00:00Donald Trump has made much ado about possible voter fraud in many major cities,
00:06many of which are populated by black and brown people.
00:08As someone on the front lines, what's your opinion on this?
00:11Is voter fraud a real issue?
00:14Well, it's interesting that, you know, you talk about voter fraud,
00:17but in fact, over the last, you know, two cycles,
00:22our voting rights have been rolled back.
00:25And that was purposeful done by some opposition.
00:27You know, if black men are voting in record numbers,
00:30all of a sudden now there's this, you know, unforeseen voter fraud.
00:33So we now need to tighten up our election system.
00:36And when you tighten up the election system, what happens is you disenfranchise people.
00:40And when you disenfranchise black voters, you're overwhelmingly disenfranchising black women.
00:45So we are living in the first election post the rollbacks of the Voting Rights Act.
00:51So, you know, what I say to that is we all need to, if you see something, say something.
00:56And do not leave a poll if someone is turning you away.
00:59But you also need to be informed.
01:00So follow our Black Women Vote campaign.
01:02You can follow us at the hashtag Black Women Vote, or you can go online to blackwomenvote.com.
01:08It will give you day-to-day commentary about black women in this election cycle,
01:14but also the things that we need to do to be prepared.
01:18Dana, when you fire up a black woman, she doesn't go to the polls alone.
01:21She brings her house, her block, her church, and her sorority.
01:24And who proves that, for me, every election was my mother until the day she died,
01:29called me and my brothers to ensure that we voted in every election cycle.
01:32So we need to do what black women do, is ensure that we are all prepared,
01:35that we know what ID we need, where we need to vote, who's on the ballot,
01:40who are the candidates that are going to move not only our country forward,
01:45but move the African-American community forward.
01:47So we have 19 days to ensure that we're going to be informed voters,
01:51and prove them wrong, and that we're going to show up and show out at this election cycle.
01:55And Glenda, you brought up a good point, and I want to touch upon it quickly.
01:58If you're at your voting destination and you see somebody's being turned away,
02:02what should someone do if they're being turned away,
02:05or if someone in line next to them is being turned away at the polls?
02:10There's a couple of things you can do.
02:11If you go to our blackwomenvote.com website,
02:14you'll find out information about where you need to report.
02:18The League of Women Voters has an excellent voter protection program.
02:21The Voter Protection Organization has a hotline that I don't want to give the number wrong,
02:27but maybe we can look that up and share that a little later in the program.
02:31But there is a hotline you can call to ensure that if you see something,
02:35that you can report it, and that our national organization and partners across the country
02:39will pay attention to if, indeed, there needs to be an investigation at that poll site.
02:45Thank you, Glenda.
02:45But also you should mention that every poll site in this country has monitors.
02:50So it's also ask the official there if you feel as though something,
02:54that you're being turned away wrongfully.
02:58Wrongfully, definitely.
02:59Glenda, thank you so much for that information.
03:01And of course, we'll have your website across the bottom of our screens
03:03for all of our Essence Live audience,
03:05and you can catch it in the replay to find out more information.
03:07Thank you so much, Glenda, for joining us.
03:09Thank you, Dana.
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