Oprah Winfrey and OWN have joined together with the NAACP and national voting rights leaders to host “OWN Your Vote: Our Lives Depend On it,” a virtual conversation aimed to inspire and equip thousands of voters and community leaders with specific steps they can take to register to vote, request their absentee ballots, and mobilize voters throughout their community. Slated to take place on September 24, 2020, at 8:00 PM EST, the hour-long conversation will include remarks from leaders in the fight for voting rights, including Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Stacey Abrams (Fair Fight), Minyon Moore (Power Rising), Tiffany Dena Loftin (NAACP Youth and College), Judith Browne Dianis, and other key leaders. Join this conversation by visiting bit.ly/OprahZoom and registering today!
“We are excited to work with OWN, Ms. Winfrey and other key voting rights leaders as we engage our members, activists, and community leaders around the country about the importance of this election and their vote,” said Derrick Johnson, president, and CEO, NAACP. “Her voice during this critical time when communities not only need reassurance in their ability to affect change but encouragement and enlightenment on how to do so with clear impact cannot be overstated.”
As the nation reels from the effects of COVID-19, racial injustice, and voter suppression, OWN Your Voteseeks to shed light on the solution through a bipartisan registration and a get-out-the-vote campaign aimed at providing OWN’s audience of Black women with tools and resources to overcome voter suppression in the November election. The pro-social campaign connects people to urgent political actions and gives their concerns a powerful microphone by placing a spotlight on crucial community issues.
“OWN is proud to partner with the NAACP and prominent voting rights leaders to hold this important conversation to energize and engage our community to vote this November,” said Tina Perry, president of OWN. “This is a critical time in our history to come together and raise our voices.”
Along with shedding light on why this moment is paramount for Black women to use their voice, Ms. Winfrey will also moderate a panel discussion that will bring attention to barriers to voting, what everyone should know about this election, and how they can overcome voter suppression in their community.
The OWN Your Vote campaign has been informed by a study OWN conducted with over 700 Black women of voting age to identify critical issues affecting them. The political impact tracking study determined that affordable health care and racism/discrimination are the two most relevant issues to Black women this election season.
OWN Your Vote Partner Organizations include:
Advancement Project National Office
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
AME Church Social Action Commission
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
Fair Fight Action
Higher Heights Leadership Fund
Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights
The Kapor Center
The King Center (Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc.)
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The Links, Incorporated
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF)
National Council of Negro Women
National Urban League
Power Rising
Power to the Polls
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated
Sistahs in Business Expo
Vote Run Lead
Vote.org
VoteAsIf.org
When We All Vote
Woke Vote
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated