Tricia Brooks: Good afternoon, everyone. We're going to give folks just a minute to join here, and then we'll get started. But thank you for being here.
Tricia Brooks: Okay, it looks like, it's a good time to get started. And again, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm Tricia Brooks.
Tricia Brooks: And today is a special day. It's national Voter Registration Day. And we wanted to talk about the importance of supporting nonpartisan voter registration efforts and civic engagement.
Tricia Brooks: Healthcare impacts each and every one of us, some more than others. But healthcare policies may vary from state to state and evolve over time based on who our policymakers are, and how they shape healthcare access and cost. Our laws and public policy should reflect the communities they serve. But that won't happen unless underrepresented constituencies
Tricia Brooks: get registered and vote. So here on National Voter Registration Day we wanted to talk about how the healthcare community can help
Tricia Brooks: healthcare, help healthcare voices be heard at the ballot box. So joining us today is Emily Pollak from vote er vote er is a nonpartisan civic engagement effort for the healthcare system, and Emily's going to talk about the connection between voting and health, and how different healthcare organizations can plug in and use their available tools
Tricia Brooks: to encourage voter registration, and then, following Emily, we'll hear from 2 state-based groups about their voter registration efforts.
Tricia Brooks: First, st we'll hear from, I think Kelly's up first.st The way I saw the slides. First.st We'll hear from Kelly Tolby, from Kentucky, voices for health, and then Chandra Freeman from the Tennessee Justice Center, and both of them will share why their organizations are engaged, and what they're doing to encourage and support healthcare voters in their State.
Tricia Brooks: Then, after the presentations, my colleague, Margo Johnson Green, will moderate the QA. In the meantime, feel free to use the chat for sharing comments. But please do use the QA. Button for questions. We also have Adam Searing another colleague of ours, standing by to address any questions that you have about ensuring that voter registration efforts are nonpartisan, and within the
Tricia Brooks: of what nonprofits can do. I also want to thank our newest colleague
Tricia Brooks: Yuliaka. I'm gonna start practicing her last name so I can get it right. But she's behind the scenes running the show for us today, and this is her 1st webinar for Ccf, so welcome, Yulia, and thank you for working with us on this webinar, and so far smooth sailing, and with that Emily, it is all yours.
Emily Polak: Oh, thank you so much. Tricia, can folks hear me? Okay, yeah.
Emily Polak: Okay. Great and I. I wore my special shirt today for today being national voter Registration Day, and every election is indeed a healthcare election. So it's such a delight to be here in a room of many folks who perhaps I overlapped with when I was at community catalyst so some old friends. And it's a delight to meet new friends, too, for those who I don't know. I'm Emily Pollack. I am. Vote er as vice president of park
Emily Polak: partnerships in organizing, and I just want to appreciate and thank Georgetowncisia for the opportunity today to talk to you all. Vod er is a initiative that brings nonpartisan and optional voter registration into healthcare spaces.
Emily Polak: And we really work to provide patients, consumers, and healthcare partners with the opportunity to register, to vote, because we know so much of the healthcare system and healthcare experiences are indeed determined by the policies that our elected officials and ballot initiatives implement
Emily Polak: Vodr works with over 700 different hospitals, clinics, Fqhcs, community health centers and other health advocacy organizations across all 50 States. And we collaborate with over 50,000 individual healthcare professionals who are using our tools and resources to support this nonpartisan voter engagement.
Emily Polak: Just on this slide. I pulled out just a few of our partners who might be in the orbits that you all occupy. Just so you can have a little bit of a sense of who we work with if we can go to the next slide.
Emily Polak: So just as a quick rundown of what I'm going to cover for the next short time. Here's a proposed agenda. I'm going to walk through a little bit of the data that explores the connections between voting and health.
Emily Polak: I will introduce Vodr, and how we plug in with partners to build this nonpartisan voter registration and voter turnout into healthcare spaces. I will cover the compliance side of things. So it's great to have Adam here. I am not an attorney. This is not meant as legal guidance. It's just to provide an overview.
Emily Polak: and then we will pivot to give you all some tools to take the next steps, because we are 48 days away from November 5th election day.
Emily Polak: So next slide, please.
Emily Polak: So first, st even though perhaps everybody in this room is already registered to vote at your current address before we dig in. I just want to make sure that people have time to do this. So please take one quick minute and scan that QR code. Pull out your phones, and scan that QR code, or you can go to the link right there, and I'll put it in the chat as well.
Emily Polak: and it's going to take you literally 30 seconds, just to confirm that your voter registration is up to date at your current address. And part of this is also just to show you how easy it is, so that when we get to the tail end of this presentation
Emily Polak: you are inspired to take action. So I'll just plug that.
Emily Polak: that link in the chat for you while folks are doing this
Emily Polak: always that awkward silence while people are checking
Emily Polak: but thank you for checking and just making sure in honor of today being National Voter Registration Day.
Emily Polak: I'm gonna slowly go into the presentation. If you need to finish up. That's totally okay.
Emily Polak: If we can go to the next slide. Great. All right. So next up, we're going to talk about the link between voting and health.
Emily Polak: Okay, next slide, please.
