Deliberative Dialogue: Elections: How Should We Encourage and Safeguard Voting?

 

Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Where: North Mall Meeting Room

 
2024 is a presidential election year, and many Americans are concerned about the US election system although we don’t always agree on the main problem or how best to fix it. Is it too hard to vote? Is the system too easy to manipulate? Do we have rules that make voting fair and accessible to all? Are we doing enough to ensure accuracy and credibility?

On March 21, 2024, PVCC will host a Deliberative Dialogue on Elections: How Should We Encourage and Safeguard Voting? to discuss these issues. During this Deliberative Dialogue, we will look at three options for moving forward, each reflecting a different view of the problem. Most people will find something to agree with in all three approaches, but each also has trade-offs, risks, or drawbacks that need to be taken into account and worked through.

In thinking about different approaches, we will consider these questions:

Would having uniform national standards for voting, instead of having state and local officials continue to set the rules, give us more confidence?
Do ID requirements for voting, in order to help maintain the system’s integrity, merely discourage voters by placing hurdles in their way?
Would Americans see the voting system as more legitimate if the Electoral College were eliminated in favor of a national popular vote?
Could some of the changes proposed here have unintended consequences? Could they fix some problems but cause new ones we haven’t anticipated?
Deliberative Dialogue attendees will engage in discussions on the three options within small groups, guided by a trained facilitator. After considering each option equally, the small groups will reconvene for a collective discussion. The event is expected to last approximately two hours.

Prepare yourself for a meaningful conversation on a crucial topic! By participating, you will gain fresh insights into elections and hone your ability to navigate discussions on challenging issues! And year after year, students have asked for safe spaces to have these conversations. Come be a part of that experience!

Please register to attend the Deliberative Dialogue.

To learn more about deliberative dialogue, click here: http://www.nationalcivicleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Carcasson.wicked.pdf

Deliberative Dialogues at PVCC will use National Issue Forums. For more see: https://www.nifi.org/

If you have questions, email Crystal Newell (cnewell@pvcc.edu) or Jenny Koster (jkoster@pvcc.edu).