IPPS fellow Buffy Wicks, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, and Ari Berman, reporter for The Nation join GPPR executive media editor Matt Emeterio to discuss the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, recent changes restricting access to the ballot, and what will happen with voting rights in the 2016 election.
- Alex Padilla on the rising threats to voting rights, increasing obstacles to working families participating in democracy, and the prospects for automatic voter registration in California.
- Ari Berman on the “manufactured issue” of voter fraud and why recent years have seen more laws attempting to restrict the electorate to be older, whiter, and more conservative.
- Buffy Wicks on the 2012 presidential campaigns’ competing voter-access war rooms and how to get arrested while trying to register voters.
If we believe that democracy works best when as many people as possible participate, why aren’t we doing anything and everything we can to help people register? – Secretary Alex Padilla
Established in 1995, the Georgetown Public Policy Review is the McCourt School of Public Policy’s nonpartisan, graduate student-run publication. Our mission is to provide an outlet for innovative new thinkers and established policymakers to offer perspectives on the politics and policies that shape our nation and our world.