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Hi everyone. Bye. It is turn up Tuesday. My name is Hannah Fried and I am the National campaign director for all the local Turn Up Tuesday is a program by and still vote, which is powered by all voting is local and the leadership conference on civil and human rights. If this is your first time joining us The Leadership Conference is a coalition of more than 200 National organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all people in this country. All voting is local. The Leadership Conference fights to eliminate needless and discriminatory barriers to voting before they happen to build a democracy that works for all of us. Thank you so much to all of you for tuning in this week, we'll be focusing on Michigan as of today more than one point six million mail-in ballots have been spent to Michigan voters for the August primary election. compared to just 470 - 5000 at about the same That's an increase of more than 250 percent. through this week's turn up to events. We wanna highlight the work that's being done in the state to help voters understand all their voting options like voting by mail with that, I'd like to introduce our awesome panel. I'm honored to be joined today by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is Michigan's chief elections official Camellia Landrum, who's the executive director of the Detroit Branch NAACP and Ben Gardner. With me as the Michigan campaign manager for all voting is local, thank you all of you for joining us today. and let's start by talking a little bit about the current voting situation in Michigan. then I'm gonna start with you tell us a little bit about what voters in Michigan might be worried about in the lead up to the elections this August and November. I think you know Michigan voters have a a very exciting opportunity this coming August and November because. Fortunately back in 2018, two thirds of voters decided to pass proposal three so here in Michigan, we really have an opportunity to take advantage of this expanded options and expanded access to voting but that is also our challenge to make sure that voters know what their options are and are able to. As the right to vote safely, of course, this is happening in the backdrop of Cove 19. a pandemic and so we really wanna take every step that we can take to make sure that people know they do not have to choose between their public health and exercising their right to vote so the one thing that we'll be doing a lot of is we will be reaching out to voters and taking advantage of the fact that Secretary of State set out absentee ballot applications. we wanna make sure we communicate with those voters and help walk them through the process of how to fill out that ballot and how to cast a vote. we know that there's this information that goes around sometimes there's this information that goes around and that's unfortunate but we're here along with a lot of other partners in the democracy space to make sure the voters have the information they need and have the accurate information and are able to cast your vote safely. So we'll be doing a lot of. To make sure that voters know that vote by mail is safe and secure we also know that our courts need a lot of support. this is you mentioned the numbers at the beginning of during your introduction and we're just thrilled the uptick in engagement is exciting and a great sign moving forward, but we know that there are challenges in terms of processing those applications and making sure that ballots get to voters on time. so we wanna work with all parties involved to make sure that that happens and we'll be talking about. Stuff that we can take throughout this call I also would like to just highlight that there are little things that we need to focus on in terms of our education when it comes to vote by mail, some people don't know that they have to sign the back that the new sign the envelope when they turn it in so we wanna make sure that people know the right amount of postage that they have to set put on the envelope we need to make sure they know how to sign their envelopes so that matches the signature that's on file we don't want ballots to rejected because of a. That someone might make or I'm just an omission that they might make because they didn't know what was necessary. so we're gonna be working to communicate with voters about all those little things that they need to do to make sure that their vote counts and then lastly, I would say one challenge that I think is related to Co 19 pandemic. we wanna make sure that our clerks have the necessary support when it comes to poll workers so I know that there's a a great program that the Secretary of stays launch the Democracy MVP campaign. we wanna work with. Other organizations to make sure that each polling location has sufficient number of coworkers who are well trained and are able to walk voters through how to vote safely and securely this August and in November. Thank you Ben and you touched on this but let me ask Secretary Benson tell us a little bit about the different ways that Michigan voters can cast their ballots this year. Well, we're all about. Sure that we need voters where they are and that they have choices about how to cast their ballots. I mean we're in a time of great uncertainty and we wanna be able to give our citizens all of our citizens. the certainty that our elections will happen on time and on schedule and the clarity about how they can participate in them and so we're working with all of their various different organizations to on both those fronts. really recognizing that in Michigan, we have a new right for voters to be able to to to be able to vote by mail and so actualizing that right. Now and more are enthusiastic about it than ever before it has been very important to our work this year. We're also making sure we maintain safe in person voting auctions as well. and so so that work continues but essentially