Turn Up Tuesdays Taps Georgia Advocates, Celebrities Ahead of June 9 Primary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Charmaine Riley, The Leadership Conference, [email protected], 202.548.7166
Kelly Brewington, All Voting is Local, [email protected], 202.548.7159
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Stacey Abrams, and entrepreneur Kandi Burruss to join call for free and fair elections across the country
ATLANTA – The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and All Voting is Local, with its joint campaign And Still I Vote℠, will hold multiple events this week to mobilize voters and urge officials in Georgia to ensure that all voters are granted the right to vote privately, securely, and safely. This event is a part of Turn Up Tuesdays, a weekly national call to action to ensure people are informed and activated to vote in November.
Georgia voters have experienced broad and far reaching problems while voting or attempting to vote. These problem range from sweeping polling place closures and consolidations, leading to widespread voter confusion, to questions about absentee ballot processing while voting in-person. Many Georgia voters did not receive their absentee ballots, waited in lines as long as seven hours to vote early, and once there, found polling places lacking sanitation. Turn Up Tuesdays is dedicated to ensuring that upcoming elections do not cause the disarray that voters experienced in Wisconsin’s April 7 primary. During this week’s activities, advocates will urge officials to expand safe in-person early voting and absentee voting.
This week’s events include:
Tuesday, June 9
3:00 p.m. EDT
And Still I Vote℠ Instagram Live – The Leadership Conference and All Voting is Local will chat with voters in real-time who are waiting in line at Georgia polling places. Special guests Stacey Abrams and Erica Clemmons-Dean, national organizing director for the New Georgia Project, will also join the conversation about the important role young voters can play.
Tuesday, June 9
5:30 – 6:00 p.m. EDT
Turn Up Tuesday Facebook Live Event – The Leadership Conference and All Voting is Local will speak with guests about barriers Georgia voters face in casting their ballots in November.
Speakers:
Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director, All Voting is Local
Vanessa Gonzalez, executive vice president of field and membership services, The Leadership Conference
Gaylon Tootle, 1st vice president, National Federation of the Blind-Georgia
Tamieka Atkins, executive director, Pro Georgia
Kandi Burruss, entertainer and activist
Tuesday, June 9
7 p.m. EDT
Vote For Our Lives Virtual Rally – In partnership with Declaration for American Democracy, The Leadership Conference will hold a virtual rally to urge Congress to enact voting reforms ahead of the November elections. Participants will also discuss how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision gutted voting protections for communities of color, and the need for robust policies to protect the right to vote
Participants
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO, The Leadership Conference
Dolores Huerta, labor activist and civil rights leader
Jana Morgan, director, Declaration for American Democracy
Leigh Chapman, voting rights program director, The Leadership Conference
Rev. Dr. William Barber II, co-chair, Poor People’s Campaign
Rev. Leslie Watson Wilson, director of African American religious affairs, People for the American Way
Wendy Fields, executive director, Democracy Initiative
Wednesday, June 10
11 a.m. ET
Press Call – The Leadership Conference and All Voting is Local, along with Georgia voting rights organizations, will host a press call to assess Georgia’s handling of the June 9 primary.
PRESS DIAL IN: 1 (877) 615-4337, Passcode 6988 581#
Speakers:
Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director, All Voting is Local
Helen Butler, executive director, Georgia’s Coalition for the People’s Agenda
Stephanie Cho, executive director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta
Aunna Dennis, executive director, Common Cause Georgia
Jerry Gonzalez, executive director, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials
Nse Ufot, Executive Director, New Georgia Project
James Woodall, state president, Georgia National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
All Voting is Local fights to eliminate needless and discriminatory barriers to voting before they happen, to build a democracy that works for us all. It is a collaborative campaign housed at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; the American Constitution Society; the Campaign Legal Center; and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. For more information about All Voting is Local, visit https://allvotingislocal.org and follow us on Twitter @votingislocal.