Speaker 1: (00:00)
The Senate is preparing for a vote next week on two long awaited voting rights bills. President Joe Biden gave a forceful speech, Tuesday, spelling out the need to protect the democratic process across the nation. Jim
Speaker 2: (00:14)
Crow, 2.0 is about two insidious things. Voter suppression, a an election subversion it's no longer about who gets to vote. It's about making it harder to vote. It's about who gets to count the vote and whether your vote counts at all.
Speaker 1: (00:34)
In order to secure passage of both the freedom to vote act. And the John Lewis voting rights act Biden said, as he supports changes to the 60 vote filibuster rule in the Senate, but with at least two democratic senators still waffling over that change and no Republican support. The fate of the voting rights bills is still uncertain. Joining me is Chris Wilson, associate director of Alliance, San Diego and organization that has encouraged voter registration and participation across San Diego county. And Chris, welcome to the
Speaker 3: (01:07)
Show. Glad to be here with you, Maureen. Thank you.
Speaker 1: (01:10)
What did you think of the president's speech yesterday?
Speaker 3: (01:14)
I felt like his tone and tenor was what the country needed to hear, to understand what's going on across his country and how the things that are happening, especially around voter rights. Uh, voter suppression are tearing at our democracy. I think, you know, that's the president's job to sound the, the warning when, you know, red flags go up and we see things that we don't want to happen in the future. And what
Speaker 1: (01:40)
Is going on around the country, do supporters of these bills think voting rights needs protection
Speaker 3: (01:46)
In large part, it's a result of the, the 2020 election results and how the, the right wing in this country framed losing. I think it started before 2020 though. I think, you know, we've seen a decline in bipartisanship. We've seen a, a rise in rightwing rhetoric that sparks, uh, hate and discontent, and we've seen, you know, the way people who are trying to protect and preserve our democracy get treated. And so I think, you know, it's all coming together to unwind the clock, so to speak on the gains that have been made, expanding our democracy, ensuring people's right to vote and participate in our democracy. And it it's no coincidence that it coincides with the rise of, you know, people of color in our American electorate. Now,
Speaker 1: (02:38)
California is not among the nearly 20 states that have enacted, uh, voting restrict, uh, on early voting let's say, or the need for a voter ID or haven't, uh, participated in, in highly partisan gerrymandering. So therefore is California pretty safe from these threats to voting rights?
Speaker 3: (02:58)
Well, you know, Maureen, I've been doing, um, voter engagement work and political work in San Diego for over 20 years now. And I can tell you that we may not label it voter suppression. We may not label it attacks on voting rights, but we have our own brand in California, our own style of, of, you know, limiting the vote. It looks like vote centers and limited early voting. It looks like people being purged without notification from the voting roles. So California has its own issues and policies to contend with around expanding our electorate. We just don't see the legislature passing laws that make it harder for people to vote. Uh, so we, we still need to be vigilant here in California, and we need to be vigilant here in San Diego, as you are probably aware San Diego's moving to a vote
Speaker 1: (03:50)
Center model for our elections, which is a huge change in departure from what we've done for the last 40 years. And so, you know, vote set while providing and expanding the opportunity to vote in an election. They also are fewer voting centers in between each voting center there. So they expand the distance. People might have to travel to vote, they change the way people vote. Um, and while it's a better and bigger opportunity for more people to participate, we need to make sure the information is getting out to people here in San Diego about how to vote and how things are gonna change and where to vote. And so all of those things, if not done correctly, could limit voter participation. So again, while it's not labeled as voter suppression, there are things that can happen in our own backyard that limit voter participation. You know, at times like these, uh, San Diego can feel a very long way from Washington DC, what is your organization going to do to support the voting rights battle that you feel so strongly about?
Speaker 3: (04:55)
Well, you you're right. San Diego is a long way from DC and California is different than a lot of states. I think, you know, in terms of supporting the voting rights battle, again, we have to focus on what changes need to be made in our own backyards first and make sure that we in California are the model for expanding the democracy or the democratic principles. We need to make sure we are the model for ensuring people's right to vote and making it easier for people to participate in elections. We should have a national holiday election day should be a national holiday. And if we can't do it in the nation, we should do it in California and lead the nation and, and show folks what expansion of our democracy and respect for the voting process looks like. And so we're gonna be focused on ensuring that the resident and the, uh, voters that we communicate with and care about have ample opportunity to vote. We're gonna be focused on making sure the policies put in place to Institute. The vote centers in our region are open and noticed to the public, and that public has opportunity to input, to provide input on those policies. And we're gonna make sure that those policies don't negatively impact historically marginalized folks in our community.
Speaker 1: (06:10)
I've been speaking with Chris Wilson associate director of Alliance, San Diego. Thank
Speaker 3: (06:16)
You so much. Appreciate it, Maureen. Thank you.