citizens wanting to vote in either on August primary elections or on November general elections. I have the ability to participate by mail and you can request to vote by mail or request a ballot to be sent to you on our website. Michigan dot Gov slash vote. To your local clerk and then on top of that, you can return your ballot through the mail or through drop boxes that are located throughout the state. in addition to that, though that's safe in person option is gonna be available as it always has been traditionally, we have no plans to limit access to the polls on Election day itself and certainly want it. We see our local clerks as a great portal people finding out even more information about those options but what we continue to make them. But we've provided masks and gloves and other PE for our clerks and election workers that they're safe and we wanna have some masks on hand in case voters show up with that one to ensure again we're complying with all of the CDC and other recommendations to protect everyone's health. but I'm confident that we will be able to operate elections safely securely and excessively even midst of this pandemic and we've got plans in place to do that in August and November and choices voters can make is to how they want to. Elections and Secretary Benson for voters who are casting a ballot by mail for the first time. What can you tell them about you know how they can know that their vote is gonna count and be confident that it's gonna count and how they can stay informed in the process of voting, you know from the time they think about requesting a ballot to the time that they drop it in the mail Well, there's a number of ways you can ensure that you get your ballot on time that you turn it on time and then it's counted and we know again that this is new for so many citizens We anticipate that you know you know one to two million people may be voting by mail for the. This year in Michigan and so that said, we wanna make sure they have confidence in the process and it starts by requesting your ballot early and and again you can do that at any time. Michigan dot Gov slash vote and when you receive your ballot which you should if you haven't already if you've requested it, you should receive it within a few days of requesting it if you haven't you can you can reach out local Park and inquire about its status but you'll also be able to by November track online. you're. Returning your ballot as well when it comes to returning your ballot, you can, of course, use the mail, but if you're within about a week of Election day because in Michigan ballots have to be received on election evening by eight pm in order to count we want people to plan ahead mail it back ahead of time or if they're within a few days of the election, turn it in person to their clerk or drop it off at the drop box and we've deployed and close to eight hundred drop boxes around the state of Michigan for. And then once you've dropped off your ballot, you can contact your clerk or track it on through our website to ensure that it's been counted but we wanna ensure that that that as many ballots are counted as possible and the real concern there lies in the fact that when you're voting in person you have the ability to correct any errors you make as a voter, let's say you you accidentally skip a race that you meant to vote in or your vote doesn't register with the machine because. Is not filled in enough or if you accidentally fell into bubbles or somehow overvote in election, we can catch that when you're voting in person and give voters an opportunity to correct it right there but on the process of voting by mail, we may not catch that until it's too late to correct it and so we also need people to affirmatively ensure they're filling out their ballots correctly and work with nonprofit organizations and call eight six our vote if they have questions about that process so that we can avoid the possibility. That could otherwise be rejected or spoiled on election day and those votes go uncounted because they were not you know the ballots were not correctly completed. Finally, the last thing I'll mention is this was already mentioned. you have to sign the envelope outside the ballot when you vote by mail and you return it in doing so this isn't like a credit card where you can just scribble and hope that it counts you have to have a signature that matches your voter registration signature or else you risk that the ballot may be a flag is a mismatch. that's important for voters to know as well and to take every step of this process seriously cuz we wanna ensure that every vote is counted and every voice is heard. one last question for you Secretary Benson. So we've been hearing voting by mail. We send them to your absentee voting. Some people are saying you know, maybe there's there's something different between these two systems. Is there any difference between voting by mail or absentee voting There really isn't the the the the The terminology is based on the fact that originally when you weren't voting. You would be voting absentee, you would be absent from the polls and therefore you would request a ballot, be mailed to you and then you'd return it in an era where vote by mail is a right you don't necessarily need to prove that you're absent from the polls on Election Day in order to qualify to vote by mail. you have a right to vote by mail if you choose to use it so in my view, it's important to talk about voting by mail or voting from home as a more accurate terminology. But it's all the same thing The only real difference lies with how people get their ballot. Whether you're you're sending ballots to voters once they're registered or you're only sending it to those who request ballots be sent to them. That's the key difference and there are only a handful of States that proactively mail out ballots. Michigan is not one of them. We only mail ballots to people who request them, and that's why getting an