Celebrate National Voter Registration Day and bring your friends to register to vote!

Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the South Bend Area, Notre Dame students with ND Votes, and Civic Duty South Bend on National Voter Registration Day September 25, 2018, at the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Volunteers will work together between 4 and 8 p.m. to assist citizens with new registrations and name or address changes. With the deadline to register for the statewide November elections approaching on October 9, 2018, the League, NDVotes, and Civic Duty encourage voters to bring their friends to enjoy a special evening at the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

The evening will also showcase civic, academic, and student leaders sharing their thoughts on voting and citizenship through the lenses of history, immigration, voting inequality, the youth vote, personal experiences, voting patterns, and many other topics. Refreshments will be available for attendees as they celebrate their freedom to vote and discuss their democracy.   

Speakers

4:05      Dr. Darryl Heller, director IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center

Voter suppression: history of the right and ability to vote as it applied to women, African Americans, and others, using the 15th Amendment as a starting place

4:30       Nanci Flores and Bob Hamma, La Casa de Amistad

Citizenship and immigration: voting from the immigrant perspective, the citizenship process, personal narratives, and   challenges in becoming a citizen

4:50       Prathm Juneja, ND Class of 2019

Crosscheck, voter purges, and the question of voter fraud

5:10       Judy Bradford, League of Women Voters

Reasons why people don't vote with a specific focus on when they don't care about politics or political parties, and what our response can be

5:30       Mayor Pete Buttigieg 

The power of a single vote

5:50      Steven Higgins, ND Class of 2020

Youth voters: a silent generation

6:10       Lisa Plencner, League of Women Voters

Thoughts on voting: naturalization and redistricting

6:30      Prof. Christina Wolbrecht, professor of political science and Director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame

Women voters from flappers to feminists

7:00       Arielle Brandy and Kim Riskovitch, St. Joseph County Voter Registration

Personal narratives and how voter registration helps shape citizenship in the community

7:25       Latorya Greene, tobacco education coordinator with Saint Joseph Health System and community coordinator for Smoke-Free St. Joe Coalition

The power of community voices

7:45      Andy Kostielney, St. Joseph County Commissioner, District 1

The importance of voting, including related stories