- 2 days ago
Election Protection: What to Know When You Show Up to Vote
Voters need to know where to turn if they encounter problems casting a ballot. Election protection experts will discuss how to seek assistance, report concerns and find reliable information about voting rights. People of color, justice impacted individuals, married women who changed their names have all reported challenges exercising their right to vote. This conversation will provide concrete answers; participants will also hear from people involved in election protection about their experiences, opportunities to volunteer and efforts in courts and legislatures to protect access to the ballot.
Voters need to know where to turn if they encounter problems casting a ballot. Election protection experts will discuss how to seek assistance, report concerns and find reliable information about voting rights. People of color, justice impacted individuals, married women who changed their names have all reported challenges exercising their right to vote. This conversation will provide concrete answers; participants will also hear from people involved in election protection about their experiences, opportunities to volunteer and efforts in courts and legislatures to protect access to the ballot.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00:13Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. My name is Alfonso David.
00:00:19I am a civil rights lawyer and I also serve as the president and the CEO of the Global Black
00:00:25Economic Forum. Tonight, I am pleased to co-host Paint the Post Black, which is a voter awareness,
00:00:31registration, and mobilization initiative tailored to provide you with information and
00:00:37tools for this upcoming election. And tonight, I am pleased to be joined by my co-host, Ebony McMorris,
00:00:44who is a seasoned journalist who has supported this initiative for years. I will give her an
00:00:50opportunity to formally introduce herself. Thank you so much, Alfonso. Hi, everyone. I'm
00:00:55Ebony McMorris, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks. And I am so pleased
00:01:01to be back here tonight to co-host this town hall, Paint the Post Black. So a little bit of
00:01:09background
00:01:09on Paint the Post Black. A few years ago, we launched this initiative. Again, it's a voter
00:01:14awareness, registration, and mobilization initiative. And it is supported by a number
00:01:19of different entities, the Global Black Economic Forum and the Sundial Group of Companies, which
00:01:25includes Essence, the legacy media brand, Girls United, Afropunk, Refinery29, BeautyCon, and the
00:01:34New Voices Foundation. The goal of this initiative is to educate, mobilize, and register voters to
00:01:40take action this November and into the future. We hosted our first town hall two years ago,
00:01:47where we reached more than 200,000 people. And tonight, we are continuing that tradition
00:01:53to provide information to help you navigate this election season. Last week, we launched
00:01:58the 2026 Paint the Poll initiative with some fantastic guests who outline a variety of issues
00:02:05from voter registration to the various ways to vote, early voting, voting by mail, and voting
00:02:12on election day. We also addressed some of the key issues that are facing voters this year. We also
00:02:18addressed misinformation and disinformation that voters are confronting, say, on social media.
00:02:24And then finally, we had a few guests that talked about the power of the vote. Why is this important
00:02:29after all? If you missed any of that, you can watch the full town hall on our YouTube channels. You
00:02:36can
00:02:36go to the Global Black Economic Forum's YouTube channel. You can also find it on Essence's YouTube
00:02:41channel as well. So tonight, we're tackling election protection. What is election protection? Why do you
00:02:50need to be protected in exercising your right to vote? What do you need to know if you are denied
00:02:56the right
00:02:56to vote? What happens if they ask you for multiple forms of identification? What happens if they say
00:03:03you are not registered to vote? What happens if you see only people of color being stopped at the voting
00:03:11booth? Who do you call? And what happens if you want to help those who are confronting problems voting?
00:03:18What can you do? Don't fret. We have the answers to all of these questions, and we'll have experts go
00:03:24through
00:03:25with all the details. And just in case we don't answer all of your questions, or you have additional
00:03:31ones that we don't flag, please send us your questions, and we will make sure that they are
00:03:36answered. Now, before we formally begin, a few housekeeping rules. This is a non-partisan town hall
00:03:43focused on voter registration and mobilization. It is not a fundraising call. There are many other
00:03:49events focused on fundraising. This is not one of them. Also, as Ebony mentioned, we will be answering your
00:03:54questions, so please remember to put your questions into the chat, and we will try to answer as many of
00:04:00those questions as we can both during and at the end of the town hall. Further, please see the link
00:04:07for below for information about voter registration, early voting, and vote by mail. Finally, sit back,
00:04:15relax, and enjoy this town hall. So first, we want to unpack for you all of the issues
00:04:24that relate to election protection, and what is it, and why should it be important to all of us.
00:04:30And to help us unpack this issue, we have a true leader in our space. His name is Damon Hewitt,
00:04:36and he serves as the President and the Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
00:04:42Under Law. Damon brings deep experience of more than 20 years of civil rights litigation and policy
00:04:48experience to the table, and he has worked on election protection issues for years. Damon,
00:04:54thank you so much for joining us. So good to be with you. Thanks for doing this. It's such a
00:04:59service
00:05:00to voters everywhere. Damon, I want to jump in because there's so many questions that we got on this, but
00:05:07for someone who's never heard of election protection, what is it, and why should they care?
00:05:13Right. Well, the term is so ubiquitous, people just hear it all the time, but election protection
00:05:18is a coalition. It's a coalition of over 300 local, state, and national organizations
00:05:24that first came together after the 2000 debacle in Florida with the hanging chads and the Supreme
00:05:29Court. Voters didn't know where to go, where to turn to, especially Black voters and other voters of
00:05:34color. And so a number of civil rights and social justice groups came together to create the election
00:05:39protection coalition. And so we do two basic things. We identify the patterns, the trends,
00:05:45the problems in the moment, but also beforehand, but we also address them and resolve them. Sometimes
00:05:51that means deploying attorney volunteers to talk to election officials. Sometimes it means emergency
00:05:57litigation. Sometimes it means just basically working with an individual voter and helping them
00:06:02navigate what can sometimes be a confusing process. The cornerstone of election protection is the hotline.
00:06:09866-OUR-VOTE. This is the nation's oldest, largest nonpartisan effort. 866-OUR-VOTE. But the
00:06:16hotline is also available in other languages too, and also online at 866-OUR-VOTE.org. In addition to that,
00:06:22we have thousands of attorneys who are trained all around the country to answer calls from voters on
00:06:28this hotline. When you call, you get connected to a trained volunteer that the Lawyers' Committee has
00:06:32trained, recruited, and deployed. There's also lawyers' boots on the ground in about eight or nine
00:06:38key states all around the country, hundreds of them, to respond in a moment, plus over 21,000
00:06:44other volunteers who are not attorneys but are volunteers in their own communities,
00:06:48part of this effort, who are trained by our partners at groups like Common Cause and State
00:06:53Voices. So we are here. We are a lifeline for voters, and we have your back.
00:06:59So, Damon, you've been doing this work, obviously, for a number of years, as I mentioned in the intro,
00:07:05and you've been focused on election protection for many, many election seasons. Why is election
00:07:11protection especially important during this election season, right, where people are voting
00:07:17now for early voting, and they're going to be voting next week? Why is it important this year?
00:07:21Well, think about the number of changes to election processes that have happened, all of the things
00:07:28you read about in the news but that are actually hitting home. The changing of district lines, the
00:07:33racial and political gerrymandering, all of these last-minute efforts at voter purges, the federal
00:07:39government suing over 30 states to try to get access to their voter rolls, an FBI raid on Georgia,
00:07:46Fulton County, Georgia, to get access to voter records, and people, frankly, living in fear
00:07:51at worst and confusion at best. So this is a time when voters need more information than ever. We're
00:07:58at a period of peak voter myths and disinformation, peak voter suppression, peak efforts at voter
00:08:05intimidation. And so election protection is needed now more than ever. You know, I want to even add
00:08:11onto that long list that you gave, Damon, because we see the president now offering a million dollars,
00:08:18almost like putting a bounty on people's heads to turn people in if they suspect voter fraud,
00:08:23and if it leads to investigations. He's saying, I'll give you a million dollars. I mean, it's just
00:08:28ridiculous. So when we talk about some of the biggest challenges, though, facing voters, what are
00:08:34those things when they're just trying to exercise their vote? Right. Well, you know, look, there's one thing
00:08:40this administration's good at is trying to divide people, but we're here at the Lawyers Committee
00:08:44and Election Protection to give people accurate information and to unite them. Look, what's really
00:08:52clear is that people should not have to be fearful or face intimidation just to cast the ballot and
00:08:58participate in the democratic and political process. So don't let anybody do that to you. Unfortunately,
00:09:04we're in this period where there's certain vigilante type groups, groups that even if they're not
00:09:10violent, they're saying, we believe that certain people aren't allowed to vote, certain people aren't
00:09:15eligible, and they're threatening to track people and track people down. There's also the federal
00:09:20government and even some states who seem to be making it their business to make it as difficult
00:09:25as possible for people to cast a ballot. And so what we're saying through election protection,
00:09:30and certainly here at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights is, don't let anyone intimidate you
00:09:35into not exercising your right to vote. These, quote unquote, bounty type efforts, efforts to turn
00:09:41one voter against another, don't let that deter you. Don't let the mis and disinformation deter you. Go to
00:09:48authorized, authoritative and trusted sources like election protection, like your secretary of state,
00:09:55regardless of their political stripes, they're going to have the accurate information for your state,
00:09:59whether we like their rules or not. Those are the rules, so we'll know what's accurate. Be wary of hot
00:10:04takes online that purport to give you accurate information. The hotter the take, the more suspect
00:10:10you should be about whether it's really accurate or whether it's somebody else's agenda. And finally,
00:10:16watch out for AI in the chatbots. People like to use AI and we get that for fun, but AI
00:10:22and chatbots are
00:10:23not your friend when it comes to election information. Even just regular online searches may be generating
00:10:28information that looks authoritative but really is not. Go for the real and distinguish what's real
00:10:35and what's not. So, Damon, we've talked about this. We talked a little bit about this last week,
00:10:40actually, and I want to just unpack what you just said about hot takes, right? So let's just assume
00:10:46you're going to vote early this week or assume that you're going to wait till election day. By the way,
00:10:51we're recommending vote early. But let's just assume you do one or the other. And you hear some
00:10:59information about your voting booth or about the poll hours right before you vote, what should you do?