Emily Polak: So with data and research that was conducted by one of Odr's dear partners and friends, healthy democracy, healthy people, we can see that there is this quite clear relationship between better health and more voting access across States nationally, and that was done through healthy democracy, healthy people's health and democracy index
Emily Polak: as they share. We can tell that States with more inclusive voting policies and greater levels of civic participation are healthier, and conversely, states with exclusionary voting laws and lower levels of civic participation are less healthy. We know that voting policies really shape our ability to participate in elections and be represented on decisions that are important to us as individuals and communities
Emily Polak: and those States that make elections more accessible through policies like automatic and same day voter registration, less strict voter id requirements, felon reenfranchisement and mail voting options
Emily Polak: absolutely enjoy higher levels of voter participation and stronger public health outcomes and those States that have more barriers to voting, and lower rates of voter participation have worse public health outcomes.
Emily Polak: and we also know that these barriers can become a self reinforcing prophecy that people who are experiencing poor health are less likely to vote, and people who don't vote are more likely to report that they have poor health. And this tends to impact people with lower incomes and lower education levels as well as people of color more than other population groups, and the result then becomes under representation of these communities in important policy decisions that shape health and overall health outcomes.
Emily Polak: But thankfully, higher levels of civic participation can help mitigate these disparities.
Emily Polak: Next slide, please.
Emily Polak: And similarly, we can't begin to address different social determinants of health until we address and can point our interventions towards the structural determinants of health, and that's where voting can come in. We often pay so much attention to the top of the ticket, but the reality is that so much of what shapes health, and our healthcare system is really down ballot.
Emily Polak: There are over 100,000 local elections across the United States this year. And those are elections, as you probably all know, that impact decisions about climate which can have major health implications. They can influence funding for community health centers and school based health programs and vaccine distribution programs and enrollment assistance programs. And so really, when it comes to our own lives
Emily Polak: and the lives of the consumers and the families that you're all supporting. So many of those decisions are made locally or at the state level.
Emily Polak: Next slide.
Emily Polak: Vodr came out of this realization of the major issue that roughly, 72 million eligible people in this country are not registered to vote. And it's really quite staggering when you consider how our healthcare systems could really be improved if more people voted and had a seat at the table
Emily Polak: next slide.
Emily Polak: And
Emily Polak: often the reason people aren't registered, and the reason that they're not showing up to vote is because they haven't been
Emily Polak: the data tells us that for so many folks who are eligible to register, to vote. Too many of them simply have never been asked. And so Vodr and our partners are working to help shift that
Emily Polak: next slide, please.
Emily Polak: And it's these same folks, members, consumers, patients who are the ones who are most marginalized by our healthcare system. So when you look at the top, 3 groups of people who are disproportionately making up those 72 million unregistered voters. Many of them are people who are young, low income and people of color and the intersections therein. And when you see, for example, the patients and consumers, the children and the families who come for enrollment assistance.
Emily Polak: who need chip coverage or who qualify for other public benefits programs. It's often those who are most marginalized by our current healthcare system.
Emily Polak: And it's these same 3 groups. So Vodr really exists on this premise. What if these patients, what if these consumers and families were asked to register, to vote through an optional nonpartisan effort? And how could this begin to transform their healthcare experience, and ultimately our healthcare system? And not only that, what if we could also make sure to ask that same question to the healthcare professionals providing this care and enrollment support.
Emily Polak: Next slide, please.
Emily Polak: As I just referenced, we need to make sure it's not just patients but that it's healthcare professionals as well.
Emily Polak: we know from from different evaluation efforts that healthcare professionals, the the wide gamut of them are 12 to 23% less likely to vote than the general population, and they're also registered to vote at lower rates.
Emily Polak: And while we don't have the explicit data on the folks who do enrollment, assistance work or community health workers. Our assumption is that these broad statistics for healthcare professionals being registered and turning out at lower rates also holds true.
Emily Polak: Less time available. There are obstacles in the way, the ability to go vote and take time off, etc. So what does it mean for our healthcare system, when healthcare professionals and the people on the floor of clinics, the people doing enrollment work, who see the real impact of policy on patients and their consumers aren't able to vote either.
Emily Polak: Next slide, please.
Emily Polak: So with a groundswell of support, the American Medical Association actually worked with Vodr to name voting as a social determinant of health.
Emily Polak: Other organizations have made similar statements, like the American College of Physicians, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National Association of Community Health Workers and even Hrsa health Resources and Services Administration at the Federal level.
Emily Polak: And actually, 4 States have also recognized this interconnection between voting and health. So New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and just a few weeks ago, Pennsylvania, all named August as Civic Health Month, naming that month as an important time to galvanize different healthcare entities and institutions, to engage in nonpartisan civic engagement work
Emily Polak: next slide, please.
Emily Polak: So how can vodr help? This is the fun part. This is how we get to talk about equipping you all as health professionals with the tools to engage in this work.
Emily Polak: We know that healthcare workers are among some of the most trusted sources for information, and we also know that most people see a healthcare professional each year, if not more than one more than once.
Emily Polak: And additionally, while we don't have any data specifically on enrollment assistance or community health workers in terms of where they are in the level of trust
Emily Polak: of healthcare professionals, I would venture a really strong guess that you guys rank
Emily Polak: quite high up there. We know nurses are number one in terms of trusted messengers. But for enrollment folks who people are sharing medical histories with
Emily Polak: and financial information, this is this is a highly trusted relationship. And so, knowing that you have that built in as a trusted messenger equips you and situates you as being a really wonderful person to talk about nonpartisan voter registration work
Emily Polak: next slide, please.
