Challenging Voter Suppression at the Ballot Box In this critical election year, political leaders Stacey
Abrams. “In the 2008 election, everyone was excited.
Abrams and Spencer Overton joined political
But because there was not active participation
strategist Donna Brazile for a conversation
in 2010, all of those advances were halted. State
about combatting voter suppression. The virtual
legislators were taken over because of the census and
conversation took place as part of the 2020-21
redistricting. We are watching the same thing happen
Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in
again.”
Public Policy Lecture Series, chaired by Brazile. Esteemed political analyst, and moderator for the Overton, president of the Joint Center for Political
evening, Donna Brazile, closed out the poignant event
and Economic Studies, opened with a conversation
by encouraging voters to visit iwillvote.com or vote.
on the way disinformation online leads to voter
org to get the most accurate information on their
suppression at the polls. Overton discussed what he
voting status and information about absentee voting.
called “new voter suppression,” referencing examples where ads targeting the Black community led to voter suppression in the 2016 elections. The ads from this Facebook page targeted Black
Gwendolyn S. And Colbert I. King ENDOWED CHAIR IN PUBLIC POLICY Lecture Series 2020 – 2021
users to discourage them from participating in the elections. Overton also discussed barriers to confront disinformation online that leads to voter suppression, noting President Trump’s use of presidential power to discourage social media platforms from stopping disinformation. In addition, Overton debunked the myth of voter fraud and encouraged voters to get ahead of some of the real barriers to successfully casting their vote.
Challenging Voter Suppression at the Ballot Box 5 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday, October 8, 2020
2020 is a census year; Abrams stressed the particular importance of not only voting but completing the census and participating in local elections to meet community-based needs.
Donna L. Brazile Former Interim Chairperson Democratic National Committee(DNC) Moderator
Stacey Abrams Founder Fair Fight Action
Spencer Overton President Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
Register in advance for this webinar:
“Because this is a census year, we are not only redoing
https://howard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EL30N34hTnCaT-qF8sEJnQ After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
the outcome of 2016, we’re also redoing 2010,” said
OCTOBER 2020 | Bison Beat Monthly Newsletter | PAGE 21
