First, the PowHer NY Coalition, of which LWVNYS is a member, is launching their regular pre-election voter education webinar series, PowHer the Vote. Our own Erica Smitka will be speaking at the first webinar on Tuesday, September 29 at 1:00PM on Challenges to Voting Integrity and Voting Rights: Rumors and Reality. You can register for the webinar and for the four others scheduled for following weeks at the PowHer the Vote website: https://powherthevote.org/ .
The Let NY Vote coalition invites you and your community to a virtual educational discussion on September 30th from 6:30 to 8:30pm EST to learn about the Voting Rights Act, how it impacts our communities’ access to participate in our democracy, and how we can fight to ensure a multiracial democracy perseveres. The educational discussion will be moderated by Jeffrey M. Wice of the N.Y. Elections Census & Redistricting Institute, New York Law School, and will feature the following speakers:
- Perry Grossman - New York Civil Liberties Union
- Jerry Vattamala - Office of the New York State Attorney General
- David Imamura - Carnegie Mellon University
Please RSVP here by September 29th to join the conversation: https://www.tinyurl.com/septemberlnyvnysvrainfo.
We are at a critical moment in time with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana vs. Callais nullifying the use of Section 2 Voting Rights Act (VRA). Section 2 under the VRA prohibits any voting rule or procedure that discriminates on the basis of race, color, or language minority status, to the point of inoperability. Eliminating Section 2 in the VRA enables racial discrimination in redistricting when done under the cloak of partisan gerrymandering. As national Democrats are ramping up efforts to counter GOP partisan gerrymanders wherever they can, what does this all mean for New Yorkers, especially for communities of color?
This educational discussion will cover the Voting Right Act 101, both on the federal and state levels; its impact on voting accessibility; the effects of striking down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act for New Yorkers; and solutions to issues impacting voting rights for communities of color.
In community,
Let NY Vote