Emily Polak: So Vodr takes this premise of collaborating with healthcare professionals as trusted messengers to bring optional nonpartisan voter registration into the mix
Emily Polak: we collaborate directly with healthcare systems and institutions, individuals and organizations.
Emily Polak: Our tools include our bread and butter lanyards which has a voter registration. QR code on them. Customized digital materials that can be printed or shared electronically and different templates to help folks check their voter registration. All of our tools are free. They're nonpartisan, and they are user led. So they are fully in compliance with any State specific voter registration laws.
Emily Polak: Next slide, please.
Emily Polak: This is a an image of what our badges look like as enrollment assistance or community health workers or folks who are really those deep, trusted messengers. Your bread and butter is making sure that health insurance can be more accessible and understandable for the consumers and families that you're supporting.
Emily Polak: Voting. Our tools operate in a similar way. Our goal is that they weave in nonpartisan voter registration seamlessly. We are completely optional. We won't interrupt how people are engaging with their patients or their consumers, and it's all politically neutral
Emily Polak: next slide.
Emily Polak: and just to offer a quick snapshot of some of the programs that Vodr runs in addition to the work that we do with different healthcare systems and associations. We also have a small grant making program for community health centers and federally qualified health centers. We engage students in what we call our healthy democracy competition. So it's all health professional students competing with one another to do more voter registration efforts in public health spaces and nursing programs. And Med student programs and dental programs.
Emily Polak: And all of this at the end of the day is about making sure more people who are eligible are registered to vote
Emily Polak: next slide, please.
Emily Polak: at the very core of what we do is we look for all the ways in which voter registration can become ingrained in healthcare spaces and for those most effective inclusions it's having these trusted healthcare professionals ask a question. So this is a photo of one of our dear dear friends, Dr. Peggy Staker. She's a pediatrician in Ohio, and she has actually been working with Odr since we 1st came about. We're about 4 and a half 5 years old now.
Emily Polak: And she is showing a patient, possibly a newly eligible young voter. Her vote vote er badge and opening up the conversation by just asking the question. So in the same way that a healthcare professional would do those social history questions, are you safe at home? Do you wear your seat belt. What about your alcohol consumption? Are you registered to vote? And then, if the answer is No, or I'm not sure I don't know if it's at my current address.
Emily Polak: it's just sparking that. Hey? Pull out your phone, scan our badge, and it'll take you to that same landing page that you all looked at to check your own voter registration at the beginning of this session.
Emily Polak: These react in reality, these conversations take up a very short amount of time each visit. But they make a really big impact for consumers and patients and communities.
Emily Polak: Next slide.
Emily Polak: this one is just I wanted to include just the quote for you to see from another one of our partners about why, from a healthcare professional standpoint, this work is fully integrated into addressing social determinants of health. We really appreciate all of our partners who understand at the core. This is what they're doing.
Emily Polak: Next slide.
Emily Polak: And then, finally, Bodr had an unanticipated outcome of all of our tools. When we surveyed our partners using our tools, we actually learned that by using these tools and building these nonpartisan voter registration efforts into their work.
Emily Polak: People were building their morale and protecting against burnout, which we know is incredibly high amongst healthcare professionals.
Emily Polak: So we were very excited to learn this as well.
Emily Polak: Next slide, please.
Emily Polak: Alright. So I wanted to talk just a little bit about the legality and the compliance. Here again, I am not an attorney, so Adam, feel free to chime in if you want on any of this.
Emily Polak: But what is important for us to know is that all of these efforts are fully in compliance with the various different pieces of Federal legislation.
Emily Polak: So 1st off, most of us are familiar with the way that departments of motor vehicles are equipped to register patients to vote when you go and renew your license. There's an optional question of, would you like to register to vote? And it's actually one of the main reasons why the voter registration rate in Georgia is so high because the Georgia Dmv. Incorporates an automatic voter registration option for people coming in their doors.
Emily Polak: So Vodr approached it from this same frame. Why can't we do the same kind of thing in hospitals and community health centers, enrollment offices and other healthcare spaces.
Emily Polak: Voter registration belongs in these healthcare spaces just as much as it does within the Dmvs. And we know that eligible voters have far more regular interaction with their healthcare providers than with departments of motor vehicles. Thank goodness, no offense to anybody who's affiliated with the Dmv. So bringing voter registration into healthcare spaces would really be an important touch point, and our platform ensures that all of this remains nonpartisan.
Emily Polak: So what oops? Sorry go back for a sec.
Emily Polak: One of our partners, nonprofit vote, who is actually at the helm of today, being national Voter Registration Day released a set of legal guidance to help nonprofit organizations understand what they can and cannot do by way of nonpartisan voting voter registration. So just as a quick quote, 501 c. 3 organizations may conduct nonpartisan voter engagement activities designed to help the public participate in elections, such as voter registration, voter education and get out the vote work which is called Gotv.
Emily Polak: and, as I mentioned previously, Hrsa. The Health Resources and Services administration as part of Hhs. At the Federal level, also crafted guidance for Fqhcs. To be able to do this work. All of this is also in full compliance with Irs, guidance and standards.
Emily Polak: Next slide, please.
Emily Polak: And finally, because all of the tools that we use are user led. It means that everything is fully hipaa compliant.
