In this podcast episode, Jude, Chelsea, Jana, and Anna Corinne sit down to talk about the Ethnic Student Center, their experiences with it, and how the ESC space helps facilitate relationship building and campus involvement.

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ESC Instagram: www.instagram.com/wwuesc/

ESC Website: https://as.wwu.edu/esc/

In this episode, Nathalie and Adah sit down to discuss veteran experiences on university campuses, military recruitment, and the ways that Western aims to connect with and support veteran students.

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0:33 Veteran Experiences on Campus & Common Struggles

4:10 Adah's Experience

6:09 Military Recruitment

12:43 Resources on Western's Campus

15:55 Nathalie's Experience Working w a Veteran

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Resources for Veterans

Western's Veteran's Outreach Center https://as.wwu.edu/sairc/voc/

Western's Veteran's Services VSO https://wp.wwu.edu/veteranservices/

Western's SAIRC https://as.wwu.edu/sairc/

Bambi Lewis- AS Veterans Community Coordinator // [email protected]

In this episode, Adah and Anna Corinne explain the electoral college and how it works. They also discuss the unprecedented 2020 election, controversey surrounding mail-in ballots, as well as national and statewide election results.

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Topics Discussed:

0:19 What is the Electoral College? & How Does it Work?

3:33 Increased Mail-In Ballots

8:04 Controversey and Court Cases

12:14 Battleground States

15:20 Washington State Results

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Resources

What is the Electoral College?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-is-the-electoral-college_n_2078970

Mail-in Voting Information

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/501577-heres-where-your-state-stands-on-mail-in-voting#:~:text=Five%20states%20%E2%80%94%20Colorado%2C%20Hawaii%2C%20Oregon%2C%20Washington%20and,mail%20also%20comes%20at%20a%20cost%20for%20states

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/politics/mail-in-voting/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/map-states-accept-mailed-ballots-after-election-day-n1246044

Trump Campaign Court Cases

https://www.ktvu.com/news/trump-campaign-strategy-shifts-from-getting-votes-to-filing-lawsuits

NY Times Election Results

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-president.html

Whatcom County Election Results

https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20201103/whatcom/

Washington State Election Results

https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20201103/

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' Speech- Saturday Nov. 7th

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Full Victory Speeches | WSJ

In this episode, we have pulled out highlights from the Local and State Candidate Form hosted by the Office of Civic Engagement last Tuesday. We have focused on the issues of the college debt crisis, institutional racism and defunding the police, and fair and free elections. We hope that you learn a bit about these candidates and their positions on the important issues.

0:49 Candidate Introductions

7:41 College Tuition and Debt-Crisis

15:30 Improving Internet in Whatcom County

18:14 Institutional Racism, Biases, and Defunding the Police

33:20 Improving Elections and Democracy in Washington

Our Youtube with the Full Candidate Forum

ASWWU OCE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoeaqhNqa5LNB6TS-VIv68Q 

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Participating Candidates

Lieutenant Governor: Marko Liias

Whatcom Public Utilities Commissioner (District 1):  Christine Grant and Jeffrey McClure

WA Legislative State Rep (District 40 - Position 2, District 42 - Position 1 & 2): Alex Ramel, Russ Dzialo, Sharon Shewmake, and Alicia Rule

WA Supreme Court Justice (Position 3 & 6) Dave Larson, Raquel Montoya-Lewis, and Richard Serns

US Congressional Representative (District 1 & 2): Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen, and Timothy Hazelo

Whatcom Superior Court Judge (Position 2 & 4): Evan Jones, James Erb, David Freeman, and Jim Nelson

WA Secretary of State: Kim Wyman and Gael Tarleton

WA Governor: Jay Inslee

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For the full list of candidates for every position on the ballot, visit:

In this episode, Adah and Chelsea sit down to discuss the suffrage movement and how it left out BIPOC women. They cover both the historical implications of the suffrage movement, as well as the suppression of BIPOC voters and other marginalized communities that we see today.

0:20 History of Suffrage

2:02 BIPOC Suffragists

3:14 Who Wasn't Included in Suffrage?

