Community Forum: The Reshaping of U.S. Democracy and the Role of the Courts

Recorded Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., in Blacksburg, VA Town Council Chambers. The Trump administration has moved fast and aggressively to reshape our government. Congress has little will to assert its responsibilities. Many on both sides of the political divide believe that the courts are politicized. While judges and lower courts have ruled some Executive Orders as unconstitutional, the fate of these judgments as they move to higher courts is unknown. Still, the courts have a major role to play in maintaining the balance of power among the three branches of government and the rule of law. Two experts who have studied our government and Constitution help us explore these questions and others. Moderator Pat Hyer guides the discussion and facilitate questions from the audience.

• How does the justice system function to uphold the Constitution, rule of law, and balance of power?
• How have the courts blocked or enabled administrative actions?
• What are the prospects for our democracy?

Speakers Max Stephenson is Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance. His research interests include nonprofit/NGO governance, leadership, management and civil society; public policy; peacebuilding, international development, and democratization. Brandy Faulkner is Professor of Political Science and the Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black Studies at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on constitutional and administrative law, race and public policy, and critical organization theory.

Community Forum: Ranked-Choice Voting

Recorded Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., in Blacksburg, VA Town Council Chambers. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, Virginia Tech’s Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) and the Montgomery County-Radford-Floyd County NAACP, ranked choice voting was presented as an option to better reflect voters’ choice for their elected leaders.

In ranked choice voting (RCV), voters rank their preferences among the candidates rather than choosing just one. If no candidate receives a majority on the first round, votes for candidates who got the fewest votes are redistributed to the top-ranking candidates until someone receives a majority. Your vote will count by going to your second choice even if your first-choice candidate does not win. Proponents claim that this system gives voters more voice and that campaigns become less polarizing as candidates compete for second-choice votes as well as first choices.

Guest Speakers: Liz White, executive director of the democracy reform organization UpVote Virginia, and Virginia Tech Associate Professor Caitlin Jewitt, who studies elections.

Community Forum: What Is the Cost of Voting?

Recorded Wednesday, October 2, 2019 7:00-8:30 pm Blacksburg Municipal Building, VA. When the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder limited the reach of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, some states enacted a number of voting requirements that increased the difficulty of voting. In a 2018 publication, researchers ranked Virginia the second hardest state in which to vote; only in Mississippi is it harder. What makes it hard to vote in Virginia? What are the consequences for voter participation and representation?

Community Forum: Immigration & Who Gets to Be an American?

Recorded October 2018. Three panelists discuss US immigration history, economics, and policies and the challenges of changing immigration policy. 

Community Forum: Who Gets to Vote?

Recorded October 2017. Three panelists in Montgomery County, VA, discuss voting rights, election integrity, and means of voter suppression, including gerrymandering, voter ID laws and targeting of groups. 

Highlights

1:13 - distinguish between voter fraud and election fraud

05:00 - learn how a decentralized and complex election system in the US discourages voting

35:54 - see evidence of an increase in competitive elections in states that draw district maps using nonpartisan commissions

41:00 - learn how felony disenfranchisement has affected senate and presidential elections (and discover that Virginia is in a tiny minority of states that do not restore rights once felons complete their sentences)

46:00 - learn how voter ID laws have disenfranchised voters