Emily Polak: And in most States you are actually allowed to help somebody complete their voter registration form. It's just Texas that requires that you be deputized while remaining politically neutral.
Emily Polak: in fact.
Emily Polak: given the likelihood that most of you all help enroll folks in different types of programs, or familiar with those types of enrollment efforts like Medicaid or chip coverage. You've probably encountered the optional voter registration question on those same types of forms, and this is required by law under the 1,993 National Voter Registration Act. So again, all of this is following those Federal requirements and guidances.
Emily Polak: The Nvra, the National Voter Registration Act States requires States to designate State government agencies and offices that provide public assistance or services to people with disabilities as Nvra voter registration agencies as well as other offices that each State deems appropriate.
Emily Polak: Next slide, please.
Emily Polak: and so there's more I can't allude to anything
Emily Polak: quite concrete at this moment in time, but we are very hopeful that soon there will be another opportunity for nonpartisan optional voter registration to be incorporated into enrollment spaces. So once we know a little bit more. We will be thrilled to share with Georgetown folks, and they can share this with this network.
Emily Polak: Until then I just wanted to make a an asterisk of a note. If you get State navigator dollars. If you get Federal navigator dollars, you are not allowed to use those dollars at this point in time to do nonpartisan voter registration work. You have to have other other funding other fungible dollars that can support the small amount of time that enrollment folks would be using to ask the question and support someone. So more to come on that hopefully soon.
Emily Polak: Okay, next slide.
Emily Polak: So here, here's where we are to take the next step. We are less than a hundred days from this year's election. In fact, we're only at 48 days from this year's election on November 5, th
Emily Polak: and we would love to make our tools available to you all to next slide.
Emily Polak: So today, these are the key dates on the horizon today is national voter Registration day, next up we have October 29, th which is national vote early day for most States that allow early voting, and then we have the election.
Emily Polak: So next slide
Emily Polak: these are a couple of options and ways for you to engage, knowing what the time is like and how we're fast approaching. Many States voter registration deadlines. The earliest ones hit around October 7.th
Emily Polak: I'm gonna put this in the chat after I'm done talking, too, but these are a couple of different options. One we would love you, even though today is the day to send an email to all of your staff at your own organization, reminding them to check their own voter registration today. And so this is the link that will allow them to do exactly what you did at the beginning of this webinar.
Emily Polak: We'd also love to invite you to order a free nonpartisan vote er voter registration badge. So you can take it and bring it into spaces with your peers, with your colleagues, with the consumers that you are working with.
Emily Polak: And then you are welcome to also order free custom digital materials that you can print out and put up in different spaces where you were seeing folks from the community. So please take our tools, use them. They are not proprietary. We really welcome people to to take them and share them.
Emily Polak: And then, of course, invite us to come talk. We would love to speak at coalition meetings, or to other partner gatherings and convenings that you are having, and we can do this similar presentation tailored towards your audiences, so that more people can integrate nonpartisan voter registration into the work that they're doing.
Emily Polak: We can go to the next couple of slides, which are just all of those tools that I lifted up, so that you have it easily accessible in the slide deck. When Georgetown shares the slide deck with you afterwards.
Emily Polak: and with that I'm happy to take any questions, and I will paste all these links in the chat as well.
Tricia Brooks: Sorry guys. Can't find any buttons here. We have Kelly up next. Go to the next slide, please. Oh.
Tricia Brooks: really, thank you. Okay, Kelly Talby, from Kentucky voices.
Tricia Brooks: You're up.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: I,
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Hi, there! Thank you, and thank you, Emily, that was
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: a lot of information. But
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: I hope after today folks will start to use it a little more. So happy National Voter Registration Day. I'm really excited to be here with you all. You can go ahead, Julia, to the next slide.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Just to give you all a little more information about the work that we do here at Kentucky. Voices for health. We are a statewide nonprofit nonpartisan coalition of consumer based health advocates. We want to improve the underlying causes of poor health through policy advocacy, and we specialize in empowering real people, real Kentuckians, the humans at the end of policies
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: to have a say in the decisions that affect their health and the health of their communities.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: So we are very proud to express full and broad support for nonpartisan civic engagement
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: and voter registration tools such as vote ers. They're so important
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: next slide, please.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: So the intersection of good health and civic engagement, like Tricia and Emily, both shared, are inseparable.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: We want a Kentucky, and honestly, every State.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: But for Kentucky. We want a Kentucky where every single person, regardless of who they are or where they live
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: to have the ability to have their basic health related. Social needs met. So voter registration and civic engagement is incredibly important to us.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Healthcare is for everyone, and everyone is a healthcare voter. But what does that look like. Maybe you know, or are working with someone fighting cancer or a chronic illness. Maybe you are that someone.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: maybe your young child contracted flu a few years ago, and it was the absolute, scariest time of your life.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: And now you choose to put truth to your humanity when talking to other families with young children.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Maybe you're a dedicated and avid supporter of blood, tissue and organ donation. Maybe you or someone you love has experienced a maternity care, desert, and did not have adequate and quality prenatal care access. Maybe you struggle to find a local dentist who will take your healthcare insurance coverage.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: or maybe you just have to travel hours in order to just have your basic necessary medical care checkups.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Maybe your child lives with an intellectual disability or a physical disability, and every decision you make from what they eat to where they learn influences everything you do.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Maybe the affordable care act and medicaid expansion
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: saved your life and the lives of those you love. I can obviously keep going.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: This is a limitless list, but these are all reasons why healthcare is for everyone and everyone is absolutely a healthcare voter.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: We personally tailor this in Kentucky as Ky. Voters for health and Ky healthcare voter.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: But that is obviously not an original thought. Many States have similar messaging efforts, or easily could if they are not already available.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: We know that the more positive experiences that people have with their government, including civic engagement
