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Our Mission
Free The Vote WA is a community of people and organizations who are seeking justice for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors impacted by our criminal legal system. Our mission is to free the vote for our disenfranchised community members through education, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.
Free The Vote WA:
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Promotes policies to end criminal disenfranchisement
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Increases voting participation for incarcerated voters in jails and youth facilities
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Supports voter registration and reintegration for formerly incarcerated community members
Our Values
History - We center and learn from the racist history of voting rights and felony disenfranchisement in America. We acknowledge the intentionality behind the intentional exclusion and removal of people of color from our democracy, which subverts the concept of democracy entirely. This history informs every aspect of our work.
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Accountability - We follow through on commitments to the coalition. We hold each other accountable through honest conversation. We work in service to impacted communities and don't make decisions about people's lives without their explicit consent. We prioritize group conscious over personal interest and our organizations do not take credit for coalition work.
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Centering Racial Equity - We acknowledge that the voting disenfranchisement of Black, Indigenous and People of Color is rooted in racial inequity and racism that goes back centuries and continues until this day. As part of our work to undo systemic racism, we center the voices of those who are systematically oppressed and work towards disrupting the harmful cycles reinforced by those in positions of power.
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Transparency - We communicate our thoughts, plans, and actions honestly and promptly. Transparency allows us to pull from our diverse experiences and perspectives to foster group cohesion.
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Long-term Plans and Strategies - We bear in mind that voting rights restoration is only the first step in enfranchising people. Our short-term goals should support our long-term vision of full re-enfranchisement. We do not engage in strategies that achieve immediate wins but set up challenges for full restoration in the future.
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Empowerment - We center, uplift, and listen to directly impacted and local communities in our work. We take the time to slow down and listen to people with lived experience, rather than centering our work within a white supremacist work culture.