Across the nation, registered voters have seen their names erased from voting rosters and watched as the number of polling sites have been drastically reduced, moved to remote areas or reduced the hours of availability.There is a decided push to limit citizens’ rights as voters, a clear leaning to make the voting process more difficult. When this happens in any part of our country, it affects us all by chipping away at our democracy.

“For the People Must Act: Saving Democracy” is a 3 part town hall series based on the 3 main components in Congressional House Bill HR1 (For the People Act) and is aimed at educating us all on how we can prevent the erosion of our democratic nation. The three part series will focus on Voter Empowerment and Access, Money In Politics, and Ethics and Corruption.

Indivisible Valley of the Sun begins its series by offering:

Town Hall Series Part 1:Voter Empowerment and Access

Topics include: restoration of Voting Rights Act; automatic voter registration; election security; voter access

Saturday, Oct 5th, 2-4 pm at The Madison Center for the Arts, 5601 N. 16th St., Phx, 85016. 

We encourage you to attend and learn from an expert panel what is in HR1, how it helps stop the infringement on voters’ rights and what concrete measures we, as citizens, can take.

We have a great program planned for you. Here is a brief introduction to each of our stellar participants.

Shelley Jackson, Poet
Poet Artist Activist leads the town hall program with an inspiring original spoken word performance.   

• Athena Salman, Panelist
  Member of the Arizona House of Representatives, representing District 26 and minority Whip, Salman was first elected to the chamber in 2016.  Our strongest ally in the Arizona Legislature and and fierce fighter for Voters rights will shed light on the legislative efforts in 2019 to negative impact the ability of many to participate fully in the franchise, and hopefully share what to expect, an early warning if you will (good/and bad) as we near the 2020 legislative session.
  
  
  

• Joel Edman, Panelist
  Executive Director, Arizona Advocacy Network.  Joel plans on sharing the collaboration of several organizations to bring forward a citizens initiative aimed at addressing the voter access and empowerment issues. 

• Alex Gulotta, Panelist
  Arizona State Director, All Voting Is Local, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, 

Alex was one of the witnesses who gave testimony at October 1st 2019  congressional hearing on Elections in Arizona. He brings to this discussion his expertise in the area of election protection, voting rights.  

Jevin Hodge, Moderator 

National Engagement Director, LINK Strategic Partners, Chairman, Booker T. Washington Child Development Center, President, Tempe Union High Schools Education Foundation.  Jevin is an internationally recognized Millennial Inspirational Speaker, noted as “America’s Leading Young Agent for Change” and author of L.Y.F.E. – Living Young Free and Extravagant. Where he travels the nation speaking to millennials, community leaders, and organizations on how to mobilize, attract, educate, and retain young talent.