application to request a ballot is so important to making sure everyone knows how to request it is so important but the the the basic system is. Male to request receive and return your ballot so in our voting by mail is accurate, but again, it's it's pretty much all the same thanks to that. got it so it is really good to see so Americans exercising their right to vote safely in a healthy way during this pandemic, but we also know that historically there have been some communities including black voters Latino voters who voted by mail at lower rates and my question that I wanna post to all of you is what can we be doing right now? And November to demystify this process for people who might be unsure about it or new to this way of voting Camilia, let's start with you. Yeah. So while that it's definitely true across communities of color for me in Detroit, most of our voters or have voted to keep for quite some time and so now it's just those voters that love to practice and see their vote put in. At the polls helping to convince them that it is a same process. I think you demystify it by doing exactly what we're doing here. We're talking about the opportunity. We're explaining it you have credible individuals that are part of the conversation, ensuring that this is a safe voting process and I think with more education to our community members and the more voices that we have expressing why this is a safe option. You'll have more people trust the process additionally, Some of our younger people my generation, we love the ability to track we wanna know where our packages are as soon as we place them on our door. two days later, we want to know the receipt was sent to our email. We always wanna be able to go back and look and see exactly what took place in the transaction. so I love that we have the ability to track our ballots that provides another layer of credibility and confidence to voting by mail. Thanks Ben. What about you? What would you add? Well? I think. Well, I would just add on to that. It's important that all of us in the democracy space be present in those communities and that we continue to have these conversations. I also think that it's important that we you know we uplift some of the options that folks might have Secretary of state Benson mentioned applying eight hundred drop boxes throughout the state. I think we need for folks who want to vote early and want to take care of their vote before election day. I think we really. Ought to be uplifting the drop-off option for those folks there is something about watching the your ballot go into a box that I think it feels good for folks and so that's that's one thing that I think that will really wanna focus on I also think that it's really critical that we have a comprehensive communications and organizing approach with the pandemic I think a lot will change in the sense that I think those of us on this call and and people listening are used to. The door and we'd like to be knocking on doors and getting out there and get your steps in and also having great conversations with voters but that might not be as as possible this time around with pandemic so I think it's important that these conversations carry over through Zoom meetings through digital advertising and for a community networks that you can communicate with a large group of people as well as direct mail and other means communication and we've we've heard from parts. Already on top of this and working hard to communicate with the voters about their options and so that's great and we want to continue to up with those efforts. But it's important that it be a really comprehensive approach to reach out to voters and Secretary Benson. What what's the role? do you do you in your view of what election election officials should be doing to demystify for voters Well, I think more transparency the better to make sure that people have access to information about how to. Ballots and how to return their ballots and I and you know similarly, if you're voting in person and there are changes increasing occasions to proactively get that information out and to find unique ways of doing it and to also recognize that, in addition to all of this positive proactive, education and needs there's a you know a growing tidal wave of efforts to misinformed communities about their rights and confuse them and and and sow seeds of doubt about the sanctity of the process so to be prepared. For election officials to be trusted voices and coming through that rhetoric and affirming the people, you know the basic facts and truth as to how to get their ballots How to return their ballots, whether it's through the mail or in person on Election day and how to ensure that it's been counted and we're also implementing a post-election audit risk limiting on it statewide so that people can have additional confidence that once their ballots are counted through machines that the machines will be accurately reporting the totals wins and losses in the election. so it's a multi. Effort but you know it all gets back to communication education and transparency. we've talked about the ins and outs of how to get your ballot that you can vote in person. Camilo tell us why you think that boating is important. I think ultimately voting allows you to choose your champion for Justice in whatever area you are seeking it whether you know right now across the country, A lot of folks are concerned about police reform you know a lot of individuals that are concern about housing adequate access student loans student loan debt health care access education for our students and we vote. Are literally electing all the individuals that have a say so in the process for how these policies connect to your everyday life. so if you are if you're primary concern, maybe the criminal Justice system, then we're voting for the judges who often times make the decisions. for a lot of the cases in which we like how in the world of that happen. How did that turn