Expert Interviews

Tanya Clay House
Director of Public Policy, People for the American Way
tclayhouse@pfaw.org

Clay House outlines what she feels are the challenges we will face this election, both intentional voter suppression and limitations due to negligence. She discusses how local precincts may have confusion around policy, which may lead to discrimination at the polls. She mentions strict voter ID requirements, which become policy as a result of distortions about fraudulent voting. Interviewed 10/15/2008. >>See video 

Michele Lawrence Jawando, Esq
Election Protection, People for the American Way
mjawondo@pfaw.org

Emphasizing that "your vote is your voice," Jawando discusses efforts to protect voters from concerted efforts to decrease voter turnout like misinformation campaigns at Virginia Tech University and Temple University. She explains that some partisan operatives try to keep certain voters from the polls and undermine our democracy in order to win elections. Interviewed 10/15/2008  >>See video 

Steve Kest
Executive Director, ACORN
skest@acorn.org

Kest gives a description of the work of ACORN, including advocacy for low-income families, support structures, and voter registration as a part of engagement in civic life and empowerment for low-income communities. He gives an overview of some of the quality control procedures followed by voter registration staff. Interviewed 10/15/2008 >>See video

Brian Kettenring
Lead Organizer, ACORN Florida
flacornho@acorn.org

Kettenring addresses accusations against ACORN regarding the submission of invalid voter registration forms. He points out that the forms that elections officials were acting upon were initially flagged by ACORN workers as potentially problematic as part of routine quality control checks performed by ACORN staff. He illustrates his point with recent examples from ACORN's Las Vegas office, where elections officials investigated forms that ACORN had brought to the officals' attention. Interviewed 10/15/2008 >>See video