00:11:06If you see it on social media or you're unclear about whether or not it's actually accurate.
00:11:13Right. Well, look, calling election protection is certainly key. We have eyes, you know, boots on the
00:11:18ground and eyes all over the place. And we can certainly give voters some information about
00:11:23what is known and what is not known. But look, there's so many tens of thousands of voting
00:11:30preachers all around the country. And so what's important is having up to the minute information
00:11:35certainly is challenging. When you go to vote, again, we certainly preach vote early. If you possibly
00:11:41can, don't wait. There's still a few days left in most states to vote early in person or even some
00:11:48states even still voting by mail. You can still request a ballot in some states. Go to a66ivote.org
00:11:53or a66ivote over the phone to get information. But what we say is, if you're going to go vote in
00:11:59person early or on election day, bring someone with you. Don't travel alone. We don't believe that
00:12:05voting booths are unsafe places, but to make sure that you're clear and that somebody has your six on
00:12:11site, try to go together with the friend, with the family member. Even if that person's already voted,
00:12:16they can at least accompany you before you walk inside to cast your ballot. So don't let yourself
00:12:22be deterred by the rumor mill. Try to get as accurate information as you can and make sure you
00:12:27get out there and exercise your right. 866-OUR-VOTE. I need people to know that number like they know
00:12:33their cell phone number because it is really that important for this year. But Damon, can you share,
00:12:39like, give us an example of election protection really making meaningful differences for a voter
00:12:45or a community? I'll tell you two things. One, before I worked for the Lawyers Committee,
00:12:51I was doing disaster recovery relief work as a lawyer down in New Orleans, my home state,
00:12:57my home city of New Orleans, my home state of Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina. And it was a chaotic
00:13:01time. People didn't have their IDs, their records. They lost homes. They lost loved ones, right?
00:13:07And on property. And so I remember being able to help an elderly Black woman who reminded me of my
00:13:13grandmother who had just passed away not too long before. We were able to help her cast her ballot
00:13:18when she was otherwise being told she was being turned away. And what we used was, even though I
00:13:23didn't work for the Lawyers Committee at that time, we used the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline to help people call
00:13:29in
00:13:29tips to get information and even to help me as a volunteer on the ground. And so being one elderly
00:13:36woman vote meant the world to me. And we multiply that by the tens of thousands of people that we
00:13:42touch, by the hundreds of thousands that we reach online. It's so important. One other quick story.
00:13:47In the 2020 election cycle, we got tips into the hotline, the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline, about these
00:13:54robocalls that were being sent out to voters saying, if you vote by mail, bad things will happen. The
00:13:59creditors will use it to collect outstanding debts. Police will use it to execute outstanding warrants.
00:14:03And that the CDC may use it to force mandatory vaccines. At the end, the caller on the robocall
00:14:09said, don't give your information to the man. It turns out two people on a certain spectrum of
00:14:14racism hired a Black woman as a voice actor to record this intentional disinformation, trying to
00:14:20discourage Black folks from voting by mail. Those tips came into the hotline. We deployed lawyers
00:14:26immediately and went to court and got a preliminary injunction to stop it during the early voting period.
00:14:31And those two people were ultimately prosecuted. And we also got a multimillion dollar judgment
00:14:36against them. That was voter intimidation under the Voting Rights Act. And we're using that same
00:14:41statute today to go after other bad actors. We wouldn't have known about what was happening,
00:14:46but for the election protection 866-OUR-VOTE hotline. So we can certainly turn the apparatus of election
00:14:53protection into action to protect lots and lots of voters.
00:14:58So recognizing all of the fantastic work that you all have done within the election protection
00:15:04coalition at the lawyers committee, but let's assume there's someone watching this on YouTube
00:15:10or on Instagram. They are a voter or maybe, you know, they may not be a voter, but they want
00:15:16to help
00:15:17voters and they want to support a fair electoral process. What can an ordinary citizen do to sort of
00:15:23support this work that you and the other members of the coalition have been engaged with?
00:15:28Well, you can vote then volunteer. You can vote early, ideally. You can vote top of election day,
00:15:36but you can also sign up to volunteer at 866-OUR-VOTE.ORG. There's pathways for people who are legal
00:15:41professionals and people who are not able to volunteer, either answering calls from voters on
00:15:47the hotline if you're a lawyer or to be a poll monitor in your own community. It's so important,
00:15:52but also spreading the word. You know, there is a really anti-democratic movement afoot in this
00:15:59country to make it harder for people to vote. Just displaying your sticker that we often get from our
00:16:04polling sites, I voted, doing that loud and proud sends a message, normalizing it. This past Saturday
00:16:10was National Black Man Voter Day and also National Vote Early Day. You know, normalizing the habits of
00:16:17democratic process in our community makes it not just something that other people do, but something
00:16:22that we do and we do it proudly. The best way not to be purged from the voter rolls is
00:16:27to be a chronic
00:16:28voter. The best way to have your voice heard is to lift it up and use it, and your vote
00:16:33is your voice.
00:16:34Dammit, let me ask you, I know you touched on it before, but I really want voters to really feel
00:16:40protected. So what should voters do if they encounter a problem, they feel intimidated?
00:16:47Because, you know, even in the work that I'm doing, I'm talking to people and I'm encouraging
00:16:52people to vote early because I want them to make sure that, first of all, their names have not been
00:16:56purged off the rolls, right? And then two, just to get past some of the, just some of the,
00:17:04just the, the, the attacks that have come against just everyday voters.
00:17:11So here's the thing. If you fear that there's someone trying to intimidate you, whether it be
00:17:16online, email, text message, commercial, on air, radio, or TV, or pop-up ad online, or worse yet,
00:17:26in person, the number one thing to do is to ensure your safety. You know, we have ancestors who died
00:17:32for
00:17:32that right to vote. We don't want people to be in any type of physical danger in 2026 or beyond,
00:17:38right? We have to be past that. So make sure you are safe and feel safe. I mentioned earlier,
00:17:44if you go, when you go to vote in person, whether it be on the election day or hopefully before,
00:17:48travel with someone, go with someone to the extent that the, the state law allows someone to walk in
00:17:54with you or at least walk up to the door on the entrance with you so that you actually have
00:17:58a buddy,
00:17:58right? And we, again, normalize that right to vote. But you should also notify the on-site
00:18:03election officials because, you know, one of the most frustrating things is for our community,
00:18:08for people to say there are problems and election officials to say there's nothing to see here.
00:18:12We have to be in their face in a tactful way and tell them, here's what we're experiencing,
00:18:17here's what we're seeing, here's what we're worried about. But we also want you to call 866-OUR-VOTE
00:18:21or visit us online at 866-OUR-VOTE.ORG to document. Because when you call, you're not just talking
00:18:28one person to one lawyer. We actually have a password protected database that protects all
00:18:33this information and collects all these narratives about what's happening to voters around the country
00:18:39and allows us to work with a network around the country to spring into action. And so it's so
00:18:44critically important that we're able to document what's happening so that we can act upon what's
00:18:49happening. And we will follow up with voters who reach out if they wish for follow-up. So it
00:18:55doesn't just go into a black hole. We actually will make sure we resolve the issue as best we can.
00:19:01So, Damon, you've provided a wealth of information for folks. And I'm going to ask you an unfair
00:19:07question. This is our last question before we let you go. If you could leave voters with one message,
00:19:14and I know that's unfair because you've given us a lot of messages, but if you could leave voters with
00:19:18one message about election protection before they cast their ballots, what would that message be?
00:19:25Well, look, we've been gerrymandered. We've been voter suppressed. We've been silenced. We've been
00:19:33questioned. They've tried to intimidate us. But all these things are happening at the same time,
00:19:38yet this is not the end of our story. We have to write the next chapters together. And that starts
00:19:45with
00:19:46exercising your right to vote. I'm not going to tell people that voting is the only thing,
00:19:50it's the only way to engage. But if it wasn't so important, they wouldn't be trying to silence us.
00:19:56They wouldn't be trying to take it away from us. They wouldn't be trying to dilute our voting strength.
00:20:01So the most powerful thing we can do, the best and the biggest act of resistance,
00:20:05resistance is to cast your ballot and make it stick. Wow. Thank you so much, Damon. We appreciate
00:20:14all the information and just stay strong because I know you've been in the trenches for a long time.
00:20:21And the work that you all are doing is really definitely going to pay off. I want to thank you
00:20:26for doing that. Appreciate you a lot. Thank you, Damon. Appreciate you.
00:20:32And we also want to shout out all of our Essence viewers on IG. We want to thank everybody who
00:20:39is
00:20:39going to be who's joining us now. And we are grateful for those who will be coming and joining
00:20:45us throughout the remainder of the show. Nights like this are so important. And Alfonso,
00:20:50thank you for allowing me to come and even co-host with you on tonight. I appreciate it.
00:20:54Anytime. It is our joy to have you co-host this event with us. And
00:20:58you've now done it a number of years and it's a joy to have you back.
