“Voting is not only our right – it is our power.” Luong Ung

We know you know the importance of voting, so we’re going deeper with this one, by taking a look at the history, present and future of voting in the Silver State and beyond.

Courtenay Burns, PhD. of Political Science, will walk us through the complicated history of voting and voting rights in the United States since the founding of the country. She serves as the Director of Government Relations at Waterford.org. She received her bachelor’s degree from Berea College and her doctorate in Political Science from the University of Nevada, Reno. Though her academic research focuses generally on public opinion and interest groups in the United States, at Waterford.org her research emphasis is on the use of technology in early childhood education. In her free time, Courtenay volunteers with the American Legion Auxiliary and serves as the Program Chair of Nevada Girls State, an Americanism program that teaches young women who have just completed their junior year in high school about democracy and government through hands-on experience. Additionally, she is involved with the Nevada Women’s Lobby and her local chapter of AAUW.

Noé Orosco (he, el, ima), Program Manager with Silver State Voices, will discuss voter participation and the need for election protection. Before joining Silver State Voices, he served as the Census and Redistricting Coordinator and coordinated the Nevadans Count coalition. Noé has experience working with nonprofits, serving diverse groups of people, and connecting them with state and local resources. Noé has a B.S. in Political Science and a Minor in Philosophy from San José State University and a M.A. in International Studies from the University of Denver.”Silver State Voices (SSV) is a 501(c)(3) organization that coordinates the civic engagement of C3 outreach efforts in Nevada. SSV currently has 19 partners that sit at the organizing table whose work spans Nevada’s most populous counties, Clark and Washoe County. Collaborative efforts include voter registration, rights restoration, get out the vote (GOTV), census and redistricting, election protection, voting rights advocacy, voter education, and data and tools support. SSV believes that democracy works best and its outcomes are most just when the voices of all Nevadans are heard.”

Jennifer Willett will be talking to us about their All Power All Voters program, which educates and supports people to affect change on voting administration. She will also discuss the state of voting rights in Nevada. Jennifer is the Nevada Grassroots Manager at All Voting is Local, an organization that exists to expose and dismantle threats to voter freedom in order to make voting safe, fair, and accessible, to build a democracy for us all. She is currently working to support equitable voting access in northern and rural Nevada. Before she worked at All Voting is Local, she was a professor at UNR and conducted research on environmental justice to support civic engagement around solutions.

The program will be moderated by NNMF board member Daela Gibson, NNMF board member and director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte.