Oprah Winfrey To Host Virtual Town Halls in Key States To Encourage, Inspire and Support Voters
by Kathy Grear 10/26/2020Ahead of Election – Events Are Free and Open to the Public on Zoom
Los Angeles – Oprah Winfrey announced today plans to host virtual town halls in key states as part of OWN’s OWN YOUR VOTE nonpartisan get-out-the-vote initiative, intended to encourage, inspire and support voters across the country ahead of the General Election November 3.
Oprah Winfrey will host virtual town halls engaging with voters in Wisconsin (10/26), North Carolina (10/27), Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania (10/28) and South Carolina (10/29) to take place at 8:00 pm/ET (7:00pm/CT) each evening.
To join the townhalls, which are free and open to the public, registration is available in advance at zoomwithoprah.com.
Oprah Winfrey will speak with local voters around the country to ensure as many as possible are prepared with resources, information and inspiration ahead of the General Election. Those joining the town halls include local voters in each state, along with national thought leaders, voting rights experts and those who can provide resources and information for voters. Speakers will include activist and Undistracted podcast host Brittany Packnett Cunningham; Wisconsin 4th Congressional District Representative Gwen Moore; President of Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under the Law Kristen Clarke; Mayor of Charlotte Vi Lyles; NAACP Detroit Chapter Executive Director Kamilia Landrum; CEO, Vote.org Andrea Hailey; City Council Member, Columbia, SC Tameika Isaac Devine; Vice President Color of Change, Arisha Hatch; activist Tamika D. Mallory; President & Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense Fund Sherrilyn Ifill.
Additional, representatives from women’s organizations including Dr. Glenda Glover (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated); Beverly E Smith (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated); Melanie Campbell (Black Women’s Roundtable); Glenda Carr (Higher Heights Leadership Fund); Dr. Johnetta Betsch Cole (NCNW); Dr. Kimberly Leonard (The Links, Incorporated); Rasheeda S. Liberty (Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated); Valerie Hollingsworth Baker (Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated).
OWN Your Vote Partner Organizations include:
Advancement Project National Office
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
AME Church Social Action Commission
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
Fair Fight Action
Higher Heights Leadership Fund
Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights
The Kapor Center
The King Center (Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc.)
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The Links, Incorporated
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF)
National Council of Negro Women
National Urban League
Power Rising
Power to the Polls
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated
Sistahs in Business Expo
Vote Run Lead
Vote.org
VoteAsIf.org
When We All Vote
Woke Vote
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated
Link to OWN YOUR VOTE Website: OWNYourVote.TV
About OWN Your Vote
The OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network OWN YOUR VOTE initiative is a bipartisan registration and get-out-the-vote campaign partnering with national and local grassroots and voting rights organizations to provide tools and resources that will empower Black women to vote this November. Black women powerfully influence election outcomes and OWN YOUR VOTE will support this group of voters to show up to the polls and help friends, family, and their community to do the same.
OWN Your Vote is designed to help Black women make a voting plan for this critical 2020 election cycle, by recognizing obstacles to voting including challenges around COVID-19, mail-in ballots, voter suppression, transportation, and changing protocols and poll locations; connecting the everyday issues critical to Black women to the issues appearing on the ballot; empowering this key voting block to own their voting story, and make a plan to ensure success at the polls; encouraging local community activism and leveraging personal networks; and collaborating with the voting rights partnership community to support mail-in voting, voter registration, volunteerism, transportation, and safety procedures.