00:21:02We're going to keep pushing. We're going to keep fighting these devils together.
00:21:05So now that we understand what election protection is and why it matters, let's talk to the people who
00:21:13do also do the work on the ground. Camille Winbush, she is the national director of campaigns and field
00:21:21programs at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Also joining us is Shaylin Cochran,
00:21:26a prominent civil rights attorney who serves as the deputy executive director at the Lawyers
00:21:32Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She previously served as a senior official within the U.S. Department
00:21:38of Justice. Welcome. Welcome, Camille. Welcome, Shaylin. Thank you both for joining us.
00:21:47So we're going to have a slew of questions for you both, but we're not worried. We know that you're
00:21:51imminently qualified to answer all of them. We're going to talk both about volunteering as an election
00:21:58protection volunteer or person. And then we also want to talk about some of the legal challenges that
00:22:05people confront and how you resolve them. So, but let's just start this conversation with,
00:22:10and Damon mentioned this before he left, that you can become an election protection volunteer.
00:22:15So one of the questions we have for you is, and either of you can certainly answer this question,
00:22:21but what inspires people to become election protection volunteers in your experience?
00:22:28I can start. From my experience, people really enjoy the work that it's a way for people to engage
00:22:36in a nonpartisan way. And they are able to really directly impact voters. So it ends up being very
00:22:43gratifying to know that you're directly involved in helping someone be able to cast their ballot and
00:22:49have that immediate sense of just because I helped and was able to give this advice, I know that this
00:22:55one
00:22:55person was able to, and multiply that over many and people keep coming back for more.
00:23:00So I'm going to ask you a quick follow-up because someone may say, okay, yes, that resonates with me,
00:23:04but do I have to give up my whole day? Do I have to skip work if I need to
00:23:09volunteer? How many hours
00:23:11do I have to put in if I wanted to volunteer as an election protection volunteer?
00:23:16So election protection can be very flexible for folks' schedules. So oftentimes it could be doing as
00:23:22little as two or three hours shift. It really varies by state, but it doesn't mean that you
00:23:26need to give up your whole day. So if you're needing to get your kids off to school or needing
00:23:31to be home
00:23:31for dinner, you're able to sort of work around your particular schedule to be able to volunteer your
00:23:36time. Okay. I just wanted to make sure we cover that because that will be, you know, when we talk
00:23:41about the inspiration to do this work, we also have to talk about some of the practical things that
00:23:45people have to confront when they volunteer. So I wanted to get that out the way. But Ebony,
00:23:50you want to ask the next question? Yeah, absolutely. For Shaylin, how,
00:23:55or have you encountered situations where voters were confused about their rights or unsure
00:24:01of whether they could cast a ballot? Yeah. Yeah. Thanks so much, Ebony,
00:24:06for that question. And thanks to you and Alfonso for, for having us tonight. We, we see that happen
00:24:12all the time in the, the number one, one of the most common questions we get on the election
00:24:17protection hotline is simply folks asking about how they can check their registration status,
00:24:21or particularly this year, people confused about their polling site. Is it the same place they voted
00:24:27for the last three years or in the midst of all of the redistricting awards that we've seen,
00:24:31has their polling site changed? We also see things like Damon talked about earlier in our program
00:24:37tonight, things like people reporting voter intimidation. So it really runs the gamut.
00:24:42Nothing is too small to call the hotline and nothing is too large to call the hotline.
00:24:46866 our vote. You're going to be tired of us saying it by the end of the broadcast tonight,
00:24:50but we want people to call for anything big and small. We have volunteers standing by
00:24:55ready to assist people on all issues. So Shaylin, a quick follow up on that,
00:25:01because I assume that you've been confronted with this before. What do you do or how do you respond
00:25:08when a voter contacts you and they say they've been turned away from a polling pace or their name
00:25:15is not on the voter list? How do you respond to that? How do you manage that?
00:25:20Yeah, it's no surprise that particularly for our volunteers who are lawyers, the first thing is
00:25:26to ask more questions. What are you being told? Are you told that you're not on the list altogether? Are
00:25:32you
00:25:32told you're not on the list for that polling site? Really kind of digging into the information that
00:25:37people have to get to the bottom of what they're being told and why. We have extensive training as
00:25:44Camille was lifting up. So the folks who volunteer with us don't have to figure this out on the spot,
00:25:49but we have really deep FAQ documents. We have a team of captains, seasoned volunteers,
00:25:55some folks who've been volunteering with election protection for several decades at this point,
00:25:59standing by to help answer questions. But we really try to walk through the steps of what are
00:26:03you being told with specifics, with details, and then trying to walk through, have you registered?
00:26:09Can we look things up on our line and other resources we can deploy to assist the voter in real
00:26:13time?
00:26:15Let me go back to Camille because I've actually spoken to a lot of people who wanted to become
00:26:22volunteers. What kind of training do they get or what training do volunteers receive to ensure that
00:26:28they're actually giving accurate, nonpartisan information?
00:26:33Yeah, that's a great question. So one of the things we absolutely do impress is the need to
00:26:38stay nonpartisan. A lot of folks who may call the hotline or voters who are out at polling locations,
00:26:45they may naturally want to engage in some type of political discourse or perhaps they want to vent
00:26:50a particular feeling about a candidate. So our volunteers really are trained to not engage in that.
00:26:56We are here to answer basic questions. How do I vote? Where do I get my ballot? When is my
00:27:03early
00:27:04voting windows? Things of that nature. So just the basics of walking them through the easy steps to be
00:27:12able to cast their ballot is what we train folks on. So again, no election law experience is necessary.
00:27:18We give people who are supporting our hotline really detailed instructions on how to find the resources
00:27:25and how to reach out for help because we have folks who are in the chats who are there to
00:27:31assess and
00:27:32sort of oversee any voter issue that may come up. So folks can feel comfortable to jump in and to
00:27:38try out
00:27:39volunteering and see how exactly it works and get comfortable. And again, folks come back again and
00:27:45because they really enjoy the experience. So I'm going to probe you on that just a little bit
00:27:51because I assume in some situations it gets pretty tense, right? A voter is denied the right to vote.
00:27:59The voter is being asked for multiple forms of ID. The voter is being told no. How do you remain
00:28:04calm and
00:28:05impartial when tensions may potentially get very, very high at a polling place? And how do you train volunteers to
00:28:12do that?
00:28:14So for our volunteers that may be out and polling location, we call those folks poll monitors. So
00:28:19they're there. They're trained to be our eyes and our ears of what's happening. They're also trained
00:28:24to just be a friendly face. So it can just be as easy as smiling, waving, making sure the voters
00:28:31feel
00:28:31safe and comfortable. We also train folks on not to engage and not to escalate a situation. So the first
00:28:39order of business is to really just sort of make sure that everybody there seems safe. The second
00:28:44order of business will be to report it to a voting official. And the third order of business is making
00:28:49sure that the voters are able to actually be able to cast their ballot without any interference. So
00:28:55we have voters standing by. We have volunteers standing by. We have folks who are watching on the
00:29:01back end of any of these voter problems that get reported. And we also have those folks who are trained
00:29:06to intervene as well. So we've got many eyes and ears on the situation to make sure that things stay
00:29:11safe. And Shaylin, I think that point is so important because a lot of voters don't know
00:29:18what their legal rights are. So can you talk about what legal rights every eligible voter needs to
00:29:24understand before going to the polls so they don't fall for any okie doke? Yeah, that's right.
00:29:30Thanks, Ebony, for that question. We don't want anybody falling for the okie doke on our watch,
00:29:34especially this year. So a couple of key facts to lift up. The first is that particularly when you
00:29:40are in your booth, you have the right to privacy. You have the right to be with your ballot, completing
00:29:45your ballot, and really going through that sacred right of casting your ballot on behalf of whatever
00:29:51people or issues are top of mind for you. You have the right to ask questions. If someone tells
00:29:57you you're not on the ballot, you're not on the registration list, you don't have to take that
00:30:01as the end of the conversation. Always being willing to ask a follow-up, getting more information
00:30:06with details. If they're telling you you need to cast a provisional ballot, being sure to ask why,
00:30:11what do I need to do to clarify my voter registration status on the back end. So you always have
00:30:17the
00:30:17right to ask for questions and even for assistance. You always have the right as well to call 866-OUR
00:30:25-VOTE,
00:30:25the hotline. Again, we cannot stress enough. If you have a question, if you're trying to work
00:30:30something out in real time, you don't have to work it out alone. We are standing by with volunteers
00:30:35around the clock and around the country to ensure that voters have the ability to talk to someone
00:30:41and to get that assistance that they need. So we're throwing around sort of these words,
00:30:48and we certainly talked a little bit about this with Damon, voter intimidation or interference with
00:30:54voting or discrimination. So can we just make it a little bit more granular for folks? Give us some
00:31:01examples. Because if I go in to vote and I think that I'm being intimidated, give me an example of
00:31:08what that would mean. Or if I believe I'm a victim of discrimination, what are a few examples? Or someone
00:31:14is interfering with my right to vote? What are examples of that? So folks can connect specific
00:31:20examples with the terms that we're using. So for voter intimidation, discrimination, or even
00:31:26unlawful interference with voting, what are some examples of conduct that may constitute some of those
00:31:32things? Yeah, I'll start the list off and Kim, I may want to jump in to round it out. But
00:31:38physical
00:31:39acts of violence or even threats of physical acts of violence, physically blocking someone from
00:31:44entering a polling site, blocking you from entering a booth. Voter intimidation can be things like
00:31:51surveilling you, watching you, recording you without your permission, following you into or around a
00:31:56polling site. It can be threats of legal actions if you pursue your right to vote, or things like
00:32:02criminal prosecutions. As Damon noted in a prior lawsuit that the Lawyers Committee was involved in,
00:32:09where people received robocalls suggesting that if they gave, if they voted, their information would
00:32:14be given to the CDC and forced vaccinations would be present. That type of misinformation and
00:32:21disinformation that threatens some sort of retaliatory action, punitive action is threats. It's coercive
00:32:27action that federal law and state law in many places in the country bar as voter intimidation. Here again,
00:32:34you don't have to figure it out alone. These laws are very fact specific. The case law is still
00:32:39developing in this area. If you see something or if someone makes you feel threatened, if it gives you
00:32:45pause, if it makes you feel uncomfortable, you don't have to figure out on your own, is this voter
00:32:50intimidation? Speaking to a poll worker, speaking to a poll monitor and our election protection ecosystem, if
00:32:56they're there on site, calling it into the 866, our vote hotline, all these things are available to you so
00:33:02that you don't
00:33:02have to do the work in real time to figure out if something is giving rise to to voter intimidation.
