CWA Celebrates Ballot Measure Victories

California state coordinator Judy Perez campaigns for No on Prop. 32.

UPTE activists hold signs that members have used throughout the University of California system to promote Yes on Prop. 30.

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison drops by a TakeAction Minnesota phone bank and meets state coordinator Mona Meyer.

CWA banded together with a broad coalition of progressive groups to fight for key initiatives on the November ballot.

In California, CWA activists joined labor, social justice, environment and consumer groups to press for a "No vote" on Prop. 32, which would have made it illegal for workers to voluntarily make political contributions through payroll deduction. Voters overwhelming rejected the initiative, agreeing that it was a thinly-disguised right-wing attack on union workers' political voice.

CWA volunteers also worked hard to win a "Yes vote" on Prop. 30, a measure calling for new funding for education and public safety. UPTE-CWA Local 9119 and CWAers across the state battled big corporate dollars to win public support for this initiative and avoid major cuts to education around the state.

In Minnesota, CWAers worked with TakeAction Minnesota to help it become the first state to vote down a voter ID referendum, dealing a crushing blow to the voter suppression tactic.

Voters said yes to marriage equality measures for the first time in Maine, Washington State and Maryland.

Marylanders also approved a state version of the DREAM Act, granting in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants. To qualify, students must attend a Maryland high school for at least three years, and their parents must show they filed state income taxes during that period.

And by big margins, voters in Colorado and Montana approved measures that challenge the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision, which has allowed an obscene flow of corporate and secret dollars into our elections.