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: with the programs intended to support families at the end of those policies. We will impact civic engagement positively, and improve health outcomes in the long run.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Next slide, please.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Every year Kentucky voices for health updates, our Voter resources guide to reflect the current cycles, dates, and these are a few examples of how we promote this information on our social media accounts. We include reminders for how to access information about judicial, local, and all nonpartisan races as well.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: And we also include any other need to know information like this year, where we have 2 constitutional amendments on the ballot
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: through policy, education and advocacy trainings, Kentucky voices for health supports, nonpartisan civic engagement.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: and this includes organizing in plain language all of the deadlines, the rules, the how to's the need to knows for voting each year.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: And at that blue link you can see this year's voter resource guide every year. When it is updated, it is always available on our act. Page
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: next slide, please.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: So as consumer based policy advocates, we primarily are a grass tops organization and our policy work does align with that.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: But being grass tops does not mean we cannot and do not supply those resources and information to those who are the more grassroots and boots on the ground.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Nonpartisan voter resources and registration is for everyone, and that is how and where we will help empower coalitions that we work with closely, such as the Kentucky civic engagement table or thrive Kentucky.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: For the same reason that being healthy means so much more than having your basic health insurance coverage.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: People need to know where to access healthy food, quality and affordable housing or childcare.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: and the more people have this information
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: better. And yes, this also includes reliable voter registration tools.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: A democracy does require that the voice of its people be heard.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: The fewer barriers to healthcare access means that more people have healthcare.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: The fewer barriers to food and housing resources means that more people have access to food and housing.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: and the same logic applies the fewer barriers to reliable voting resources and registration information.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: The more people will have the ability to vote and participate in civic engagement.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Next slide, please
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: our continuing education programs at Kentucky, voices for health supports, social workers, community health workers, attorneys, behavioral health professionals, teachers, librarians, and any others that we bundle into this umbrella term of a community professional.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: These are boots on the ground that we offer free continuing education or professional development certificates to.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: They are working directly with patients and clients as those families and individuals navigate Kentucky's healthcare systems
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: empowering these trusted messengers is with the latest policy updates
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: is absolutely supporting those in need of care.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: And why is that so important to us for nonpartisan civic engagement?
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Change happens at the speed of trust.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Trust in messengers are the number one catalyst for stronger engagement. You can't see it too terribly. Well, I am sporting a Kentucky healthcare voters shirt, but I brought an extra one as a prop.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: because we use ourselves to promote advocacy and civic engagement, and you can find members of the Kbh staff
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: regularly sporting this message. We practice what we preach. Here's our lovely Alex Quintella in a T-shirt on a recent Kentucky voters for Health Post that we did.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: and we're often using the hashtags that we stick to the Ky voters for health, the Ky healthcare voter.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: and we want to hear from folks to tell us why voting for their health matters. What is important to them.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: It helps empower them to have a say in those decisions.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Last slide, please.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: So voter and civic engagement can absolutely seem out of reach at times for nonpartisan nonprofits like ourselves, and we totally understand that
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: there's a lot of noise right? And we are living in a fast paced technological world where that noise is just never ending. But I hope that the 30,000 view of what we're doing here in Kentucky.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: as well as our broad support for vod er today can help influence how you view your work because this is doable.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Well, we can improve health outcomes. We can empower people at the end of policies to have a say in the decisions that affect their health and the health of their communities.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: and we can impact civic engagement in meaningful ways.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: And I'm happy to answer any questions, or if you'd like to connect further, just let me know.
Tricia Brooks: Thanks so much, and we're going to turn to Chandra now and hear from
Tricia Brooks: Tennessee.
Chanda Freeman: Right. Well, good afternoon, everybody. I am grateful for the opportunity to be with you guys today. So I am Chandra Friedman, the Director of Strategic Pop Partnerships. For Health justice next slide, please. And I'm here representing tjc, so for those who may not know, Tjc has been engaged in this work since about 1996, and we stand alongside Tennesseans.
Chanda Freeman: to help families gain access to programs and benefits that are necessary for them to live.
Chanda Freeman: We help families from the bluffs of Mississippi, of Memphis to the hills and mountain city. We help folks cut through red tape and legal barriers that are denying them vital accesses to services like healthcare and nutrition. We use what we learn from individual cases. To pursue systemic reforms that benefit all Tennesseans.
Chanda Freeman: Most recently Tennessee is used. But in the history of our organization, and recently, Tjc has used lawsuits, legislation and coalition
Chanda Freeman: building to overcome injustice, winning about 2 billion dollars in healthcare and hundreds of millions in financial and nutritional assistance for Tennesseans overall, we tackle barriers to inclusion by focusing on what's broken both inside of Tjc. And outside of Tjc. Next slide, please.
Chanda Freeman: Alright. So why is Tjc involved in voter engagement. So we decided to incorporate voter engagement strategies into our work. For a number of reasons. As you can see, Tennessee works 53, rd 51st or dead last in voter turnout.