00:33:08But the type of examples I lifted up are things that should be top of mind for voters this season.
00:33:13Camille, I wanted you to chime in on that same thing because we know that there's a threat of
00:33:18thousands of poll monitors going to various locations and the way that is being put to the
00:33:25public is stirring up some fear. So what should voters know about the rules that govern poll watchers,
00:33:30election observers, and campaigning near polling places?
00:33:35Well, yeah, I think following the trend that Shailen was setting out, again, these folks who
00:33:41are at polling locations don't have the right to interfere with your voting. They don't have the
00:33:45right to make it feel that you're uncomfortable. And so if anything that anyone is doing at a polling
00:33:52location is giving you pause, we want to know about that information and we want to be able to
00:33:57intervene on your behalf. And so sometimes that could be a matter of, as Shailen was mentioning,
00:34:05like folks are monitoring you. Maybe they're taking pictures. Maybe they're scanning license plates.
00:34:10Maybe they're standing too close. Each state may have different rules about how
00:34:16the polling place conduct is permissible or not. And so we want you to be able to reach out to
00:34:22us if
00:34:23anything is feeling uncomfortable for you. And so that voters know that essentially voting should
00:34:29be a safe space. This should be a celebratory act. And we don't want anyone to put fear in the
00:34:35way of
00:34:36being able to exercise our vote. I just want to amplify that point because I think
00:34:41some people believe that those instances of intimidation were from the 60s or from the 50s.
00:34:49But unfortunately, we're seeing some of those instances of intimidation today where your license
00:34:56plate is being photographed or when you get out of your car and you're walking to the polling location,
00:35:03people are taking pictures of you. And the question is, are they state officials or not?
00:35:08Are they working for the state or not working for the state? Is there someone within the voting booth
00:35:13or the voting location that can stop that individual from actually taking photos of you?
00:35:19To the point that you're making, I just want to amplify for folks, you don't have to figure it out.
00:35:24Just simply call the number and explain what's happening so that you can get the appropriate
00:35:29support you need. One additional question I want to ask you all on this is on provisional ballots.
00:35:35If you can talk about what is a provisional ballot, there might be instances where someone goes into
00:35:41a voting booth and they may have to cast a provisional ballot. What is that and how can
00:35:48they make sure that the provisional ballot is being counted?
00:35:52Sure, I can start with that. So a provisional ballot is really just a ballot that is cast because
00:35:57there is something that the poll worker is uncertain about their eligibility to vote. So sometimes that may
00:36:03occur if, for instance, you should come and you don't have an acceptable form of ID. Maybe your
00:36:09driver's license, you have it, but it's expired. And they say, sorry, you can't use that in this state.
00:36:14Or maybe you have a student ID and they won't accept it. So they may offer you a provisional ballot.
00:36:20Other examples may be that perhaps you were on the record for requesting an absentee ballot and you got
00:36:26the ballot and then you decided, I don't feel, I don't think I'm going to get this ballot back in
00:36:30time.
00:36:31I changed my mind. I want to go vote in person. And so that can be permissible as well, but
00:36:36they
00:36:36may have a notation in the poll book. They don't want you to double vote. So there's essentially a
00:36:40question about whether or not you're eligible to vote. And so they're going to make extra sure
00:36:45by giving you a ballot that will be sort of reviewed after the election day, November 3rd has
00:36:52passed and election officials will make sure that you have all the required information and you've met
00:36:56all of the criteria. And then if so, they will count that ballot. So the critical thing to do
00:37:01is if you are given a provisional ballot or told you need to cast a provisional ballot, number one,
00:37:06pause, ask for information about why you're being offered that. If that information doesn't feel
00:37:11sufficient to you, you can stop and go to your phone and call 866 and get more support from that
00:37:18vantage point. And then thirdly, if you cast your provisional ballot, you want to make sure that you are
00:37:23following up. That poll worker should be giving you information about who to contact and the number
00:37:28to contact within a certain number of days to determine whether there's anything extra that
00:37:33may be needed. So for instance, you may need to come to the elections office and provide that voter
00:37:38ID that you didn't have on election day. We're coming to the end of this segment, but I just want
00:37:44to make
00:37:44sure that we have covered all the bases and what you really want people to know. So just to both
00:37:49of
00:37:50you and I'll start with you, Camille, if someone here remembers only one thing from tonight's
00:37:54discussion or something that we have not covered yet, what should it be? So I know I'm a broken
00:38:01record here, but I think the main thing to do is just to bookmark to save 866-hour vote into
00:38:07your phone,
00:38:08because that is the number where there is a live person in most cases who's going to be standing by
00:38:14to take your phone call or to answer your text message, to be able to answer any voting question that
00:38:19may occur. And then the second thing would be to just have a plan. Just make sure that you are
00:38:25thinking about your actual election day or your early voting schedule and decide, am I going to
00:38:31vote by mail? Do I have enough time to get my ballot in? Do I know the steps that are
00:38:36necessary? Do I have
00:38:36the postage? Do I have the ID that's marked? Am I following the directions to a T? And then if
00:38:44not,
00:38:44if you're going to vote in person, just make sure you understand the rules of the road for your
00:38:47state. So that, you know, checking the ID, knowing where to go and being prepared and feeling like
00:38:53you've got all the information at the ready. So that would be my advice to folks who are
00:38:58really just trying to figure out the rules of the road this year.
00:39:02And Shaylin, your last comments?
00:39:05Yeah, you don't have to figure it out alone. Please don't hesitate to call, to text, to send an email
00:39:11to
00:39:11866-OUR-VOTE. We have more information at 866-OUR-VOTE.ORG. And finally, as a reminder for
00:39:17folks in nearly every, not all, but many places in the country, Election Day represents the last
00:39:23opportunity to vote. Voting early as part of your plan is a way to ensure that, particularly in this
00:39:29election cycle, if you do have an issue, if there is something that is amiss, you'll have time and
00:39:34the ability to access resources like 866-OUR-VOTE to ensure your voice is counted this election cycle.
00:39:39So again, Election Day is the last opportunity in most places in this country to cast your ballot,
00:39:45not the first. Thank you.
00:39:49Shaylin and Camille, thank you so much for joining us and providing us with that wealth of information.
00:39:53And for folks, please, please take the 800 number that they were referencing. Make sure you bookmark it
00:39:59and reach out to the Lawyers Committee and the Coalition if you need support on Election Day
00:40:04and certainly during election season. Thank you again.
00:40:08Thank you for having us.
00:40:10You're welcome. So now that we've unpacked election protection and the mechanics
00:40:17that support it, we want to talk briefly about our future. Sort of what are we fighting for? Yes,
00:40:22we're fighting to make sure we maintain our democracy. Yes, we're fighting to make sure
00:40:25that individual rights and liberties are protected, but we're also fighting for a future
00:40:30in a future that is inclusive and reflective of the promise of this country. And what better way to
00:40:36explore that future than to talk to the people who embody it, the young people. Approximately 49.3
00:40:43million people, 49.3 million people between ages 18 and 29 were eligible to vote in 2024,
00:40:52according to the U.S. Census. That represents about 20% of all eligible voters for contents.
00:40:59Eligible voters between 18 and 19 make up 49 million people. All eligible voters make up 245
00:41:07million voters. Now, the number of young voters will, of course, increase substantially over time.
00:41:14And for this election and into the future, we wanted to talk to those voters about what is
00:41:19important to them as they face this year's midterm elections and how they envision the future.
00:41:25We often hear people talk about students. Tonight, we want to hear from you. What are you experiencing,
00:41:33what your peers are asking, and what meaningful support looks like. Joining us are Tatiana James from
00:41:40North Carolina A&T State University, Benjamin McDonald from Bethune-Cookman University,
00:41:48and Tavon Blair, a Dillard alum and co-founder of ICE leader, I'm sorry, Excel leader,
00:41:54home of the nationwide Vote HBCU program. Thank you all for being here.
00:42:05Hello. How are you all doing? How are you guys? Good. So, we see that Benjamin is
00:42:13spinning a little bit. So, we will wait to see if he can join us. Benjamin, are you with us?
00:42:19Okay. So, he may be having some technical problems. So, Benjamin will join us when he can.
00:42:26Let's start with you, Tatiana. As we think about this year's election, think about the conversations
00:42:34that are happening on your campus about this election. What are you hearing? What are the
00:42:40concerns or the questions that you're hearing from your fellow students that you wish more people would
00:42:47take seriously? Absolutely. So, first of all, thank you all for having me this evening. My name is Tatiana
00:42:53James. I'm a senior criminal justice student attending North Carolina A&T State University.
