First Thursday Event: Your Mail – Your Vote – Your Voice
“YOUR MAIL…..YOUR VOICE…..YOUR VOTE”
Thursday, July 2, 2020 at 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Virtual Program hosted by Space Coast Progressive Alliance
“Even though the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, the vote has a long history of not being the right for every US citizen.” Paul Halpern
Please join us on Thursday July 2, 2020 from 6:30pm – 7:30 pm in our virtual “YOUR MAIL – YOUR VOICE – YOUR VOTE” meeting to hear the following expert panelists:
*Sam Delgado, FL ACLU Statewide Voting Rights Organizer (https://www.aclufl.org/)
*Al Friedman, President of the Florida State Association of Letter Carriers
(http://fsalc.com/)
*Donna Morris, Space Coast League of Women Voters
(https://www.lwv.org/local-leagues/lwv-space-coast)
*Stacey Patel, Brevard DEC Chair
(https://brevarddems.org/)
Zoom program link info: Topic: Your Mail Your Voice Your Vote
Time: Jul 2, 2020 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89514871708
Meeting ID: 895 1487 1708
We will also be streaming live to SCPA Facebook Page.
(https://www.facebook.com/SCPAFlorida/)
Even though the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, the vote has a long history of not being the right for every US citizen.
In the earlier part of our history, only white men could vote. Then, you had to own property, or be literate, or be able to pay a poll tax.
Even in these current times, there are new barriers of state approved identification, restrictive poll hours, denial of released inmates voter rights, and difficult access to voter registration.
In this upcoming presidential election, voters are being compelled to physically go to the polls to vote in spite of governmental and health recommendations to stay at home as the best defense to Covid-19.
In the midst of the worldwide pandemic, it is even more necessary to assure everyone’s right to vote.
The most logical, the most safe, and the most effective way to have total access to the vote for all voters is the Vote by Mail. Unfortunately, just as the US Postal System is the most essential means of Vote by Mail, it is being politicized and dismantled.
What we need is more access and more choice and more assurances in order to preserve and to be able to ensure every US citizen the right to their vote.
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About our expert panelists:
*Sam Delgado, FL ACLU Statewide Voting Rights Organizer
Sam joined the ACLU team in January 2020 as Statewide Voting Rights Organizer. In this role, he mobilizes and builds our network of dedicated activists to become a critical part of the work we do to defend our Constitution. Sam has been involved in a variety of electoral campaigns, local, congressional, and presidential, and has a strong history of advocacy work that has focused on civic engagement, immigrant rights, and language accessibility.
He is an alumnus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where Sam did research on the Puerto Rican debt crisis and he came to recognize that Central Florida was one of the epicenters of the new wave of migration from the island to the mainland. This inspired Sam to seek out ways to make accessible critical resources in Florida to the new wave of stateside Puerto Ricans, which led him to work with regional civic organizations engaged with Latinx and immigrant communities.
As the Trump administration began ramping up attacks on immigrant communities, Sam’s focus broadened into advocacy for immigrant communities. He was highly involved in much of the grassroots immigrants’ right work in Orlando and Tampa from 2017 through 2018.
He was also heavily involved in the grassroots outreach campaigns to mobilize activists to talk to voters about Florida’s Amendment 4 in the 2018 elections. This work furthered Sam’s passion for ensuring the fair representation of all people in the election process.
Securing the right to vote inspires Sam to help communities throughout our state to become directly involved in ensuring that their voices are heard.
*Al Friedman, President of the Florida State Association of Letter Carriers.
“To accomplish the goals of the National National Association of Letter Carriers, as set forth in the National Constitution and to enforce the State Bylaws. Make the internal workings of the FSALC’s Transparent and Accountable to the membership. Through Education and Training, make the State first in the nation Legislatively, and in all other aspects of UNIONISM. Together the membership will prevail…The Struggle Continues.”
*Donna Morris, The League of Women Voters of the Space Coast
Donna Morris was born and raised in North Carolina and has lived in Satellite Beach with her husband Bob Grumble since 1990. She holds an MBA from Columbia University. Donna has a long history of activism and a wealth of experience acquired through working on candidate and voter registration campaigns. Her first political experience was working on the Bobby Kennedy campaign. A leading force in getting League of Women Voters of the Space Coast (LWVSC) to increase voter registration initiatives and a pioneer for Vote by Mail, she currently serves as Co-Chair of the Voter Services Committee.
*Stacey Patel, Chair Brevard DEC Stacey Patel was elected Chair of the Brevard Democratic Party in 2016 after serving as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She earned her graduate degree from Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz School of Public Policy, and has decades of experience leading organizational change in corporate, government, and nonprofit environments.
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