Chanda Freeman: Oh, only 31% of Tennesseans who were eligible, eligible to vote in 2022, did so.
Chanda Freeman: putting us again last for voter turnout we believe that in incorporating voter engagement, voter registration tactics into our work for several reasons. One. Because of our commitment to equity. Tjc, believes that diversity, equity, and inclusion are vital
Chanda Freeman: to our mission of ensuring justice. For all. Second, we view voting as an important tool to advance health equity at the local state and Federal levels. And we know that healthcare providers and healthcare advocates can play key roles in their communities to provoke voter engagement efforts.
Chanda Freeman: We also believe that voters should be engaged to engage with the political systems and advocate for the new laws that are equitable to reverse damage that is caused by inequitable laws. And finally, we believe that it is imperative that voters organize and amplify their voices, so that leaders can be held accountable.
Chanda Freeman: To put people over politics and and money to advance equitable policies like Medicaid expansion. That are supported by
Chanda Freeman: the majority of folks living here in Tennessee, and would improve overall health
Chanda Freeman: next slide, please.
Chanda Freeman: So what do we do? And and how does that look for us.
Chanda Freeman: So
Chanda Freeman: while at Tjc we do not lead the Statewide voter registration efforts across the State and say, we kind of focus on being a good partner
Chanda Freeman: at Tjc, our work is really grounded in this collective impact framework and within collective impact. You know, there are 5 conditions, you know, developing a shared agenda. And in this case our shared agenda is increasing the number of folks who are typically engaged in the political process. It is developing shared measurement systems.
Chanda Freeman: mutually having a mutually reinforcing activities and community continuous communication. And within this framework, Tjc serves a backbone as a backbone entity. So we pretty much focus on kind of staying in our lane
Chanda Freeman: and collaborating with our partners by encouraging intentional collaboration with organizations within our partner networks in all in in other ways. So right now we are a member of the Tennessee State wide voter engagement table civic Tn. Civic tn is a coalition of over 50 organizations across the State that are meeting every week. And
Chanda Freeman: in fact, they're together. Everybody's together today doing voter turnout work. Today, we collaborate with community based organizations through our black health matters tn.
Chanda Freeman: campaign and within the black health matters tn campaign. It is a statewide coalition of community based organizations led by people of color who are really working to build power and and have an impact and policy change. So one of the things that we do
Chanda Freeman: through our black health matters tn initiatives. If if we have a black health matters pledge. I'm gonna drop a link in the chat. To that pledge. But within the black health matters pledge, we're asking organizations that are part of our of those 100 organizations that are part of our network. Within this pledge, we're asking people to make a commitment
Chanda Freeman: to do their part to promote health justice, so that everybody has access to affordable health care, and we're asking folks to make a pledge to be informed and engage in anti-racist actions to transform
Chanda Freeman: our health care system. We're asking folks to be informed health justice voters, and to inform other folks about the importance of voting and advocating for health equity.
Chanda Freeman: we also utilize
Chanda Freeman: collaborate with national partners like Vodr, black voters, matter and rock the vote to promote and provide voting resources. We have a Tjc proud voter web page. That is linked to our other websites that we try to connect folks to. I'm gonna put a link to the proud voter website in the chat as well, so that you can check that out.
Chanda Freeman: save.
Chanda Freeman: we also utilize our website and social medias, social media platforms to keep folks engaged online and we try to make sure that we are having voter registration opportunities at all of our community events.
Chanda Freeman: Community events for us look like expungement clinics. Driver's license, reinstatement
Chanda Freeman: vaccine clinics and voter registration. Next slide please.
Chanda Freeman: Alright. So I mentioned some of our partners, in Tennessee, where upwards of a half 1 million of 1 million of our residents are ineligible to cast a ballot due to legal restrictions. We believe that voting is more than just a duty. We consider it a sacred responsibility. A part part of what we do with our partners is
Chanda Freeman: making sure that everybody knows that voter voting is a vital mean to drive social change and contribute to the advancement of equality, civil rights, and so social justice. The organizations that are
Chanda Freeman: that we are collaborating with. Several have their own. Like black voters, matter has a national campaign, but they provide training and resources to organizations here in the State. We also collaborate with
Chanda Freeman: Meharry and Naacp. I didn't list on here, but local health departments and federally qualified health clinics. Because we believe everybody coming together is really what is needed. Some of our partners are collaborating to do do things like ensure that Tennessee voters can register to vote using
Chanda Freeman: modern voting machines. And we're working to towards open and fair redistricting processes that better engage Tennesseans. And we also are working to empower communities to really get involved in the redistricting process, and we also also working with
Chanda Freeman: some groups to restore voting rights to as many as 420,000 Tennesseans who are that barred from voting because of past felony convictions
Chanda Freeman: overall. We are really working to support leaders in and community based organizations and making civic engagement a priority in our work. We kind of focus on on 2 main area 2 main constituency groups. One is within black churches and the other is Hbcus, or historically, black colleges and universities.
Chanda Freeman: In the State of Tennessee we have 7 of those hbcus. So we are actively working. Building a Co a table of college students and high school students across the State that are kind of championing what it really means to be a health justice or healthcare voter. So I didn't include my contact information here, but I will
Chanda Freeman: drop it in the chat along with some of the other
Chanda Freeman: information that I missed it, that I mentioned.
