Profs & Pints DC: The Fight Against Voter Suppression

Profs and Pints DC presents: “The Fight Against Voter Suppression,” on past efforts to disenfranchise marginalized populations and ways to combat new threats to fair democracy, with Jatia Wrighten, assistant professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University and scholar of Black representation in state legislatures.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-voter-suppression .]

In today’s fast-moving world, understanding how your vote fits into the bigger picture isn’t just smart. It’s also powerful. Learn how voting trends and debates over voting rights are shaping the future of our country with Jatia Wrighten, whose research focuses on Black women, state legislatures, and leadership.

Professor Wrighten will start with an overview of the history of voter suppression, discussing the three primary ways in which African Americans and other marginalized groups have been disenfranchised: poll taxes, literacy tests, and “grandfather clauses” perpetuating past generations’ unequal access to the vote.

Then we’ll look at the present and how voting laws are quickly changing. We’ll focus on citizens, non-citizens, and other demographic groups would be affected by the proposed SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act requiring those registering to vote to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship.

From there Dr. Wrighten will discuss who is actually showing up at the polls and why it matters. She’ll examine voting rates among various populations in the 2024 presidential election and how Trump appeared to make inroads among Black and Latino men with his populist appeals.

Drawing from data, history, and her own experience, Dr. Wrighten will discuss a path forward for those seeking to protect their say in local, state and national political affairs. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: President Lyndon B. Johnson is joined by Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks at the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (White House photo / Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum).