Media Literacy Week: Media's Role in Voter Suppression - 10/24/2022

Conversation Overview

In this timely Messy Conversation we will take a close look at the upcoming midterm elections, focusing on the role media play in shaping our democracy, with special attention on voter suppression and race. Join us for a participatory session hosted by Rosa Garza-Mourino, UGS Faculty Member and Director of External Partnerships of AULA and Asa Wilder, UGS Faculty Member and Librarian or AULA.

Asa Wilder is the Reference and Instruction Librarian at AULA. He has an MLIS from UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and  is interested in how libraries, archives and museums shape historical narratives. He currently serves on the University's Antiracism Task Force.

Rosa Garza-Mourino is a trans-disciplinary scholar, educator and academic administrator driven by curiosity and difference. Rosa earned her MA in Media and Cultural Studies in Mexico City. Before moving to the U.S., Rosa had extensive professional experience with Mexican think-tanks focused on media analysis and field study methods, as well as with adult education programs. She currently serves the AULA UGS Division as both part time faculty, and Director of External Academic Partnerships in charge of the Internship Program, local engagement initiatives, and articulation liaison with 2 year local colleges. Rosa is the volunteer chair of the AULA Diversity Inclusion committee.

As early voting turnout smashes records from the 2020 election in some states, there are reports of voter intimidation in Arizona. Some report seeing people in tactical gear with weapons at ballot boxes. Nancy Cordes reports from the White House.

Ahead of Tuesday's primary election in Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis's new Office of Election Crimes and Security made its first arrests of people it alleged engaged in voter fraud in the 2020 election. Almost all those charged were people who were formerly incarcerated and mistakenly thought they were eligible to vote. People of all political affiliations "are now being dragged from their homes in handcuffs because all they ever wanted to do was participate in democracy," says Desmond Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, who spearheaded an initiative to reenfranchise people with prior felony convictions, before it was overturned by Republicans.