Tricia Brooks: Well, thank you. All that. That was excellent. And I think the fact that people aren't asking a lot of questions is that you covered the material really well, but but I do have a question, and that is, for Emily, or any of you. With 48 days to go.
Tricia Brooks: How how do? How does someone start small? What's a small thing that someone can do? Because I think you could easily say, oh, my God! 48 days! I can't get my act together in time to have an impact. So, Emily, I'm going to put you on the spot first.st
Emily Polak: Oh, that's a good one. And Tricia did not plant this question. But I I think it's it's perfectly appropriate, especially since a number of States have voter registration deadlines. Starting as early as October 7, th
Emily Polak: I think the very 1st thing to do is make sure that all of your colleagues are able to check their voter registration. Start within your own walls of your organization, and whether your organization is 5 people or 50 people. That's, however, that many number of people more who have an up to date, accurate voter registration ready to go.
Emily Polak: If you are interested in using the Voddr tools. And I I think Kelly and Chandra also listed up different ways that people can check their voter registrations. I can only speak to to what happens on the back end of ours, but it means that people will then also get
Emily Polak: they won't be inundated at all. But they will get a reminder via text and or email about what they need to bring with them to the polls, to go vote when early voting would start in their State, where they go to vote for their polling location, so they'll have all the information at their fingertips or in their phone.
Emily Polak: So I would. I would start within your own organization.
Emily Polak: I would also start by thinking about. Yes, it is 48 days till the election, but the work that we all are doing should be happening every day of the year.
Emily Polak: year in and year out, whether it's a presidential cycle year or an off cycle year. Local elections matter so much, and the turnout for those is so much lower
Emily Polak: than what we're going to be seeing on November 5th this year. So ordering a Vodr badge, for example, and integrating it into how you're talking to different patients or families or consumers, day in and day out, is a really great way to start it. It doesn't have to be just for this election. It could just kind of become part of your routine. And it it all will have an impact.
Emily Polak: I don't know, Kelly, and trying to. What else
Emily Polak: do you have.
Chanda Freeman: Well.
Chanda Freeman: go ahead, Kelly, I'll go next.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: I I would just co-sign, you know, starting small within your organization, absolutely at this point in the game.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: And we also try to promote. You know, there's no territorialism with this information. The information we are putting together in plain language
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: is available. It's just not always easy to find sometimes you have to go looking for it. There's different named websites. One of our main voter, and elections websites in Kentucky changed its entire domain. It was either last year or the year before.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: So people who had had that memorized as a part of their voter registration elevator speeches had to kind of refresh and redo all of that.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: So we we try to
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: never be territorial with this information. And so if using what we've put together and slapping your logo on it, to put into a newsletter on your social media, please. By all means do so.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: This is not our information to keep protected and secretive. It's supposed to be publicly available and easy to access. So we also try to promote that. And we know that bandwidth
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: is difficult, you know our, and especially for our trusted messengers. They're already so overwhelmed with so much work. Right? They're they're trying to meet the needs
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: of their clients in so many ways. So if they don't have the time or finances or bandwidth to create their own resources, please take these and run with it. If that is just as simple, and it takes 30 seconds to do.
Tricia Brooks: I often say that plagiarism in this business is the highest form of compliment. So condra pandra.
Tricia Brooks: I'm getting your name wrong.
Chanda Freeman: Janda. So the only.
Tricia Brooks: Yeah.
Chanda Freeman: Yes, to everything that that Kelly and Emily said the other thing that I heard something the other day on Tiktok, and y'all know, that is real news. This lady was talking about how in the last election that there was about the difference in in who won the last election was about a million little over a million votes, and she said something really interesting. She was like, as late as
Chanda Freeman: isn't the game. We don't need you to reach. Like everybody in your community. We only need each of those people who voted last time to reach one person.
Chanda Freeman: So I thought, like, what if we applied it to our organization? So so maybe we don't need every organization to be out working and doing every. What if we can identify one organization. It's gonna be our accountability voting engagement organizational partner. And like, maybe we commit that, we're gonna we're gonna vote together. We're gonna celebrate. You know our organizations are out. One thing that the civic team group does here in Tennessee is they have these election hubs, and, like everybody, wants to be a part of it. So.
Chanda Freeman: and I just think it's opportunities for us to start really small like, start at home, start at work and kind of work your way out.
Chanda Freeman: Hey!
Tricia Brooks: Great news. I'm going to hand it over to Margo, who, I think, has a couple of questions. Margo.
Margaux Johnson-Green: Yeah, that was a great question. Tricia. Thanks for asking that. I don't see any questions in the QA. Right now. But if any pop up, please do ask but I did just have a couple of questions that came up throughout the presentation. And I know the 48 days is really looming over us. And so it's really all hands on deck. Situation right now.
Margaux Johnson-Green: I did. Have a question. For you, Emily. I know you had mentioned the term deputized. You said in Texas. Some
Margaux Johnson-Green: people who are helping voter registration have to be deputized. And I wasn't familiar with that term. So I was wondering if you could maybe give a little bit more explanation of what that means.
