ANNUAL ADVOCACY FORUM: “YOUR VOTE, YOUR VOICE, YOUR POWER”

Victoria Bassetti, Brennan Center Fellow and expert on election matters, provides compelling historical background and hopeful perspectives.

On September 15 National Council of Jewish Women Bergen County Section Zoomed its Annual Advocacy Forum “Your Vote, Your Voice, Your Power.” Representatives from over 30 partnering organizations joined NCJW BCS members in the gallery.

Victoria Bassetti, a fellow of the Brennan Center for Justice, gave a passionate, enlightening presentation that covered three topics: 1) Vote by Mail and the concerns of counting the massive volume this year. 2) The Electoral College: how there is uneven weight given from state to state and the new attempt to circumvent the Electoral College by adopting the National Popular Vote Compact. 3) Gerrymandering: states will be redistricting soon and this will affect the vote for the next ten years. Both parties have been guilty of gerrymandering to help the incumbent. It is crucial that there is non-partisan or independent oversight.

Ms. Bassetti began with fascinating insights into early American balloting, when oftentimes voters would sign their names under one candidate’s name or another’s on a PUBLIC ballot. Later when printed ballots became common, each political party would distribute ballots and voters would take a ballot from the party they wanted, and drop it into a ballot box. She made reference to the challenges of the election of 1876, the most controversial election of the 19^th century.  Secrecy and privacy while voting became the rage by 1892. She followed with a photo history of actual 19^th century ballots.  In 1920 lever machines became popular.  And then, she reminded us of the 1944 national election when for the first time men and women under 21 years of age as well as soldiers abroad were given the opportunity to vote.  Ms. Bassetti then discussed the infamous Butterfly Ballot challenge of the 2000 election in Palm Beach County and how crucial absentee and Vote by Mail ballots will be in the upcoming election.

Ms. Bassetti felt that this election will be a cross between the 1876 election and the 1944 election:  1876, in that it will be highly contentious and could be dragged out for some time and 1944, in that there are massive efforts to enfranchise as many Americans as possible with Vote by Mail. She remains forever positive that the system of fair elections will prevail.

The meeting paid homage to the suffragists who came before us. With this being the 100^th anniversary of women’s suffrage, we urged our attendees to honor their work by voting in this election and EVERY ELECTION.

To honor the work of the suffragists, attendees were asked to get ready to vote in the November election. All were urged to visit www.vote411.org to check to see if they are registered to vote and if not, to register. And all were invited to participate in two Get Out The Vote (GOTV) volunteer opportunities.