Overview

Democracy is precious, and voting is still our most powerful tool to keep our government accountable to the people it serves. For our first Standing in Solidarity event of the season, we offer a conversation on the importance of voting, and a how-to guide to participating in elections, from a local mayor’s race to the presidential contest.

Our panel will discuss how to ensure equity at the ballot box, offering information on how to register to vote, the fight over lowering the voting age and why it’s so important that everyone participates in elections.

Plus, we’ll discuss the new documentary, Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote, from director Robert Greenwald, president of Brave New Films. Using the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election as a starting point, this film looks at how voter-roll purges, the elimination of polling places, restrictions on mail-in voting and the invalidation of votes through “exact match” laws are limiting who can vote, and which votes are counted.

Watch Suppressed and Sabotaged (find the film here) on your own schedule, then join us for a conversation about the film, the importance of voting, and how to ensure that every vote counts. This conversation will take place online at 7 PM on September 18.

Panelists include Ryan Haygood, President and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice; Deborah Smith Gregory, President of the Newark Branch of the NAACP; and Tahesha Way,  New Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State. ACLU-NJ’s Policy Director, Sarah Fajardo, will moderate.