[Peace] Township Referendum news and opportunities to help

[Randall Cotton]

The press conference last Friday went well - we had many speakers and the
content was compelling. The coverage could have been better -  though we
did wind up with coverage on WILL and WDWS, the TV stations didn't show up
and a scheduling mixup kept the News Gazette away.(they came by at 11AM
instead of 11:30AM - still trying to figure out why).

There was a good article in the News-Gazette yesterday spotlighting the
issue. This should be very helpful.

We are hoping the Daily Illini will run a piece on the township referendum
on Monday - the story has been in the can and ready to go for a few days
already.

Four of us flyered at Farmer's Market yesterday, all morning. At least
among that crowd, many, perhaps even most folks were aware at least
marginally aware of the issue already. But Champaign residents that
frequent the Urbana Farmer's Market probably constitute a somewhat
progressive slice of Champaign.

There are several opportunities remaining to help educate and motivate
voters on this issue:

TODAY: Join the GEO in their phone banking effort to reach 800 graduate
students living in Champaign (plus others in Champaign if there is enough
help). They'll have 8 phones available, but bring your cell phone just in
case.

where: GEO office, 2nd floor, University YMCA
1001 S. Wright St., Champaign

when: TODAY 3-5PM

MONDAY: Flyering on campus, downtown or any other public place where many
Champaign residents gather (Maybe parking lots at Wal-mart or other big
box stores?). I'll be flyering most of the day and will gladly join anyone
else who wishes to flyer anywhere in Champaign. I have about 3000 sunny
yellow flyers already printed. Weather should be ideal.

TUESDAY: Flyering at Champaign polling places. In Illinois it is a
protected right to campaign or advocate for votes near polling places,
just so long as one does so outside the "campaign free zone", which is
generally a 100 ft radius around the polling place (some variations to
this rule exist - I'll post the complete rules later). In all cases, the
outside perimeter of the "campaign free zone" must be clearly marked at
each polling place and we need only stand outside that perimeter. The
weather will continue to be ideal. Wherever there are long lines, in
particular, flyering should be particularly effective as folks will have
time to read the flyer while waiting to vote. I will post a list of
polling places and more details on the campaign free zone later.

Hope you can help in some way...
R