Last week, FRN hosted a conversation about the many feelings we have around the act of voting, and discussed why these feelings are valid. But why is talking about our feelings around voting so important? Because how many times do we feel a certain way about something, big or small, which leads us to…not act? When it comes to voting, we must find a way to understand and validate our feelings in order to push past any desire for inaction to get into the habit of voting.

Moderator Angela Lin facilitated a conversation with Tony Eskridge and Dominique Mitchell that was insightful, full of important context, and most importantly, moving – moving in the sense that we wanted everyone listening in to know that we are all in this together, and moving in that we need everyone to move to actually vote. Our philosophy is that it doesn’t matter who you vote for, but voting during the mid-term and general elections is critical to ensure your demands are heard.

Food Recovery Network is amplifying the voices of nonpartisan organizations like Ohio Voice, the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice (including their project  Poor People’s Campaign),  and ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, where, respectively, Angela, Tony, and Dominique each work. We are magnifying the work of these organizations because voting is a critical way to express our demands to end poverty. Ending poverty means curtailing the root cause of social inequities like food insecurity, housing insecurity, and medical debt that are costing all of us so much.

I hope you have an opportunity to listen to this conversation. We covered a lot of ground, talking about how we can address and lift up our feelings around voting, and also diving into a variety of relevant topics. Angela reminded us that we need to talk about issues that affect us everyday, all year long, and build people power to enact long term change. Tony reminded us that voting is an expression of our demands – when enough of us vote on an issue that can eliminate food insecurity, we cannot be ignored. He talked about recent court decisions that have made it harder to register to vote and cast ballots, and that have increased voting lines. In light of these setbacks, we have to steady ourselves so that we do not lose our will to participate in electoral politics. Dominique shared her thoughts and resources on the student voting landscape to ensure we are prepared to vote, so we know how to register, know where to go, and understand how to vote the whole ballot.

Please let us know what you think about this conversation and most importantly, what questions you have after hearing from these leaders. This conversation is for you and we want to do all that we can to support your right to vote!