Democracy Forum 10/16/20: Who’s Showing Up to Vote in November?

Published: Oct. 16, 2020, 8 p.m.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Research into voter motivation; How new information can affect the way people form political opinions, make political choices and, ultimately, take political actions; How research into voter motivation might be relevant in the 2020 General Election. Guests: Yanna Krupnikov, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University Meg McCormick, Maine Director & New England Coordinator, Campus Election Engagement Shelly Crosby, Orono Town Clerk and president of the Maine Town and City Clerks Association. To learn more about this topic: Half of Americans Don’t Vote. What Are They Thinking? Colin Woodard in Politico, February 2020 College Students, Voting and the COVID-19 Election, Knight Foundation, August 2020 The 100 Million Project: The Untold Story of American Non-Voters, Knight Foundation Maine watchdog may probe shadowy poll aimed at Democratic legislative hopeful, Bangor Daily News, September 2020 Opinion | Is America Hopelessly Polarized, or Just Allergic to Politics? (Published 2019), Samara Klar, Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan, New York Times, April 2019 Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction, Samara Klar and Yanna Krupnikov, 2016 Prerecorded using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org About the host: Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League’s priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and elections. She joined the League in 1998 when she retired as Senior Vice President at SEI Investments. Ann was a founder of the MDI Restorative Justice Program, 1999 – 2000, and served on its Executive Board.