Challenging Voter Suppression at the Ballot Box

In this critical election year, political leaders Stacey Abrams and Spencer Overton joined political strategist Donna Brazile for a conversation about combatting voter suppression. The virtual conversation took place as part of the 2020-21

Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in

Public Policy Lecture Series, chaired by Brazile.

Overton, president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, opened with a conversation on the way disinformation online leads to voter suppression at the polls. Overton discussed what he 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 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.

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.

“Because this is a census year, we are not only redoing the outcome of 2016, we’re also redoing 2010,” said Abrams. “In the 2008 election, everyone was excited. But because there was not active participation in 2010, all of those advances were halted. State legislators were taken over because of the census and redistricting. We are watching the same thing happen again.”

Esteemed political analyst, and moderator for the evening, Donna Brazile, closed out the poignant event by encouraging voters to visit iwillvote.com or vote. org to get the most accurate information on their voting status and information about absentee voting.

Gwendolyn S. And Colbert I. King ENDOWED CHAIR IN PUBLIC POLICY Lecture Series 2020 – 2021

Challenging Voter Suppression at the Ballot Box 5 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday, October 8, 2020

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

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