America at a Crosroads: Confronting Voter Supression, Disinformation & Impact on Midterms

Join Jews United for Democracy and Justice & Community Advocates for a discussion with Election & Voting Rights Expert, Rick Hasen, and Election Journalist, Greg Bluestein,
on voter suppression, the primaries and the midterms

Date and time: Wed, June 22, 2022 @ 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM PDT

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/are-voter-suppression-efforts-working-whats-cooking-after-25-primaries-tickets-356772485107


RICK HASEN

Rick Hasen is an American legal scholar and expert in legislation, election law and campaign finance. He is currently Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Hasen was one of the founding co-editors of the quarterly Election Law Journal, a peer reviewed publication on election law. He also runs Election Law Blog, a blog focusing on election law, campaign finance, voting rights, initiatives, redistricting, and other legal issues.

In 2009, Hasen was elected to the American Law Institute. In 2013, the National Law Journal included Hasen on its list of the "100 most influential lawyers in America."

He is the author of 5 critically acclaimed books, the most recent of which, "Cheap Speech: How disinformation poisons our politics....and how to cure it", in which he discusses what can be done consistent with the First Amendment to ensure that American voters can make informed election decisions and hold free elections amid a flood of virally spread disinformation and the collapse of local news reporting.

--How should American society counter the actions of people like former President Donald J. Trump, who used social media to convince millions of his followers to doubt the integrity of U.S. elections and helped foment a violent insurrection?

--What can we do to minimize disinformation campaigns aimed at suppressing voter turnout?

With piercing insight into the current debates over free speech, censorship, and Big Tech's responsibilities, Richard L. Hasen proposes legal and social measures to restore Americans' access to reliable information on which democracy depends. In an era when quack COVID treatments and bizarre QAnon theories have entered mainstream, this book explains how to assure both freedom of ideas and a commitment to truth.


GREG BLUESTEIN

Greg Bluestein is a political reporter who covers the governor's office and state politics for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He joined the newspaper in June 2012 after spending seven years with the Atlanta bureau of The Associated Press, where he covered a range of beats that included politics and legal affairs. He also contributes to the AJC's Political Insider blog and is a frequent MSNBC and NBC contributor. He's a graduate of the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and political science and lives with his wife and two daughters in Dunwoody.

Bluestein's book, "Flipped: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republican Power" was published in March 22, 2022. "Flipped" is the definitive account of how the election of Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff transformed Georgia from one of the staunchest Republican strongholds to the nation’s most watched battleground state—and ground zero for the disinformation wars certain to plague statewide and national elections in the future. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein charts how progressive activists and organizers worked to mobilize hundreds of thousands of new voters and how Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia may shape Democratic strategy for years to come. He also chronicles how Georgia’s Republicans countered with a move to the far right that culminated in state leaders defying Donald Trump’s demands to overturn his defeat.


ABOUT: Jews United for Democracy and Justice (JUDJ)

https://www.jewsunitedfordemocracy.org/join-our-mission/

Founded in the wake of the executive orders on immigration and refugees under the Trump administration, JUDJ is deeply concerned about rising threats to religious tolerance,
equal rights, a free and fair press, human dignity, and long-held norms of decency and
civil society. While the administration has changed, many of these issues continue to threaten our constitutional ideals. We will speak out and take action when our shared Jewish values require us to counter those threats.

JUDJ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.