute right now to check out how your Senator and Representative voted on L.D. 516, and share your appreciation – or disapproval.

Americans often take pride in ways their nation differs from others. But one distinction — lack of a nationwide policy of paid maternity leave — is cited in a new report as an embarrassment that could be redressed at low cost and without harm to employers.

“Despite its enthusiasm about ‘family values,’ the U.S. is decades behind other countries in ensuring the well-being of working families,” said Janet Walsh, deputy director of the women’s rights division of Human Rights Watch. “Being an outlier is nothing to be proud of in a case like this.”

Human Rights Watch, based in New York, focuses most of its investigations on abuses abroad. But on Wednesday, with release of a report by Walsh on work/family policies in the U.S., it takes the relatively unusual step of critiquing a phenomenon affecting tens of millions of Americans.

The report, “Failing its Families,” says at least 178 countries have national laws guaranteeing paid leave for new mothers, while the handful of exceptions include the U.S., Swaziland and Papua New Guinea. More than 50 nations, including most Western countries, also guarantee paid leave for new fathers.

Read the whole piece here

Wellstone Action is a national center for training and leadership development in the progressive movement.  Founded in January 2003, Wellstone Action’s mission is to honor the legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone by training, educating, mobilizing and organizing a vast network of progressive individuals and organizations to engage in their tradition of politics.