League of Women Voters of Westport and National Popular Vote Connecticut to host panel discussion at Westport Country Playhouse
Leading experts, academics, and historians to debate the merits of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
With accusations of voter fraud and “rigged” elections still fresh in the minds of Connecticut residents, a divisive presidential election only months past, and a current contentious national political landscape, the debate between voter integrity and voter suppression rages. To understand what underlies these competing concerns, the League of Women Voters and National Popular Vote Connecticut present The State of Voting: CT Debates a New Way to Elect the President, a moderated panel of four experts discussing the merits of the National Popular Vote. The debate and discussion on Thursday, March 2, at 7:00pm at the Westport Country Playhouse features four experts and will include an opportunity for questions from the public.
Panelists:
Mark Albertson, historian
Hendrik Hertzberg, essayist
Luther Weeks, CT Voters Count
Moderator:
Victoria Bassetti, Brennan Center for Justice
This is a nonpartisan event, free and open to the public. Due to limited seating, please reserve your seat in advance by calling the Playhouse box office at (203) 227-4177 or reserving online at www.westportplayhouse.org.
About the Co-Sponsors
The League of Women Voters of Westport is a nonpartisan political organization, encouraging informed and active participation in government, working to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influencing public policy through education and advocacy. www.lwvwestportct.org
NPV-CT is a bipartisan grassroots group advocating for the application of a “one person one vote” philosophy to presidential elections, specifically through the adoption in Connecticut of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
About the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC)
The National Popular Vote Compact is an agreement between states to allocate all of their state’s electors to the Presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. The NPV Compact has been enacted into law by 11 states already, and NPV bills are before the Connecticut legislature now.
Participating Speakers
Victoria Bassetti, moderator
Victoria Bassetti is a fellow at NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice and the author of Electoral Dysfunction, the companion book to the documentary. She worked on Capitol Hill for almost a decade, where she served as chief counsel to Senator Dick Durbin as well as chief counsel and staff director of a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her writings have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago and Harper’s.
Rick Hertzberg
Rick Hertzberg is an American journalist, best known as the principal political commentator for The New Yorker magazine. He has also been a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and editor of The New Republic, and is the author of ¡Obámanos! The Rise of a New Political Era and Politics: Observations & Arguments. In 2003, Harvard Magazine termed him "the most stylish liberal political essayist in America," and in 2009, Forbes named Hertzberg one of the "25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media," placing him at number seventeen.
Luther Weeks, CTVotersCount
Luther Weeks is a retired software engineer and computer scientist. He was active for several years in voting integrity issues and citizen-lobbying the Connecticut Legislature and the U.S. Congress. Mr. Weeks' efforts in Connecticut contributed to the passage of the paper record law in 2005 and the selection of optical-scan over DRE (touch screen) voting equipment in 2006. Since 2007, he has organized citizen volunteers to observe Connecticut's post-election audits, independently report on those audits, and perform citizen audits of other aspects of the election system.
Mark Albertson
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine in Monroe; and, is the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. He has authored several book, teaches history as an adjunct at Norwalk Community College, and is an instructor at the Lifetime Learners Institute. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his efforts in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.