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To mark the completion of the 2022 midterm elections and our voting rights and health equity campaign HERE4Justice held a community discussion to reflect on and build strategies for voter engagement and expanding the franchise between now and the 2024 election.
Listen to the discussion!
HERE4Justice guided a discussion in which participants reflected on barriers to voting, successful tactics to overcome those barriers, and shared ideas for us to spur interest in local politics and keep up momentum between general elections.
Michaela Whitley ('22) led an activity to give participants the opportunity to ponder and share their hopeful visions in response to the question: How would you describe the ideal democracy?
MomentumInTheMeantime_Whiteboard.mp4HERE4Justice Directors share their reflections on the discussion and inspiration they took away to keep up momentum between elections.
The time to work for our democracy is in the ‘meantime.’Getting out the vote is critical, of course. However, getting measures on the ballot, selecting candidates, (or running yourself!), and digging into hyperlocal issues to be able to vote the full ballot takes place in the ‘off season.’ The level of our engagement in these times determines what our ballot looks like, come November. I know I’ve moaned about poor candidate options when filling out my ballot (Walt, I’m talking about you) but with zero participation in lifting up potential candidates I’d be excited about. This community discussion helped cement the importance of not being a backseat voter and understanding that being a member of a healthy democracy extends well beyond voting once every other year.
–Brett Zimmerman ('23), HERE4Justice Director of Logistics
It is found far too often during primary and national elections to see a spike in voter engagement but quickly fall just as quickly as it rose. As the election season ended, HERE4Justice wanted to prepare how not to fall into the same patterns and keep ‘momentum in the meantime’. Through our community discussion we learned important tips and tricks from community leaders who have already begun the work in continuing voter engagement. An important topic on how to fight these peaks and troughs included the need for continual engagement in local politics in between election periods. Local elections are essential in creating direct change and help bring attention to community needs, but don’t always receive the same attention as other larger elections. Therefore, finding creative ways to get more people involved in local politics is one way I will be keeping the momentum going in my own community.
–Emily Orlando ('23), Director of Digital Engagement
The opportunity to meet with Andrea from Center from Common Ground and hold a community discussion surrounding something that affects all of us was immeasurable. Her knowledge and insight regarding the best ways to uphold democracy and actively participate in our electoral process continually is something that I’m sure we will all carry with us as we move forward. For me, it was important that we talked about barriers to voting, specifically in lower voter turnout areas, and how to best address these. Coming from a public health standpoint, these social determinants that affect health also permeate other levels of community member’s lives, including their access and time to vote and participate in local government. This was especially important coming off the heels of our extremely successful Voter Suppression campaign. Here4Justice is so appreciative of Andrea Miller’s time and wisdom in helping us all to keep up the momentum in the meantime.
–Stephanie Gomez ('23), Director of Research
HERE4Justice has worked hard to be active participants in conversations around voter suppression by talking about the issue in our meetings and on social media. It felt good to come together as a community to celebrate our work and all of the postcards we sent out to voters in suppressed districts. People from within and without our program came together to discuss what we can do "in the meantime" to promote voter rights across the country. Andrea Miller from Center for Common Ground shared with us more of the amazing things that CFCG is doing, including their Democracy Centers , where they provide infrastructure and support to BIPOC communities where more than 55% of eligible voters no longer choose to vote. Housing and homelessness as determinants of civic engagement came up several times in this conversation. This was inspiring for me because my Health Equity Change Project is on the health implications of affordable housing in immigrant populations. I am looking forward to continuing this conversation and building momentum in the meantime!
–Cassie Watson ('23), HERE4Justice Director of Campaigns
Our community discussion was a fantastic celebration of our Voting Rights & Health Equity Campaign, as well as a thought-provoking discussion on how we can keep up ‘momentum in the meantime.’ Having Andrea from the Center for Common Ground was an absolute delight! She really gave us some insightful commentary on how we can organize to make change. I felt inspired and motivated to continue trying to engage with the community and fight back against voter suppression and inequity that many communities face. The postcard writing that we did as part of our Fall campaign was my first experience with voter engagement in the community. I hope to continue working as part of initiatives like that one and help advocate for a democracy that prioritizes the right for all people to vote and be heard. It’s not just the elections, it’s what we do in between that matters too.
–Julia Wood, ('23) Director of Strategy and Operations
Momentum in the Meantime was an inspiring cumulation of the work HERE4Justice during the fall of 2023 throughout the lead up to the midterm elections, and asked an integral question for the future of democracy: what can we do in the meantime? How do we translate the liminal space in-between elections into a time of exuberant and engaged action? Our conversation provided a lot to get us started on this path! Andrea Miller was especially motivating and provided us with so much wisdom and insight from her work with the Center for Common Ground. One of the most important takeaways I had was to keep the pulse on what is happening locally as much as we are engaged with what is happening nationally. Monitoring local policies and voting in our local elections (judges, school board, etc.) are essential to working towards equity and justice in our communities.
Our event happened to coincide with the last week of my time in the MPH program. This timing for me personally encouraged me to reflect on how I would not only foster momentum in between elections, but how I would continue to engage in the work of health equity and social justice as an alumnus of both the Simmons MPH and HERE4Justice community. How would I keep the momentum in the transition from student to alum? I hope to stay involved through the HERE4Justice alumni network, as well as to carry the passion I have witnessed within this community into my personal and professional life going forward. There is a lot of work to do - let’s go!
–Michaela Whitley ('22), Director of Projects
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