Emily Polak: Sure and and I
Emily Polak: think that Tennessee and Kentucky folks probably can speak to some of the
Emily Polak: more particular State limitations on voter registration than I can. But in a nutshell, Margo, thank you for asking that
Emily Polak: in Texas, in order to assist someone else with voter registration efforts, you have to go through a formal training process and pass a test that is developed by the Texas Secretary of State, and then you are officially deputized, and you can assist
Emily Polak: voters in their voter registration efforts. One thing I just want to nail home and
Emily Polak: Shanda and Kelly, please chime in here. But
Emily Polak: the types of tools that most of us are talking about using
Emily Polak: are ones that are user led. So when somebody opens up a website on their phone, and they themselves are doing their own voter registration. There is no risk of not being in compliance with this deputizing law. It is user led. It is done by you yourself as the eligible voter registering yourself, and so there's no risk there
Emily Polak: in Texas. If you want to help other people, you have to be deputized
Emily Polak: other folks.
Chanda Freeman: So it is not as bad in Tennessee, but it is still terrible. The they have made some sweeping changes to like. We're not allowed to pre pre fill voter registration form. So like, there's A, there's been a lot of changes.
Chanda Freeman: But to combat those changes. The organizations like Tjc. And Cbt. And have been holding these community conversations all across the State, and still to talk about to do trainings for folks to help be prepared to help people register in a safe way.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Yeah. And I and I would just encourage any States either
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: joining us today or watching this back in the recording that if that is an area of any sort of concern. If there's even like a point 2%
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: question mark about that for your State
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: to just use your election Board of Elections resources, be it a Secretary of State or another official, as far as whoever manages that to confirm any concerns there of legality.
Emily Polak: The one other thing I would add is that most States and I don't have a a good line of of which ones but most States allow online voter registration at this point in time? Not at all. Texas is one of them that you have to still register to vote through a paper
Emily Polak: application form but again, through the online portals, there is much more opportunity for the individual eligible voter to be completing their own voter registration, and then they submit it, and it goes directly to the Secretary of State for their State, as opposed to any risk of paper, forms not making it into the mail, etc. Paper forms are important and essential, especially in states where you can only register to vote by a paper form.
Emily Polak: But I think the introduction of online voter registration in many States has opened up opportunities for greater
Emily Polak: engagement.
Margaux Johnson-Green: Thank you all for that additional context. And I think it's great, Kelly, that you mentioned the Board of Elections. As a resource, because it does seem like there are some state by state nuances there.
Margaux Johnson-Green: And I think we just have one more question. With the remainder of our time. And just thinking a little bit more big picture. I know that a Presidential election year is incredibly important and definitely galvanizes people into action. Especially when it comes to voter registration. But for those years that aren't presidential election years, or
Margaux Johnson-Green: past election day, how can we continue to keep the momentum going? To keep people typically engaged so that they're able to continue to make that connection between civic engagement and their personal health.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: I I can hop in 1st cause in Kentucky actually next year. And I looked it up just to make sure had my years right, but next year is one of our off years. We are gubernatorial cycle is one of, I think, 2 or 3 nationally, that is still
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: not during a presidential midterm or presidential election cycle. And so every so often we have a year where there's not any
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: major elections on the ballot, and 2025 is one of those.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: however, as a part of all of our continuing education efforts, civic engagement, and advocacy around those sorts of tools will not stop it. Has not been excluded
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: in past non election years in Kentucky for us?
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: Because
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: how many, how many people will turn 18 next year.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: How many people will move to Kentucky next year or move within Kentucky and need to update their voter registration? It is still just as important next year as it is any year for us. And I think, speaking to
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: whatever the issues du jour that might be influencing people in an off year.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: we should honestly be a little more successful, because there doesn't seem to be as much pressure around it.
Kelly Taulbee, KY Voices for Health: And we might be able to speak to it in terms where people want to just register to vote, knowing that they don't even have to vote yet.
Chanda Freeman: And and I think off years are also a good opportunity to engage like your younger folks. Your high school students, who will be turning 18 before they graduate
Chanda Freeman: and folks who are heading off to college. So one of the things that we do at Tjc. Is through our high school ambassadorship is we try to host voting parties and celebrations, you know, for folks who are gonna be voting for the 1st time. It's a big deal, you know, and the science also suggested, if we get folks to engage in the voting process in high school
Chanda Freeman: that they're more likely to continue that through adulthood. So we also continue to host postcard parties and connect people put together report cards on how folks are doing so. I think there are lots of ways to continue to engage throughout the year.
Emily Polak: And just lifting up local elections matter so much when it comes to health. It's it's your school board. It's your city council who make funding decisions about things related to different curricula, etc. The one other thing I would just lift up is
Emily Polak: getting engaged and involved as an organization in an off cycle. Year
Emily Polak: can come with it a little bit more. It's a little more palatable because it's less politicized. The energy is not what the heightened energy that we are all feeling and eating and breathing every day in this presidential electoral cycle. So, introducing the I idea of engaging in nonpartisan voter registration efforts in an off cycle year can make it feel that much easier, too. As as a small stepping stone for folks too.
Margaux Johnson-Green: Thank you for all that. And I know we are right at time, so I think we can go ahead and wrap up.
Margaux Johnson-Green: So thank you so much again to our speakers. I know that you all have hope, have dropped a host of great resources in the chat. So we will save the chat and send that out with any slides or recording of this presentation, so that folks can go back and take a look at those and thank you to everyone. For tuning in today. Really appreciate having you all
Margaux Johnson-Green: take care.