This December, Common Cause, Voting Rights Lab, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, are hosting election and voting rights partners and advocates, from both the state and national level, for a virtual conference on Election Subversion in the States.
Serving as an extension of voter suppression efforts, election subversion (or election sabotage) attacks the election process itself, opening the door to partisan interference with the casting, counting and certification of votes. This involves efforts to thwart the will of the people and undermine election administration through partisan take-over of election administration, sham audits or election reviews, threats of criminal and civil penalties for election officials. While we have seen election subversion efforts in the past, election subversion legislation on the state level is new — and we expect to see more of it in 2022.
This conference will: Build a shared understanding of “election subversion”; familiarize participants with different lobbying, litigation, organizing and messaging strategies to combat election subversion and allow them to determine their organizational contribution to the fight; identify state-level strategic priorities and tactics; and grow the coalition of advocacy organizations willing to collaborate together to fight election subversion (See agenda below.) This gathering is held in collaboration with Common Cause’s annual Blueprint for a Great Democracy convening. The conference is supported by the George S. McGovern Great Government Endowment, sponsored by a generous grant from the WhyNot initiative.
Thursday, December 9, 2021
1-4pm EST
Virtual Zoom Meeting
Agenda
Part 1: Welcome and Opening Panel
1:00-1:25 Co-Host Remarks
- Terry Ao Minnis, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC
- Sylvia Albert, Common Cause Education Fund
- Liz Avore, Voting Rights Lab
1:25-2:10 State Leaders Opening Panel
Moderated by Randy Perez, Voting Rights Lab
- Joel Edman, Arizona Democracy Resource Center
- Stephanie Gomez, Common Cause Texas
- Esosa Osa, Fair Fight Action
2:10-2:15 Break
Part 2: Strategies for Combating Election Subversion
2:15-2:20 Brief on Strategies for Combating Election Subversion
2:20-3:10 Break-out Strategy Panels
- Lobbying and Legislative Strategies
Moderated by Daniel Griffith, Secure Democracy USA
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- Josh Houston, Texas Impact
- Kay Cook, Secure Democracy USA
- Khalif Ali, Common Cause Pennsylvania
- Litigation and Legal Strategies
Moderated by Terry Ao Minnis, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC
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- Wendy Weiser, Brennan Center
- Jonathan Diaz, Campaign Legal Center
- Allison Riggs, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
- Grassroots Mobilization
Moderated by Izzy Bronstein, Common Cause Education Fund
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- Carly Weir, Mobilization Center
- Eric Sapp, Public Democracy
- Jennifer Chau, AZ AANHPI for Equity
- Messaging and Persuasion
Moderated by Jay Riestenberg, Secure Democracy USA
- Jiggy Geronimo, Independent Strategic Research Collaborative
- Mindy Finn, Citizen Data
- Marilyn Rodriguez, Creosote Partners