00:42:58And what a lot of people don't know, more recently in the past week, I'm sure everyone has seen
00:43:03the cameras being on A&T with the march to the polls that we did, the march for Nolan Wells.
00:43:08A&T has always been on the front lines of the fight for justice. But what a lot of people
00:43:13don't
00:43:13know is this fight has really been extended into over about three years. I got involved with this fight
00:43:19last year when the Board of Elections in Guilford County told us that they would not be giving us
00:43:23an early voting polling site on our campus, which was not usual for us seeing that it is an important
00:43:29primary election. But a lot of students seen that and it just became another barrier to get them to
00:43:34vote. As you all may know, it's really hard to get students within our age range engaged with voting,
00:43:41engaged with civic engagement. And so then that imposed another barrier. So now we have to find ways
00:43:47to get students off campus to vote during early voting because we don't want students waiting until voting
00:43:51day. We know what that looks like right now with the political climate in our university.
00:43:55So those are really the questions that students have been asking us. If our vote is, it really
00:44:00didn't matter. Why would they be doing this to take it away? But what we've been doing is flipping
00:44:04that. If your vote didn't matter, they wouldn't be trying so hard to take it away. So that's kind
00:44:07of our fight right now in North Carolina A&T.
00:44:11Tavon, let me come to you. I kind of want you to piggyback off that answer and something Tatiana
00:44:16said, you know, that it is hard to engage sometimes younger generations. And so we always
00:44:22trying to figure out why is that? What is that? So when you think about our freedom to shape the
00:44:28future, talk about what that means. But why also is there such a challenge?
00:44:34I think the biggest thing that our students are faced with is always being told who to vote for
00:44:39and never give an opportunity to actually think about what issues are impacting them daily.
00:44:46What are the experiences of what it means to show up and vote outside of just being told what to
00:44:51do?
00:44:51And so one thing the vote HBCU tries to do with our students is allow them to create these different
00:44:58realities of what they may experience throughout their day, whether it's back home in Chicago or going
00:45:03school in Louisiana. What are those things that may frustrate you to help you understand and make
00:45:08politics personal for you? And so I feel like when people are talking to college students,
00:45:13specifically HBCU students, they ignore all those different experiences they may go through
00:45:18and they just want them to just go turn out for an election. And I think it's our job to
00:45:22make sure
00:45:22the students are understanding what they may experience and how that connects back to politics.
00:45:26And so specifically for Gen Z students, everything's on social media, everything is being posted
00:45:32constantly in front of their faces. And so how do we make those things personal for them that relate
00:45:38to their lives and not just something they're just scrolling past on social media? And so we're just
00:45:42very intentional with mentioning that our students, they find those things and connecting to their
00:45:47friends and getting more people to talk and understand what organizing looks like in a digital platform too.
00:45:52Can I piggyback off of that? And this is for all of our students basically, because
00:45:58how much information do you have to correct when you talk to students from stuff that they get on
00:46:03social media? Because I've talked even, I'm not even going to call out people in the family, but
00:46:07students that I know. And I'm just like, where did you get that from? And Benjamin, we haven't heard from
00:46:15you yet. So I'll start with you on that question. How often do you find yourself correcting or
00:46:20like going against a lot of the misinformation and disinformation?
00:46:24No, of course. So we know that now and days social media is the go-to, the be it, be
00:46:33all for
00:46:33everyone in their source of information. But social media doesn't always provide the accurate
00:46:38information when you're spreading it out there. So when I interact with my student body on a daily,
00:46:42I'm kind of just getting conversations about some things that which they may have thought happened
00:46:49or thought were beneficial to them. But they didn't really know what it was for. I know I had a
00:46:54conversation with a student today in regards to the current election. And she told me that the people
00:47:00running for governor was Angie Nixon. And so I was like, you know, we got to fix that. We had
00:47:07a full
00:47:07conversation on who was running for governor of Florida and who was running in every other position,
00:47:12who she could possibly vote for. And it really was kind of disheartening to know or to see that
00:47:18students are out there going and not verifying information that they get or, you know, asking
00:47:24people around them to help them verify the information.
00:47:27So, Tayvon, just sort of going to you on this, because this is a, unfortunately,
00:47:34an increasing problem that we're seeing across the country, where people are having difficulty
00:47:39finding reliable voting information while they're attending college or university. So what are you all
00:47:45doing to make sure that students can get accurate information about voting, about candidates, about
00:47:52elections generally? Is there an infrastructure or a process that you are using to make sure that
00:47:59people are getting reliable voting information? We help them understand fact-checking and knowing
00:48:06what a reliable source looks like. And so the importance of, like, thinking about black media,
00:48:10that we let them know that is a reliable source as well. But how do you verify by finding two
00:48:14or three
00:48:15platforms that find that accurate information they're posting? Of course, you have your standards,
00:48:19like the MSNBC, CNN, and stuff like that. But how do you find where, if you see a blog post
00:48:26that's
00:48:26posting a, like we say, here's the post, here's the big bold letters. That's not what we're trying
00:48:32to get our students to see as a factual source. A lot of the students, they want to be intentional
00:48:36with sharing information out to their peers, but we have to teach them how do you fact-check and don't
00:48:41be trying to be the first person to get that out there. And so the steps that we do with
00:48:44them is
00:48:45saying, before you go and share this in a group chat, put this on social media or your story,
00:48:49make sure you are verifying that information. And that if the information has not been checked by
00:48:54three viable sources, you should not be showing that out there. And that viable source check with
00:48:59them is understanding, have you seen different stories from this different platform that have
00:49:04been confirmed as accurate information? And is the information they're showing, is it reliable?
00:49:09Is it something that you have verified multiple times? So it's more so not wanting to put down any
00:49:15like unrecognizable sources for them, but making sure that they can at least find three or four
00:49:20sources that confirm what they're doing and maybe waiting a little bit. Sometimes a lot of students
00:49:24want to display the first person to post, and it's like, wait 15 minutes, wait an hour, and let's just
00:49:28see how that information goes before you be the first person to get it wrong. Don't be that person.
00:49:35Tatiana, I want to ask you, and Benjamin actually, what does, when you talk, when we talk about
00:49:41student-led civic education, what does that look like when students set the agenda themselves? Have you
00:49:48seen like peer discussions, student journalism, or campus forums really help people understand issues
00:49:54more clearly? Absolutely. I actually got into this work maybe about a couple of years ago. I took a
00:50:02non-traditional student route. I didn't start in student government or anything. I started within
00:50:07my chapter of the NAACP, where I currently serve as the president. And then I met Tavon, and I got
00:50:12involved with VoteHBCU. And so that kind of gave me the platform and the resources that I needed to be
00:50:17able to talk to students about what was going on on the ballot. I think students are more receptive to
00:50:23information when it's a close-knit group that you're talking about it. So it's not like a big platform
00:50:29where they feel like they can't come to you. And also something that I've just been so proud
00:50:33of in this election, my friends feel comfortable with me coming and saying, Tatiana, where do I go
00:50:38to vote? Tatiana, how do I go to vote? Tatiana, who is this? What does the Attorney General do? What
00:50:42does somebody in the Senate do? So I think it's about accessibility. I mean, it's also about being on
00:50:48that same level as students. When they see somebody that looks like them and that is able to break it
00:50:52down,
00:50:52they're more inclined to come into this space and then help somebody else know. The amount of students that
00:50:57I've seen turn out to vote just within the last two weeks, we have had record-breaking numbers here
00:51:01in Guilford County and Greensboro. And that is because more students have come into this space.
00:51:06It's not just the criminal justice majors. It's not just the political science majors or the law
00:51:10students. It's people from all over. We have engineering, biology, because people understand now
00:51:15that the issues don't just affect us, it's affecting everyone. But that's what I think has been for me recently.
00:51:22Benjamin? To that question, you know, if you know anything about Bethune-Cookman University, you know
00:51:29that it was founded by a lovely woman named Dr. Bethune and her background in civic engagement
00:51:34and education and policy, right? So being at that institution, right, where our founder literally laid the
00:51:41groundwork, right? She took off running in that work. The conversations are constant, right? There's
00:51:49politics and pizza. There's we're bringing down senators and representatives to our campus and
00:51:54they're talking to us. We're bringing out city managers and they're talking to us and making
00:51:58sure that we understand the importance of voting and of civic engagement. I know there's organizations
00:52:05who've hosted voter registration, dorm rushing, where they've hosted 100 or registered 100 voters on
00:52:10campus. There's students who are hosting marches to the polls right now, constantly as we speak.
00:52:16And just engagement is just at an all-time high right now, especially with this election cycle.
00:52:22And us knowing the fact that 200 students marched to the polls last year and only 37 from our institution
00:52:26voted. Knowing that simple fact made everyone want to get out there much more and really start
00:52:35that conversation much more.
00:52:37So I want to ask this question of all three of you. We had a town hall last week where
00:52:43we talked
00:52:44about the issues, right? The issues that people are talking about that are driving them to engage
00:52:49in voting, in some cases for the first time. I want to start with you, Tayvan and then Tatiana and
00:52:55Benjamin. What is the most, what is the issue that you hear most often that people are concerned
00:53:01about, the students are concerned about, and that's driving them to actually vote? Tayvan,
00:53:06start with you. What is the issue? It could be the economy, it could be immigration, it could be
00:53:10cost of living. What is the issue that you're hearing about most often from the students on campus?
