Day 3: Voter Justice & Swing States

• Develop an understanding of Voting Rights Act, voter turnout, and voter demographics in the US

• Review what swing states are

• Choose a campaign and/or organization to volunteer with

• Continue to build a community of learning and engagement

• Gain insight and inspiration from guest speakers

0) Be sure you have a solid grasp of the three branches of government. In your journal, respond to these three questions:

• What is the US Senate? Who does it represent?

• What is the US House of Representatives? Who does it represent?

• What challenges, drawbacks, or injustices of this system do you see?

1) What positions do your elected officials have on the issues you care most about? How have they engaged in the issues you care about?

• What issues do you care deeply about (choose 1-2)? Why do you care about them?

• Choose 1-3 of your elected officials, research their positions on these issues, and write them a letter (or email, Tweet, etc.) or call them, either thanking them or asking them to shift their position.

• Add a sticky note this JamBoard with:

  • The name and title of the elected official you contacted

  • The issue you communicated with them about

  • Your first name and last initial

2) What are swing states? What swing states are in play this year? Explore at least one website that examines swing states.

• NPR

• https://electoralvotemap.com/2020-battleground-states/

• Common Power

• Vote Save America

• Swing left

• Journal reflection: What swing states do you you think are most import in the November 2020 election? Why? What swing state(s) are you most drawn to or interested in volunteering on? Why?

3) Develop questions for our guest speakers. Please read their bios and/or Google them, and develop 3 questions you’d like to ask. Write these in your journal and add ONE to a sticky note in the JamBoard (include your name).

4) Watch Selma: Bridge to the Ballot. Questions to reflect on (in your journal):

• What struck you in watching this film?

• What role did young people, and particularly high school students play in the fight for voting rights for African Americans?

• How does the movement for the right to vote relate to what we’re experiencing today? What parallels do you see between the movie and today?

PPT for this session are here.

JamBoards for this session. Guest Speakers + Day 3

Reflection (write in journal after or during session)

• What are 1-3 things that you learned, or that struck you, from our time with the guest speaker today? And from our group discussion?

• What follow up questions do you have for the guest speaker? Or, what questions arose from your time with the guest speaker?

• What campaign or organization would you like to volunteer with? Why are you drawn to it in particular?

0) [If you haven't already] Reflect (write in journal)

• What are 1-3 things that you learned, or that struck you, from our time with the guest speaker today? And from our group discussion?

• What follow up questions do you have for the guest speaker? Or, what questions arose from your time with the guest speaker?

• What campaign or organization would you like to volunteer with? Why are you drawn to it in particular?

1) Listen to The Economist Podcast, “Where does power lie in America?” interview with Stacey Abrams (October 2019) OR watch “Suppressed: The Fight to Vote,” (Free, 2019) OR watch All In: The Fight for Democracy (Amazon Prime, 2020).

2) Decide what campaign or organization you’d like to volunteer with--use the "Choosing a Campaign..." page to help guide your thinking.

3) Develop questions for our guest speaker. Please read bio and/or Google, and develop 3 questions you’d like to ask. Write these in your journal and add ONE to a sticky note in the JamBoard (include your name).

4) Start volunteering + logging your hours in your journal. If you haven’t heard back from the campaign or organization yet, that is ok--be patient. In the meantime, spend your time researching the states/candidates/organizations you’re planning to work with.

5) Come prepared to discuss in small groups your experiences. (It may be the process of choosing a campaign or organization to volunteer with and what you're nervous about or what questions you have. Or, it may be that you’ve been phone banking all week long.)

6) Watch "Gerrymandering Explained."