Protect the Vote!
The Fight for Voting Rights Is the Fight for Democracy
Lawmakers in Wisconsin are pursuing multiple investigations into how the 2020 election was run. Our legislature passed several bills that would have restricted absentee voting in Wisconsin. Voting rights advocates say the efforts are imperiling our entire voting system because they are meant to suppress the vote, subvert election results, and undermine confidence in our democratic process. Join the League of Women Voters of Dane County on Oct. 5 to hear from three speakers about how these measures are harming democracy, their analysis on why this is happening, what is needed to protect voting rights, and how organizations and individuals can fight back. Having our votes count continues to be the defining struggle of our country.
Debra Cronmiller is Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin (LWVWI). She previously served as president of the LWVWI board of directors and was an active member of the Appleton League. She worked for the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families as its policy and automation section chief and as the executive director of a nonprofit homeless shelter.
Atiba Ellis is Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School. His primary research focuses on how racial and class-based oppression interact and continue to abridge and deny the right to vote to communities on the margins of American democracy. Professor Ellis is a frequent speaker at academic conferences, university and law school lectures, and community events about voting rights law and how race and gender affect the law of politics. He joined Marquette in 2018 after teaching for nine years at the West Virginia University College of Law and serving as a visiting professor at the Marquette University Law School in the fall of 2017.
Jay Heck is Executive Director of Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI). CC/WI is Wisconsin’s largest nonpartisan citizen reform advocacy organization, with more than 2,500 members. He previously served as a top assistant to Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Joseph Strohl, Associate Director of the State Senate Majority Democratic Caucus, Legislative Director for Congressman Peter Kostmayer (D-PA), and on the national campaign staff of Independent Presidential candidate John Anderson (R-IL). Heck graduated with honors from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with degrees in political science and history.
Joy Cardin is a retired WPR talk show host. She is a member of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin's board of directors and she is a member of the League of Women Voters of Dane County's Making Democracy Work subcommittee.