00:53:17The issue that a lot of these students talk about is the cost of education. We're seeing the
00:53:22different things happen on the state level and the federal level. Students are unsure what the next
00:53:26semester will look like, what next fall will look like, and even how those attacks are impacting our
00:53:30HBCUs. So the students are talking about what's happening politically around the world, but also
00:53:36how their schools are being impacted. So these HBCU students are hearing conversations about how state
00:53:41funding is being allocated, seeing how the Pell Grant will be allocated in the next academic year for them.
00:53:49So they're trying to figure out if they can even afford their college education and ensuring that those
00:53:54scholarships and funding opportunities continue to be reliable for them. So that is the key thing that
00:53:59a lot of these college students are talking about. And there's a list of other things, but their education
00:54:02is number one for them right now. Tatiana? Yeah, I will definitely agree with Tavon and the education,
00:54:09but I would definitely say students are becoming more woke. They are starting to see that the unchecked
00:54:14acts that are coming from this federal administration, they're not okay with it. They're starting to see
00:54:19that a lot of these things are not unconstitutional, or they're not constitutional, excuse me. And so
00:54:24students are tapping into that and they're seeing they don't like what's going on with ICE. They don't
00:54:29like the rising gas prices. They don't like the rising cost of living, because as we're graduating,
00:54:33we're moving into our graduate studies. There's now been a cap put on any of those. So for example,
00:54:38with me with law school, if I'm going into my first year, that cap has been significantly decreased on
00:54:43what I can borrow from. So because these things are starting to affect students in real time,
00:54:48and they're seeing that they don't like what they're seeing, they don't like what they're
00:54:52being hearing and stuff and like that from the administration, they're starting to be affected
00:54:57by it real time. So I think it's a plethora of events that are going on. Benjamin, what about you?
00:55:02What's the what's the most common concern that you hear from students? Of course, I'd have to agree
00:55:08with Tavon and Tatiana on that one. Education right now is the central message or the central idea
00:55:14which students are kind of surrounding around. When it comes to knowing if their degree will be
00:55:20considered professional or not, when it comes to Pell Grants, because I myself am a Pell Grant
00:55:24recipient. That is how I pay for school. That is how I go to school. So we have all these
00:55:28students
00:55:29in fear of what might happen to their programs and what might happen to their aid, in fear if they're
00:55:34going to go into debt at the end of their four years or if they might have to stay an
00:55:38additional year.
00:55:40The students are scared. It's a tough time to be in financially. It's a tough time to be in
00:55:46and educationally, right? It's just a tough time all around. And those are the conversations we hear
00:55:51time and time again. Before we close it, I really want each of you all, because there I'm sure are
00:55:57going to be a lot of young people watching this and officials, but what is one thing you want
00:56:03university leaders, public officials, or national organizations to understand about treating students
00:56:10as ongoing partners in civic life? I'll start with you, Tatiana.
00:56:16Wow, yes. So first, I want to touch on university leaders. All of us in this call, well, both me
00:56:22and
00:56:22Ben are both HBCU students. And so I want to talk about preserving the history of our HBCUs. We wouldn't
00:56:29be here today if our ancestors hadn't got up and said, we need somewhere to go. So I think that's
00:56:33on the forefront for me. But the next for leaders, I would tell them to look around. College students
00:56:39have always been on the front lines of these fights. John Lewis, young leaders, he was 21 years
00:56:44old when he was in the streets marching. And that's us today. Just like I said earlier, we've made numbers
00:56:49in Guilford County within just the first few days of early voting. So if you don't think college
00:56:54students are tapped in, if you don't think the young people are tapped in, they very much are.
00:56:57And we're coming over to take over. So that's what I would say to them.
00:57:01I love it. We're coming to take over. Benjamin?
00:57:04I want to say that college students have always been the reason the world has progressed, as we've
00:57:09seen time and time again. From fraternity and sorority life, right, those are collegiate students
00:57:15in the conversations, collegiate students making the decisions, collegiate students who know what is
00:57:19best for them. And I believe that we have to start putting students at the forefront of these
00:57:24conversations, right? We are coming up in life. We're the generation after the next, right?
00:57:30What we live right now and what we experience right now and what we experience in our future
00:57:35is going to keep carrying on unless we change it, right? Unless the people with the young minds and the
00:57:41young voices and the go-getter mentality out there to make a change in the world, if they're not being
00:57:46seen and heard, then unfortunately we're going to stay in the way we are. And we're never going to
00:57:52get the opportunity to see some type of progression and some type of hope for the future.
00:57:58Don't make me wish I was back in college. Tavon, I will end with you.
00:58:03You heard it already from the students. I want educators and for people who work directly with
00:58:08students to understand that to be an HBCU student means to be a civically engaged student. And these
00:58:12students want the opportunity to lead. And oftentimes the students are not going to ask you to do that.
00:58:17I think that I want educators to understand this, to trust these students, then the current political
00:58:21times, times that we're in, that they need the support. They need the advocacy. They need to know
00:58:26that people are there to defend them in these current times. So be that advocate, be the support,
00:58:31and ensuring these HBCU students can be on their front lines with your support.
00:58:36Wow. Thank you so much. Thank you, Tatiana, Benjamin, and Tavon. You have given us
00:58:41a true clear reminder that listening to students requires ongoing relationship and that their
00:58:48questions and experiences belong in these conversations throughout the year. So thank
00:58:52you so much for the work that you do. Thank you for having us. Thank you.
00:58:56Thank you all for joining. Bye, y'all. So now we're going to turn to the laws and policies
00:59:03that shape voting access and the work underway to protect that access. As you all may know,
00:59:10earlier this year, the US Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. The law was enacted decades ago
00:59:16to increase access to the voting booth, where for years, black and brown people confronted obstacles
00:59:23to vote. Now the Supreme Court has significantly weakened the law so that it effectively dilutes
00:59:29voting power. There are a lot of discussions about what we can do in light of that court decision and
00:59:35how
00:59:36we can protect the right to vote. We have two guests tonight who can talk about what they're doing to
00:59:41protect the right to vote moving forward and what you can do also. Indeed. Tonight we are joined by
00:59:49Rebecca Carruthers, who is the president and CEO of the Fair Election Center. This is a national voting
00:59:55rights organization. And for more than 20 years, prior to serving in this role, Rebecca has worked on
01:00:01issue and election campaigns. She's worked with candidates seeking office, and she's also worked
01:00:07within organizations seeking to protect the right to vote. We are also joined by Arian Simone, who is
01:00:13a venture capitalist and entrepreneur and an author, as well as the founder and CEO of the Fearless Fund.
01:00:20She was sued in federal court several years ago for seeking to address a disparity in the venture
01:00:26capital space and successfully settled that case. She is, as I mentioned, a recent author and is a
01:00:32proponent of advancing legislation to support equal opportunity for all. Rebecca and Arian, thank you
01:00:39so much for joining us. Oh, thank you for having us. Thank you so much. You're welcome. So you two
01:00:47are
01:00:47the closers tonight. Oh my gosh. Can I add something really quick, Attorney David? Sure. You successfully
01:00:54settled the case. Well, yes. Thank you for that. I had the privilege, along with Gibson Dunn and a few
01:01:03others, in representing Arian in federal court. And it was a pleasure representing you, and I'm happy to
01:01:09see you again. I'm glad to see you too. I want to start with you, Rebecca. To give folks some
01:01:18grounding,
01:01:18outline the recent voting rights decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. What is the impact of that decision
01:01:25and what did it do and not do? You want me to ground people tonight. And I would say I
01:01:34almost
01:01:34want to put some fear in people tonight because we need people to continue to do the work right now
01:01:39while
01:01:40early voting is still going on. Look, we know earlier this year under the John Roberts Supreme Court,
01:01:46and I'm putting this at the feet of John Roberts. The John Roberts activist Supreme Court made the
01:01:52decision to gut the remaining pieces of the Voting Rights Act. It's extremely important to point this
01:01:58out and where the blame lies here. In essence, this is the first time since the 60s that Black Americans,
01:02:06that other people of color, are headed to the polls during this election season without full protections.
01:02:12And I need to say that full stop because on top of what the John Roberts Supreme Court has done,
01:02:18when we look at the executive decisions of the resident in the White House, we see even on the
01:02:24state level that there are now measures that's making it harder for millions of people to be able to
01:02:30cast their ballot. And this is the first time in the modern American presidency where we have a
01:02:36president using the full force of the federal government to make it tougher for people to vote
01:02:41rather than protecting the right to vote. Now, Rebecca, I just want to continue. I have a follow-up
01:02:50question to that before we go to Arian. Now that the court has issued this decision,
01:02:57what can we as ordinary citizens do about it? What recourse, if any, do we have now that this decision
01:03:05has been
01:03:05an issue? Absolutely. And thank you for that question. So the CalA decision specifically is
01:03:12about redistricting. And just for folks to understand, this isn't just federal redistricting
01:03:16for congressional seats, but this now paves the way for redistricting, not after the census happens,
01:03:23but mid-decade redistricting. And normally, mid-decade redistricting only happens if there was
01:03:30like something egregious that happened and how the political lines were drawn. But now at any time,
01:03:36this impacts local races like city council, this impacts school board races, this impacts state and
01:03:44local and not just federal. And so the best thing for people to understand is time is on your side
01:03:50if
01:03:51you use it. If you live in a state that has early in-person voting or vote by mail or
01:03:56absentee ballot
01:03:58in person, you need to utilize that. You should not wait until election day,
01:04:03because there isn't a lot of recourse if you wait until the day of the election to fix any potential
01:04:08problems.
01:04:12Ebony?