3:52 BIPOC Rights to Vote

6:48 Literacy Tests, Voter ID Laws, Addresses, and Poll Taxes

8:13 More About Literacy Tests

10:25 More About Poll Taxes

11:16 Suppressing Indigenous Voters

12:10 Working-Class Voters

13:38 Harris County Voter Suppression

15:41 Benefits of Mail-In Voting

17:15 BIPOC Women

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Resources

History of Suffrage

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/17/us/suffrage-movement-photos-history.html

Barriers to Voting in the US

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/barriers-to-voting-in-the-us/

Texas and Harris County

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-reduces-mail-in-ballot-drop-off-locations-2020-election/

Voters sue Texas governor over ballot drop box limit

Indigenous Voter Barriers

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/vote-overcoming-barriers-for-native-american-voters/

https://www.npr.org/2016/10/11/497563881/native-americans-face-unique-barriers-to-voting

Voter Suppression Black Voters

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/poll-prri-voter-suppression/565355/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/17/us/suffrage-movement-photos-history.html

In this episode Nathalie, Chelsea, and Anna Corinne discuss the Washington State ballot, focusing on the positions and measures on the ballot specific to Washington and Whatcom County.

Filling out the Ballot 1:20

Federal Positions 2:10

Statewide Positions 3:52

Legislative Positions 8:30

Judicial Positions 10:50

County Commissioner 12:30

Ballot Initiatives 13:10

Dates, Deadlines, and Other Info 17:55

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Resources

All County Voter Guide https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/voters-guide/2020/2020-general-election-voters-guide.aspx

Whatcom Voter Guide https://www.sos.wa.gov/_assets/elections/voters-guide/2020/--ed29whatcom.pdf

Register to Vote/ Update Address http://vote.wa.gov/

Voter Engagement Center at WWU https://www.facebook.com/events/732251403993484

Referendum 90 Resources and Information

Bill Information: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5395&Initiative=false&Year=2019

OSPI Curriculum Information: https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/resources-subject-area/sexual-health-education

Advisory Vote No. 32 https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5323&Initiative=false&Year=2019

Advisory Vote No. 33 https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5628&Initiative=false&Year=2019

Advisory Vote No. 34 https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6492&Initiative=false&Year=2019

Advisory Vote No. 35 https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6690&Initiative=false&Year=2019

Engrossed Senate Joint Resolution https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=8212&Initiative=false&Year=2019

In this episode, Jude and Adah sit down to discuss voter suppression, covering registration restrictions, felonies, list purging, and voter ID laws. They also touch on the highly talked about mail-in ballots and whether there is potential for widespread fraud in this upcoming election.

1:45 Adah's Experience Registering to Vote

3:55 Voter ID Laws 

5:35 Mail-in Ballots and 1840 Voting Attacks

8:02 Right to Vote

9:40 Voter Suppression

10:08 Voter ID Restrictions

13:55 Voter Registration Restrictions

16:18 Felonies and Voter Suppression

19:30 List Purging

25:40 What Can I Do? - a call to action

Additional Resources

Voter Purges https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Report_Purges_Growing_Threat.pdf

Blocking Voter Suppression https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/block-the-vote-voter-suppression-in-2020/

Election Laws in Washington State https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/election_laws.aspx

Rates of Fraud- Mail-in Ballots https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/06/02/low-rates-of-fraud-in-vote-by-mail-states-show-the-benefits-outweigh-the-risks/

More About Mail-in Voting https://www.nytimes.com/article/fact-checking-mail-in-voting.html

In this podcast, Nathalie, Chelsea and Jude talk about what their experience with voting was like growing up and also touch on the importance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They also discuss voter turnout and make predictions for voter turnout in the upcoming election. Special thanks to Eva Sáuve for our intro music!

Topics Covered

0:50 The Importance of Studying Voter Turnout

2:15 Who Votes and Who Doesn't?

5:53 Why is Voter Turnout So Low? 

12:27 What Increases Voter Turnout?

18:00 Voter Turnout Predictions in This Election

Additional Sources

MIT Election Data: Voter Turnout https://electionlab.mit.edu/research/voter-turnout

Men and Women Voter Turnout https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/18/men-and-women-in-the-u-s-continue-to-differ-in-voter-turnout-rate-party-identification/

Midterm Voter Turnout https://www.npr.org/2018/11/08/665197690/a-boatload-of-ballots-midterm-voter-turnout-hit-50-year-high

Wisconsin Primary High Voter Turnout https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/15/wisconsin-primary-had-extraordinarily-high-voter-turnout/

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Tune in next week as we will be discussing voter suppression.

This podcast is an honest space to discuss the role of our students in the U.S. political system and the historical and current nature how that system works in the United States.  We go into the two AS offices that came together to create this podcast: the Office of Civic Engagement and the Ethnic Student Center and we meet our show hosts!

Transcript coming soon!