Associates Learn About Voting Rights During POWER Lunch-and-Learn
Dr. Christina Wagoner, chief of staff for Texas District 65 Rep. Michelle Beckley, spoke about voting rights during a virtual lunch-and-learn hosted Aug. 26 by the Exchange’s Promote Opportunities for Women by Effecting Results (POWER) special emphasis group in honor of Women’s Equality Day.
Dr. Christina Wagoner, chief of staff for Texas District 65 Rep. Michelle Beckley, helped the Exchange’s Promote Opportunities for Women by Effecting Results (POWER) special emphasis group celebrate Women’s Equality Day with a virtual lunch-and-learn on Aug. 26.
Wagoner explored the history of women’s suffrage, the continued fight for voting rights and how Exchange associates can make their voices heard by voting.
Women’s Equality Day commemorates the Aug. 26, 1920, passage of the 19th Amendment, which prohibits the denial of voting rights on the basis of sex. But voting rights, Wagoner said, remained elusive for many—including Asian Americans, Native Americas and African Americans—in the following decades.
Even with the strides many such groups have made through landmark legislation, court rulings and constitutional amendments, many still lack representation in Congress and the right to vote for president, including 4 million American citizens in Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Wagoner said.
“One hundred years ago, our grandmothers fought for our right to vote, and others after them have taken up the mantle to fight for further expansion of voting rights,” Wagoner said. “It is our responsibility now to use that right.”
Wagoner offered the following tips for Exchange associates looking to vote in upcoming elections, including the Nov. 3 presidential election:
- Make sure you are registered to vote using your current name and at your current address.
- Become familiar with your state’s voter registration rules and deadlines (refer to your state’s Secretary of State website or your county elections website).
- Download a sample ballot from your county elections website to learn who is running.
- If voting by mail, do so as soon as possible due to anticipated U.S. Postal Service delays.
- If voting in person, understand what types of identification your state requires and prepare for long lines.
- Vote during your jurisdiction’s early voting period, and do so as early as possible.
After the presentation, Exchange Director/CEO Tom Shull thanked Dr. Wagoner for her advocacy and shared a story about his maternal grandmother, Marguerite “Daisy” Counter, who marched for women’s suffrage with Susan B. Anthony as a young girl. Daisy would later teach mathematics at Colorado A&M University and helmed multiple family businesses after the deaths of her husband and father—unusual roles for a woman in the early 1900s.
“Growing up with Nannie as our family matriarch, I was conditioned to believe women are equal,” Shull said. “If there are two things you would want to be known for in life, it’s loving others and having integrity. My grandmother was a model citizen in both of those areas.”
Western Region Senior Vice President and POWER Executive Champion Shelly Armstrong said it’s more important than ever to remember the achievements of those who fought so hard to expand voting rights in the past—and continue their work into the future.
“We must never take the right to choose our leaders for granted,” Armstrong said. “While those who came before us made many strides, there is still much to be done. It’s up to us to make sure that their hard work and sacrifice were not in vain.”
