If you are reading this and haven't voted yet, get up and go vote. I know it's hard to tear yourself away from our charming blog, but take the plunge. It will still be here when you get back.

Back yet? Good.

Congratulations on voting, but that, really, is just the beginning. Starting tomorrow, our real work begins. What real work? Educating the legislators we've just elected about the truly deadly flaws in Tennessee's capital punishment system. Why do we have innocent people on Tennessee's death row (does anyone remember Paul House?)? "Senator, do you support executing people in a racist manner?"

Our representatives our elected/ hired to represent our interests when they get to capital hill, so, before they get there, we need to tell them what those interests are. They need to know two crucial facts 1) Tennessee's capital punishment system is broken and 2) Tennesseans are not going to sit by and let such a system (not) work in their names!

With the death penalty, we are in a politically tricky situation. There aren't many districts, in Tennessee or anywhere, in which being against the death penalty plays particularly well. So even if we could endorse candidates (and as a 501(c)3 we can't) we probably wouldn't because it wouldn't be that helpful. And even concerns about the reliability of the system don't always make the best 30 second spot. So we need to help educate officials after they are elected.

Ready to get started?