May 3, 2022

At the conclusion of this morning’s session on District Court primaries, facilitator Mary Johnson asked Forum participants for ideas on how to raise voter participation in the May 17 primary, and in subsequent elections.

Superior Court Judge Kimberly Best suggested that telling the story of how recent Supreme Court decisions are jeopardizing the rights of Black and brown people would help. Public defender Belal Elrahal suggested local government underwriting of a bipartisan voter education effort. Garcia Nelson suggested a blizzard of press releases from the Forum to radio stations and churches. A number of people expressed support for making Election Day a holiday for employees, to facilitate voting,

Johnson closed the session with an appeal to participants to take personal action – bugging friends, or acquaintances at the grocery store, about whether they have voted and giving them information on early-voting sites.