01:04:16I can't say it any other way. What's left of the Voting Rights Act?
01:04:23I get that question a lot. I didn't mean to stutter, but my God, because we really understand
01:04:30the seriousness of what happened, how they are literally almost torn this to shreds,
01:04:35but tell people what's left of it.
01:04:38Functionally, we don't have a Voting Rights Act. I'm going to say that again. Functionally,
01:04:43we do not have a federal Voting Rights Act. There are certain states that are trying to pass and enact
01:04:48state-based Voting Rights Act. But we are going into this election season, we are in this election
01:04:54season without the full rights that the federal government enforced. And then on top of that,
01:05:01we have a president who is hell-bent on restricting and making it tougher for people to be able to
01:05:07vote
01:05:07in this country. Eligible people. He's trying to make it tougher for eligible people to vote in this
01:05:14country. He wants to make it tougher for people who look like you and I to be able to vote
01:05:18successfully
01:05:19in this country.
01:05:21Karen, I want to bring you in on this discussion. The idea of the power of voting
01:05:28and the importance of voting has been at the forefront, as you know, of public discourse
01:05:33in this election season. And in fact, in every election season that I can recall recently. Now,
01:05:39for those who are still on the fence or maybe struggling to understand the import of voting,
01:05:44if you can talk a little bit about the impact of voting and its impact on the judiciary. Because
01:05:51you've talked publicly about voting, you've talked about judges, and you've talked about the impact
01:05:56that it had on your business. I want you just to outline for folks who may still be on the
01:06:00fence here
01:06:01about who they want to vote for or whether they're going to vote and when they're going to vote,
01:06:07and talk a little bit about voting, judges, and the impact on the economy.
01:06:13Oh, gosh. This is definitely loaded. I feel like I want to interview Rebecca myself too.
01:06:20But what I can say from experience is that I was in a federal court case in 2023 and 2024
01:06:28that lasted
01:06:28for 13 months. And every single time we had a ruling, we were accused of alleged discrimination.
01:06:35And every single ruling, every single Trump appointed judge ruled against us. And every
01:06:41single Obama appointed judge and Clinton appointed judge ruled in favor of us. And it was in that
01:06:48moment that I could literally feel the consequences of an election. That when the Trump administration
01:06:55was in power, they put over 200 and something federal judges in place. And I was living that out in
01:07:01a
01:07:02Biden era administration of just how consequential elections can be. Now, I do want to explain to
01:07:10all the business owners why it's important to vote. The small businesses make up over 50% right now of
01:07:17our US economy, about 50%, right? Well, every single business has to be a registered legal entity in the
01:07:25United States of America. Now, if you are a registered legal entity, that means you are abiding by the law,
01:07:34the
01:07:34laws that are made in this land. And the people who are making the laws of the land are the
01:07:41lawmakers, which
01:07:42equals the politicians. So you have to be an informed voter and you have to be a voter. If you
01:07:49plan to be concerned, one,
01:07:51about your own business. That's one. I believe, of course, everybody should be voting. But to have a disconnect between
01:07:59business and policy would just not even be reality. They are connected. And who you vote for does matter and
01:08:08voting
01:08:08matters.
01:08:09What do you want to say to folks in this year, this election year, Arian? Because you did mention
01:08:17the lawsuit, 13 months. We were sort of in the trenches litigating that case. This is now the
01:08:24second term of the Trump administration, obviously. Is there a special message or a specific message
01:08:31you want to send out to business leaders, those in venture capitalism, those that are in the,
01:08:38whether you're running a small business or a large business, whether you're on the board of directors
01:08:42or you're a venture capitalist? In this election season specifically, is there a specific message
01:08:47that you want to communicate?
01:08:48Of course. We have noticed since the beginning of 25, the attack on DEI measures and it is not good
01:09:00for business. And business leaders have to speak up though. This is a policy issue. It affects all of us
01:09:07because we know that every McKinsey report, every consulting company has proven time over time,
01:09:15the diversity is good business. And we have to be intentional about the right to be able to fund
01:09:22marginalized communities in order for diversity to be good business. And I want to stress that right
01:09:29now because we're still in this anti-DEI climate that really, really needs to take a turn. The pendulum
01:09:36really needs to swing on this because it's for everybody's benefit when everybody does well.
01:09:45Rebecca, I want to go back and talk, ask another question on the Voting Rights Act,
01:09:51because what else do we need to be concerned about? Arian talked about our vulnerabilities,
01:09:58like what has happened in this administration and how vulnerable we have all become, but what gaps
01:10:05exist in current federal and state voting laws that leave eligible voters vulnerable to even more
01:10:11disenfranchisement? So, you know, depending on the state. So, for example, in the state of Ohio,
01:10:19we've all heard about the SAVE Act, right? Of where we went to make sure that Congress did not pass
01:10:25the
01:10:25SAVE Act because it required something called Documentary Proof of Citizenship. Well, even though that didn't
01:10:31pass on the federal level, Ohio functionally has the SAVE Act. And what people have to understand,
01:10:37even when we talk about documentary proof of citizenship, it isn't just as simple as proving
01:10:43who you are and are you who you say you are. It's more you have to have certain original documents
01:10:49that's issued at birth. And if you don't have those documents readily available, you aren't able to
01:10:55register to vote. And so for people to really understand this, I think about my grandfather.
01:10:59My grandfather, you see my last name is Carruthers with one R at the front. My grandfather was born
01:11:06with C-A-R-R-U-T-H-E-R-S. But when he moved north during the northern migration
01:11:12and he registered with
01:11:14the civil service, they dropped one of the R's and it became C-A-R-U-T-H-E-R
01:11:19-S. Under the SAVE Act,
01:11:21especially in states that recognize a similar SAVE Act, he would not have been able to register to vote
01:11:27because his original documents didn't match his subsequent documents, even though when it came
01:11:34for tax time, they knew who he was. But all of a sudden, magically, when it comes to register to
01:11:40vote, they don't know who people are. So people have to understand that state by state is different.
01:11:45Like Alabama is another state where you really can't vote early. You can only vote on the day of
01:11:52election. Or North Carolina is another example where you have students. You could no longer use
01:11:59your college ID on many campuses for the purposes of voting. If you're a community college student,
01:12:05you can't use your ID at all, even though when it comes to tuition hikes and fees, they know who
01:12:11you
01:12:11are. And so it's very state dependent. You could go to the fair election center.org, click on your state,
01:12:17and we have updated information. So voters have all of the technical information that they need
01:12:23in order to make sure they can vote. Now, Attorney David and Ebony,
01:12:27do y'all mind if I ask her a question? I know I'm being a little fearless and I'm a
01:12:30little off script
01:12:31here. You do it. You do it. Thank you, Rebecca. No, I feel like we are living in extreme times
01:12:37and I have
01:12:37a very extreme question to ask you because I really need this clarified and I need everybody listening to
01:12:45understand it as well as myself. With us having no protection at this time, do we run the risk of
01:12:54a
01:12:54possibility of our votes of non-protected people being taken away from this election?
01:13:03So I want to use the president's words. So the president just said last week that if you are in
01:13:10Alaska and if Dan Sullivan doesn't win that election over Mary Patola, that he's going to
01:13:19push to invalidate and to not allow the Alaska U.S. Senate race to be certified. And what I want
01:13:26people
01:13:26to understand, this president is not only doing things that are against the law, but he is operating
01:13:32outside of the law. He is saying all sorts of things. He's also said if you vote this election,
01:13:38you'll never have to vote again. He also issued in August of 2025 an executive order saying that
01:13:44he's going to end vote by mail. And so even though there has been pushback, we still have vote by
01:13:50mail,
01:13:50but the United States postal system said that they're no longer prioritizing vote by mail,
01:13:55or they can no longer guarantee that when you put any mail, much less your ballot within the system,
01:14:00they can't guarantee that it'll actually get delivered to where it's supposed to get delivered at.
01:14:05So I'm raising that for people to understand. We will never go back to the before times. And for
01:14:12black folks in this country, the before times really wasn't that good. Even though we had a
01:14:17black president, it really wasn't that good. But I say this, and I raise this, is that this president is
01:14:23literally testing every point of our system, not just within voting rights, but period. And he's doing
01:14:30this, almost as if it is a practice run for 2028, where we're going to see the really big fireworks.
01:14:42So if you do want to vote, if you want your vote to count, I need you to go vote
01:14:49tomorrow. If you have
01:14:51a mail-in ballot, if you have not turned it in, I need you to go drop it off. At
01:14:56this point,
01:14:57do not put it in the mail if you live in a state in which it has to be received
01:15:01by next Tuesday.
01:15:03There's a great likelihood it will not be received by next Tuesday if you put it in the mail tomorrow.
01:15:08If you live in a state where there is a drop box where you could turn in your ballot that
01:15:14way,
01:15:14please do so. But once again, going to Ohio, Ohio Secretary of State, they changed the law there.
01:15:20There's only one drop box per county. So that means you need to look up the one drop box in
01:15:26your
01:15:27county, drive over there if you have a mail-in ballot to make sure that it's counted. I need
01:15:32people to take this seriously. I'm not going to say this is the most important election in your lifetime.
01:15:38Instead, I'm going to challenge you and tell you, voting is always important. You always need to show up to
01:15:45vote.
01:15:45No, thank you. Because that right there, I love how you quoted the president, because he's a man of his
01:15:50word.
01:15:52So thank you.
01:15:54And we saw it in Tarrant County, the 92 polling election, I mean, polling places that were removed there.
01:16:02And I know, Alfonso, you were asking the questions, but I'm going to ask you. I'm going to be like,
01:16:06Erin, I need to ask you a question.
01:16:08Because something that Rebecca said was so true, and that this is a president, and I see it all the
01:16:14time when I'm at the White House, it operates outside the law. So when we talk about a lot of
01:16:20the things that this president is doing, and we talk about the law, he literally does. And right
01:16:26along, and he's always got, like you said, Rebecca, the Roberts Court right along with him.
01:16:31So Alfonso, I kind of wanted to ask you the same thing to chime in on that point to those
01:16:37who are
01:16:38watching and like, what do you do with the president that operates outside the law?
01:16:42Well, I mean, this, some folks think that this is an instance or circumstance that we may never see.
01:16:51And to Rebecca's point, I think we have to imagine that, and this is a nonpartisan call,
01:17:00but we have enough facts to sort of arrive at this conclusion, that the administration has taken
01:17:06certain steps that have been deemed unconstitutional repeatedly by the courts. That has not stopped the
01:17:13administration from trying to circumvent those court decisions. I say that because
01:17:20it gives you a roadmap of what could be possible in this election season, trying to invalidate votes,
01:17:29trying to ignore or refuse to certify certain types of elections, trying to deem certain groups
01:17:37of people as unqualified to vote in an election. We are focusing on this town hall on the importance of
01:17:44voting and making sure that each and every person exercises their constitutional right to vote.
01:17:50But keep in mind that after you cast your ballot, it is not the end of the story.
01:17:58We have to make sure that the fight to ensure our constitution and our democracy will continue
01:18:05beyond election day next year. The advocacy, the engagement will continue beyond next year to make
01:18:13sure that our individual voices are protected. So yes, in some cases, it sounds like this may never happen.
01:18:21But I want to remind folks that that's what I heard. I taught law school for 10 years, and I
01:18:28heard people tell me,
01:18:30Roe versus Wade will never go away.
01:18:32Yeah, women will always have the right to control their bodies.
01:18:38That has changed. And it changed in part because I think we became complacent.
01:18:46And we thought that there was a law that was on the books, a court decision that was on the
01:18:52books for 50
01:18:53years that couldn't go away. So if a court decision that was on the books for 50 years protecting a
01:18:59woman's right to control her body went away, something else could go away. Unless we fight for it.
01:19:10All right, you got the next question.
01:19:13I thought that was a mic drop and a close.
01:19:19Well, we're almost out of time. But I would be remiss because I had, again,
01:19:24the privilege of representing Arian in federal court. And she's now taking the time to sort of document
01:19:32that experience in a book. And it's a personal point of privilege just to highlight the fact that
01:19:39she has this book that is out there. And I want to give her an opportunity to talk a little
01:19:43bit
01:19:43about it. Talk about the courage of first fighting in this case, because you received death threats
01:19:50and you were fighting not only on your own behalf, but on behalf of many others. And then why you
01:19:55decided to write this book and how it relates to voting. A compound question, but I know you can handle
01:20:00it. I sure can, Attorney David. I actually started writing this book, Fearless Freedom. It's about
01:20:06economic justice. And I started it way before we got sued. It just so happened that I got interrupted
01:20:11by a lawsuit dealing with economic justice. The reason why this is so important for this current
01:20:18time is because I feel like everybody's waiting for a leader to emerge. I feel like everybody's
01:20:23waiting for some type of savior, not realizing that the new leader is actually you. That you can be a
01:20:30change agent from your seat. We've seen time and time again through our civil rights leaders,
01:20:35these were everyday people. Rosa Parks was a seamstress. Betty Shabazz was a teacher.
01:20:40These were everyday people making extraordinary moves. And it is just truly a love letter of
01:20:47encouragement. It has policy in it. It has a playbook of solutions in it. And I'm just happy
01:20:52to share it with the world. So I hope that kind of like summed it all up in a minute,
01:20:58because I know
01:20:59we're probably at time. But yes, thank you for this moment to even mention this.
01:21:04No, my pleasure. And Rebecca, you've leapt up, you've identified so many gems for us.
01:21:11But if you had one last word for folks out there, what would you want them to remember? We will
01:21:18take
01:21:19this information and publicize it over the next week and a half as we go into the final day of
01:21:24election. And I just want to make sure you have an opportunity to communicate to folks as well.
01:21:29Thank you. So two things. As we're finishing up the election season, you could go to
01:21:35fair elections center.org. In addition to our state by state guides, we also have a election
01:21:42survival toolkit, which includes a know your rights at the polls. So take it with you. Make sure you
01:21:48understand your rights. Make sure you're able to get your ballot. If you run into any issues while
01:21:54you are voting, make sure that you are voting and you're turning in your ballot and then call 866-R
01:22:01-VOTE
01:22:02because they collect the issues. And then the lawyers committee is able to follow up. We partner
01:22:08with the lawyers committee. They're able to follow up on post-election day. But it's still very
01:22:13important to make sure you have a plan to vote, that you take fair election centers,
01:22:17know your rights at the polls guide so you know what to expect. If you're trying to figure out
01:22:23other things such as when's the last day the register to vote, go to our website. We have
01:22:28that information. Click on your state and it has the rules of whether or not your state has in-person
01:22:33voting, what are the hours, and it sends you directly to links. My voting rights project,
01:22:38which is my attorneys, they do a really great job of double checking the law after every legislative
01:22:43session and after every relevant lawsuit. The final thing that I will say after you make a plan to
01:22:49vote, if you are able to, there's many black led organizations that's leading on this fight.
01:22:54You could go to all of our websites. If you got $5, if you got $10, please donate because we're
01:23:01not
01:23:01getting the money that other folks are getting in order to do this fight. But we are also some of
01:23:07the
01:23:07the most impactful groups in the country to make sure that your right to vote is still there. So
01:23:12you could go, if you want to go to Fair Election Center, I would appreciate it, especially with some
01:23:17of the last-minute GOTV and HBCU work that we'll be doing these final days. You could go to
01:23:26fairelectionscenter.org. We do have one question that I wanted to throw out really quickly because
01:23:33you answered one of them, but it was how do you handle a situation where you believe a poll site
01:23:40interference is racially motivated? So the big thing is make sure that you are voting because we know
01:23:49that there's all sorts of racially motivated things that are happening. So if you are told
01:23:54that you're going to get a provisional ballot, if you go ahead and vote with that provisional ballot,
01:23:59it's a two-step. Vote with the provisional ballot, but then you have to follow up with your local board
01:24:04of elections, your local elections clerk, because you have to cure the defect. And what that means is
01:24:09you have to fix whatever the issue is in order for your ballot to actually count. Then you need to
01:24:16call
01:24:17866-R-VOTE and you need to report it. There's information as what is your voting, what is the
01:24:23polling location that this occurred, do you know the person's name that you had the interaction with,
01:24:29and then they'll be able to follow up post-election day. But the most important thing is to make sure
01:24:35that you're able to cast your ballot. If you have a provisional ballot, do the follow-up so you can
01:24:40make
01:24:40sure your ballot is indeed counted. Thank you, Rebecca. Thank you, Arian,
01:24:46so much for joining us tonight, and for all of the wisdom that you have bestowed on us for tonight.
01:24:52Thank you again. Anything?
01:24:58That was powerful. What a way to end the show. That was powerful.
01:25:04Yeah, I just think it's important for us to not assume that the impossible won't happen.
01:25:10We have to fight for the vision that we want for our future, and we have to fight for the
01:25:16democracy
01:25:17that we hope this country ultimately realizes. What a full show.
01:25:25And I want to thank so much all of our speakers who joined us this evening, and we hope for
01:25:31the
01:25:32folks who joined us that you have more information now than you did before. We hope that you have
01:25:37registered to vote, and we hope that you do vote. Our right to vote is sacred, and if you don't
01:25:42exercise it, someone else will exercise your vote and decide your life. So we hope that this serves as
01:25:52a meaningful resource to you. Again, all of this content will be on YouTube and will be on our
01:25:57various channels. We hope that you utilize it moving into Election Day. Ebony, any last words?
01:26:03Well, I want to thank all of our speakers
01:26:04who joined us this evening.
01:26:07We hope that those who saw that you have more information. We hope that you're registered to
01:26:14vote. We're going to repeat that number. 866-OUR-VOTE. Write it down. Put it somewhere. Let that be the
01:26:22next text that you send to someone. Make a plan to vote. Our vote is sacred, and if we do
01:26:27not
01:26:28exercise it, someone else's vote will decide your life. So we hope that tonight served you well and
01:26:35that you got a lot of resources, and now you know some names and some websites to go to for
01:26:41reliable
01:26:42information. And if you think that you heard that twice, you did, because Ebony and I want to make sure
01:26:48that you don't get confused. That when you sit it out, that means someone else is deciding when your
01:26:57trash gets picked up. Someone else is deciding how much taxes you're paying. Someone else is deciding
01:27:03whether or not diversity, equity, and inclusion is a dirty word. So we have to make sure we exercise
01:27:09our right to vote. And I want to thank the Global Black Economic Forum, the Sundial Group of Companies,
01:27:14including Essence, for helping to support this town hall. The stakes are incredibly high, and we
01:27:19want to make sure that you have all of the information, the resources, and the support to exercise your
01:27:23right to vote. This is the second of three engagements that we will be taking a part of
01:27:29for Paint the Polls Black. We will be back next Monday with the final Paint the Polls town hall.
01:27:34It'll be on election eve. We hope that you join us, and please visit paintthepolls.com,
01:27:40and we hope to see you next Monday. Thanks again for joining us.