out and you and you see that it falls in the judge's hands and or you're voting for your mayor who in turn selects the police chief you're voting for your prosecutor. Who's responsible for breaking charges and a lot of cases in which we don't understand you're voting for our US reps our Congress. There's so many different positions that are on the ballot this upcoming election. It's not just at the top where we look at the federal level, but you're you're voting locally. All owning is local and so when you look at how you can align your personal policies and their priorities and what they are for your life and let's acknowledge that they change the different phases of life, you know for a parent or a senior for a young adult that's in school. They may not have a full connection to why the mayor is important, but they understand that the Congress person helps you know create student loan bills. If you're a parent, you may pay more attention to the school board because you wanna know what's going on with your children if you are a young adult or you know, buy a House, you may care more about your state Rep in your city Council because you you wanna know more about the ordinance that are gonna be where you live put in place, but not all that. Back to you know you're choosing who you want to represent your interests and so you don't have to just go with the majority of that voice in your voice is exercise that you're in at the ballot. So for voters who are. feeling motivated who are feeling inspired who cannot wait to get there, you know make their voices heard in August and in November in Michigan then what can voters be doing right now to get ready to vote? Well, they're there are number of things that people can do. I think the first thing that I would urge people to do is to make sure that they are registration is up to date or if they're they're not registered to vote to go to Michigan dot Gov slash vote and register to vote one of the great new tools that we do have in Michigan. It's online voter registration so that's another thing that I think a lot of us will be working to educate folks on in terms of another option, but make sure that you're set You're registration is up to date and if it's not take care of what you need to take care of and then make a. And I think we're all very busy and so I love to talk about planning and even if you're voting by mail, you can still. walk yourself through that process of how you're gonna take care of the application are you're gonna fill out the ballot when you're gonna fill out the ballot when you're gonna take it to the mailbox or Dropbox so it's really important that people think through what what the process is gonna look like and whether they're voting by mail or voting in person early or voting on Election day, I think vote on Election Day is really important to be cognizant of times. That you're making a plan that that's built around your day. so if you're taking your children to school or to camp or to an after school or before school activity or summer camp or any kind, make sure that you build in that time if you're working and make sure that your boss is giving you the time you need to go and take care of your voting to get take your voting if you're meeting someone make sure that you build 30 to 45 minutes and to go take care of of your home it. Important that people visualize what they're gonna do and make that plan so that they don't get hit by any surprises. I would also encourage folks to follow all of these local on social media. go to our website. Go to Michigan dot Org. Follow the various groups that are in the space. we'll have a number of opportunities for you to get involved to work with your local officials to help them give them the support that they need and then lastly, I would just say I think during this time as we get. For August, November the relational organizing is gonna be really important, so we all want to see more people vote in Michigan. we all wanna work towards some trees we turn out so have those conversations with your friends with your personal networks. oh that text text your text your network and make sure that they're they're ready to vote work with your family members make sure they have a plan to vote. that's the kind of organizing that we're gonna have to do this cycle as we deal with the realities of covid-. I would really encourage people to lean in to relational organizing talk with their networks and make sure that we're all getting out to vote. and I add to that for being really quickly just the relational organizing piece, you know I want people to really sit down and make this family activity this year. So if you're voting by mail, I want you to sit your children down since your brother and sister whoever the family should be voting together and And explaining why it's so important to be consistent voters. So yes, we have a ton of attention on this 2020 election, but we have elections all the time and so it's really important to show folks in your household if you were if you're the more educated voter or a little bit more in to what's going on that you stick them down and have a conversation do it in the dinner table? It's okay, you know researching candidates. so see who actually identifies with your values That's really important for the relational organizing piece and then you know we. ride with five is definitely one of our targets or asks for our take your results to the campaign and so yes, reach out to people but like be intentional. These are my friends at work Five friends at school five friends that I know that are vendors whatever it is so that when you're you're clear about what it is that you're trying to reach you know that you're having an impact but do it with. People the other folks don't keep voting to yourself benefits everybody and Secretary Benson. What are you telling Michigan voters about how to get ready and you've mentioned them but say them again for for our audience. What