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Photo of Florita & Joseph Campbell at the Halo Halo Restaurant in Phoenix, AZ by contributing producer Valeria Fernández
In the US, the right to vote is one of the country’s most cherished and hard-fought rights. But it doesn’t mean that everyone has equal access to the polls. In 2013 the Supreme Court struck down a key civil rights provision of the Voting Rights Act. This November will be the first presidential election in 50 years where voters will not have the full protection of the original law.
In this second installment of Making Contact’s Immigrants and Elections series, we explore some of the barriers immigrants and other historically disenfranchised voters face in gaining access to the polls.
Listen to our other episodes in our Immigrants and Elections series here.
* Reporter Valeria Fernandez’s story was made possible with support from Making Contact and New America Media’s fellowship on voting rights.
- Nse Ufot, Executive Director of New Georgia Project
- Maria Rodriguez, Executive Director of Florida Immigrant Coalition
- Marco Ponce, active supporter of Proposition N
- Sandra Lee Fewer, San Francisco Unified School District Commissioner
- Matt Haney, President of the Board of Education of San Francisco
- Eric Mar, San Francisco County Supervisor
- Araceli Becerra, recently naturalized US citizen
- Leonardo Aromin, founder of the Filipino American Journal
- Samantha Pstross, Executive Director of Arizona Advocacy Network
- Vic Reid, civic engagement manager for Asian Pacific Community in Action.Host:
- Host this week: Monica Lopez
- Contributing Producers: Valeria Fernández and Paulina Velasco
- Special thanks: Oyez Project for providing free online access to US Supreme Court audio recordings, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library for access to their archives, and The Media Consortium for audio from their states’ briefing with Audio Recordist, Carson Riedel, The People’s Channel.
- Image Credits: “Florita & Joseph Campbell at the Halo Halo Restaurant in Phoenix, AZ” – Valeria Fernandez
- Music Credits: “Lifetrap”, Year of Glad; “Dents de fer”, FLIST!; “Motion”, Noah; “Surreal”, Ouri; “Future Life”, Ketsa
- YOUR SUPPORT MADE A DIFFERENCE: Special thanks to all the individuals who contributed to our Beacon Crowdfunding campaign for our Immigrants and Elections miniseries. Thanks also to the Berwick-Degel Family foundation.
More information
- The Oyez Project
- A Closer Look at Voter ID laws Across the US
- Jurisdictions Previously Covered by Section 5
- The New Georgia Project
- Florida Immigrant Coalition
- Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
- Feet in 2 Worlds
- As Trump Conjures the Voter Fraud Boogeyman, Voter Suppression is the Real Issue
- Asian American Voters Not Being Engaged in Ca.’s Ballot Initiative Process
More stories like this:
Let’s talk about immigration and elections
From Dreamers in Arizona to Muslims in Michigan: Immigrant Communities Upholding Democracy
Meet our immigration and elections reporters -Valeria Fernandez and Marco Vera
Call for Pitches: Immigration and Elections
Thwarting Democracy, the Battle for Voting Rights
