News

March On, Future Coalition, Headcount, National Vote At Home Institute, and The Andrew Goodman Foundation Announce “Vote Safe 2020 Live,” A Virtual Movement To Protect The Vote This November

Bi-partisan state and local leaders, including former Governors Jennifer Granholm and Tom Ridge, join with musicians and youth activists to deliver a virtual rally and teach-in to prepare young people to navigate voting safely and become advocates for safe elections in their communities. Award-winning artists the Indigo Girls and Alex Ebert, along with others, will be featured in the program.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—March On today announced “Vote Safe 2020 Live,” a Livestream event
encouraging young people to secure their right to vote, empower other voters, and get out the
vote. The June 25th event is a collaborative effort with a growing number of organizations
including HeadCount, Future Coalition, Vote at Home and The Andrew Goodman Foundation
and will feature distinguished thinkers, experts, young elected officials and youth activists to
inspire and mobilize voters to safely exercise their rights at the ballot box in November and
beyond.

“Amidst a pandemic and demands for social change that are sweeping our country, America
cannot afford a deficit in voter registrations, or for voters’ voices to go unheard,” said Vanessa
Wruble, Executive Director of March On. “Vote Safe 2020 Live” offers an inspiring way to
educate on registering to vote, and their rights to vote safely while communicating the urgency
of participating this November. Our message to young people is to vote like your life depends
on it, because it does.”

Vote Safe 2020 Live will stream online Thursday, June 25, at 8:30 p.m. EST/ 5:30 p.m. PST. A running list of speakers and topics is listed below. RVSP here.

Give Us the Ballot (At Home): Learn about the opportunity to vote safely at home.

  • Amber McReynolds, CEO of Vote at Home Institute
  • Jennifer Granholm, Former Governor of Michigan
  • Tom Ridge, Former Governor of Pennsylvania and Former Secretary of Department of Homeland Security
  • Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State, Michigan
  • Kim Wyman, Secretary of State, Washington

The COVID-19 Stress Test on Democracy: How is COVID-19 impacting the vote? How will the current movement for racial justice affect the election?

  • Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot
  • Angela Lang, BLOC, Minneapolis

Protect the Vote 2020: What are the barriers to a high voter turnout? What does voter protection look like in 2020?

  • Mandela Barnes, Lt. Governor, Wisconsin
  • Dorian Spence, Lawyer’s Committee on Civil Rights Under the Law

Performances and messages by:

  • Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
  • Indigo Girls
  • Kam Franklin
  • MILCK
  • Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast)
  • Erin Brokovich

For more information, visit www.votesafe2020.us.

About The Andrew Goodman Foundation
The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s mission is to make young voices and votes a powerful force
in democracy by training the next generation of leaders, engaging young voters, and
challenging restrictive voter suppression laws. The organization is named after Andrew
Goodman, a Freedom Summer volunteer and champion of equality and voting rights who was
murdered by the KKK in 1964 at 20 years old while registering Black Americans to vote in
Mississippi. To learn more, visit andrewgoodman.org.

About March On
March On is a political organization composed of women-led political activist groups that grew
out of the women’s marches of January 21, 2017. They have come together as a united force to
take concrete, coordinated actions at the federal, state, and local levels to impact elections and
take our country in a better direction. March On is not affiliated with Women’s March, Inc. For
more information, visit wearemarchon.org.

About Future Coalition
Founded by youth activists for youth activists, Future Coalition is a network and community for
youth-led organizations and Gen Z and young millennial leaders from across the country that
came into being as a project of March On in the fall of 2018. Future Coalition works
collaboratively to provide young people with the resources, tools, and support they need to
create the change they want to see in their communities and in this country. For more
information, visit futurecoalition.org.

About HeadCount
HeadCount is a non-partisan organization that promotes participation in democracy through
music, culture, and digital media. Since 2004 the organization has registered over 650,000
voters and worked with a long list of musicians and partners including Ariana Grande, Dave Matthews Band, JAY-Z, Beyoncé, March for Our Lives, RuPaul’s DragCon, MTV, and Dead &
Company. HeadCount also organizes “Participation Row” activism villages at over a dozen major
music festivals and concert tours. With 40,000 volunteers, street teams in most major U.S. cities
and presence at more than 1,000 events each year, HeadCount ranks as one of the most active
grassroots civic participation organizations in the United States. For more information, visit
headcount.org.

About National Vote at Home Institute
National Vote at Home Institute (NVAHI) is dedicated to making sure every American can vote
in secure, safe, accessible, and equitable elections by expanding vote-at-home systems in all 50
states. NVAHI works with election officials in optimizing their administration processes and
governing laws for both mail ballot and in-person voting methods. NVAHI works to remove
legislative and administrative barriers to vote-at-home systems and educate the public on the
benefits of voting at home while still preserving the ability to vote in person for those who may
want or need it. For more information, visit voteathome.org.

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