are the resources that are available for Michigan voters to make their plan to vote for Michigan dot Gov slash vote has everything you need for registering to vote and requesting to vote by mail to finding your polling location to locating your clerk and everything in between you can always email me directly at Secretary at Michigan dot Gov. If you have a question that's not answered and I also wanna put. For people to consider serving as an election worker this year, in addition to voting, we wanna make sure that the infrastructure of democracy is fully staffed and we've got a lot of folks that I've had you know seven conversations today with parks around our state of people who are needed to staff the polls and to welcome and serve on the front lines as democracy's most valuable players and so we're also recruiting election workers go to Michigan dot Gov Democracy MVP to sign up and we need as many as a thousand coworkers in Detroit for November and dozens others throughout the state. So I'm encouraged that 3500 people have already signed up 3500 but we need more so in addition to voting considered also serving as an election worker to ensure that your fellow citizens can participate in our elections that everything remains secure make a plan to vote is everyone has said, and they get your lifeline as Michigan dot Gov slash vote and stay. With us on social media as well because our our Michigan Secretary of state, Twitter feed and Facebook page consistently is updated with more up to date information. The last thing I'll say is we're three weeks out of the August election in one week, your ability to register online for the August election ceases and you have to at that point. Register to vote in person with your clerk two weeks prior to election. So register to vote now and make a plan to vote now. Not too early, in fact, it's right on time to start getting ready and participating in the August election and then it's a straight on towards November for the Grand finale as we've been calling it this year with our four elections in Michigan and I'm excited to see a significant amount of enthusiasm and I'm confident that our elections will remain safe, secure and accessible to all. thanks So for those of you who tune in every week, this will be a familiar question to you start your events and let's start with you. why do you have hope? When we put out a call for a few hundred workers to sign up 2000 signed up in 10 days, because enthusiasm and engagement is off the charts and more people are voting and also aware of their ability to vote by mail than ever before because 70 percent of the Michigan citizens who voted in 2018 voted to amend our state constitution to create a right to vote by mail to allow for automatic voter registration that the voices of the people are squarely on the side of democracy and In a hyper partisan moment like this where there's so much partisan bickering and political noise, I know that the majority of people in our state and our country simply want their government to work better for them and I want to be engaged and participate and calling on the government to be responsive to them. So it's an honor to serve as a as a portal and oversee democracy in a way that hopes to welcome all voices into the system. But what gives me hope is the enormous level of engagement leasing this year and and it also gives me a deep sense. Responsibility to ensure those voices are heard and that every vote is counted and what gives you hope. for me, it's the engagement as well. It's it's pretty incredible to think that we're seeing these numbers the Middle of a pandemic. so I I have to take a lot of hope and and and be very happy about that. I would also add that something I'm noticing that's really inspiring. Is I think a lot of the work right now is intersectional and when you look at voting rights and it has to be I think. There's there's a lot going on around the country. it's a hyper partisan time, but there's also great injustices that we've seen you know kind of the forefront here lately and so I think a lot of the work that we're seeing a lot of the conversations are intersectional, they need to continue to be that way I think in the months ahead and and work doesn't stop after November but I just I found a lot of things to be really really hopeful about in this time and hopefully hopefully. Hopefully we can help the everyone involved administer the elections safely and securely and we can all look back and be really proud of the work that everyone did. Thanks Camellia What gives you hope that definitely the engagement was specifically, I would say the election of Mayor Ellen Jones and Ferguson, Missouri you know we often times tell our black and Brown communities Vote. things will change for you and sometimes they don't. Chance to see that immediate change in the collective power that comes together with voting is not always it doesn't always prevail and so to see the election of Mayor Jones in the community that is predominantly African-American to now see tell them you know, push your voting rights. you should let your voice and to see that put into action and out to have a representative that is reflective of their values shows that there is a connection to the policy in which. You. don't say lift your Voice not talking about it very tangible in this case, you see how it worked in Ferguson, Missouri, so that is encouragement for me. That's why I hope the great tangible example, we can look back at as we told our communities to lift their voice and now we see what that looks like. Those are wonderful words to end I wanna thank all of our guests for tune up Tuesday this week, Secretary of State Benson Camellia Landrum be Gardner. Thank you all three of you. thanks to everybody watching. come back here next Tuesday. See what we've got cooking next. Follow us on Insta Live Vote dot org. Thank you all so much be well be healthy. Take care. Thanks. bye guys. Bye everyone. Thank you.