National “Protecting America’s Vote: Our March to the Ballot Box” Summit
August 6th - 8th, 2020
Our democracy is under attack.
In preparing for the 2020 elections, Anti-Democracy Forces have declared War on our Democracy and the precious liberty of the right to vote. Millions of voters are at risk of not being able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted.
Every day, the news brings more stories of nefarious actions being taken by states, by outside special interest groups, and by foreign entities to confuse, isolate, and disenfranchise the votes and voices of American citizens. We know that voter suppression efforts have been numerous: purges of millions of voter registrations in the states; imposition of onerous voter ID laws; cuts to early voting; elimination of Souls to the Polls Sundays; exact signature match requirements; unprocessed voter registrations; crackdowns on voter registration groups; and, reduction of polling sites. We know that Russian trolls have put out incorrect information about candidates, about voting sites and dates, and that they will continue to be active during the 2020 election season. Gerrymandering has reduced the impact of voices of people of color and other disenfranchised groups. The list of ways that the vote has been suppressed goes on and on.
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All of these issues have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic which, since March, has wreaked havoc over the primaries in every state that has held an election. Sadly, communities of color are being negatively impacted by polling place reductions, understaffed polls, and unequal accessibility to vote-by-mail, and the lack of other needed voting options. In several cases, the Supreme Court has already adversely ruled severely curtailing efforts to expand the right to vote in the states due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many courageous leaders and organizations around the country are responding to these threats. We are writing to invite you to a seminal, non-partisan National “Protecting America's Vote: Our March to the Ballot Box" Summit, to be held August 6th - 8th, 2020. This event will be held virtually and be interactive.
Join us at the Summit, where we will strategize about best tactics to defeat voter suppression and share tools to protect our sacred voting rights. Through presentations by a diverse cadre of nationally known speakers and substantive work shops, the Summit will provide the information, the tools, and the organizational skills and resources to protect our votes this fall and in the future. We will also discuss ways to increase voter registration; conduct effective voter contact; voter mobilization; voter protection; and to effectively protect voters in this "virus voting" environment. The Summit is being sponsored by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC), the National Election Defense Coalition, the Voting Rights Alliance, the Center For Social Justice & Reconciliation, and many more civic engagement organizations. The Summit will kick off honoring the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act on August 6th.
We need your help and your collaboration to make sure these efforts to protect our democracy can reach every corner of our country. This year is a decisive year for all of us.
*For more information, please contact Barbara Arnwine, President and Founder, Transformative Justice Coalition, at barnwine@tjcoalition.org. We look forward to seeing you virtually August 6th – 8th
Sincerely,
Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., Rainbow PUSH Coalition
Barbara R. Arnwine, Transformative Justice Coalition
Daryl D. Jones, Esq. Transformative Justice Coalition
Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, MD, E.D., NC NAACP