Join the Voting Rights and Democracy group of DAUK Policy Network for an informative panel and interactive discussion: The battle to protect voting rights in the face of disinformation, big tech and the big lie.
The event offers distinguished experts on disinformation (Magda Walter); big tech, digital security (Kyle Taylor); and voting rights (Midge Purcell), to examine voter fraud disinformation campaigns, the lead up to the Jan 6 Capitol siege, voter suppression laws being introduced at the state level (see speaker bios below).
The second part of the event offers a comprehensive exploration of how to seize the moment to make positive change in the fight for our democracy and bringing together key DA and DAUK leaders. Participants include: Julia Bryan, DA Global Chair; Heidi Burch, Global GOTV co-chair; Karen Suhaka, Chair of the DAUK West Midlands regional group and founder of BillTrack50; Martha McDevitt-Pugh, a member of the DNC LGBT and Women’s Caucuses and DA Voter Protection; and Maya Buchanan, Chair of DA Voter Protection and Chair of the Voting Rights and Democracy group of the DAUK Policy Network.
Biographies:
Magda Walter
Magda Walter, is a former senior broadcast journalist for US TV networks PBS, CNN, CNBC and NBC News in Moscow (where she was bureau chief). She is an international communications strategist, media consultant and journalism trainer.
She has led and edited several large research studies into the impact of Russian disinformation on countries of the former USSR with recommendations for policy change aimed at strengthening independent media in the region. In this area, she has collaborated with the European Endowment for Democracy in Brussels, Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington and the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence in Riga and spoken on panels at several international conferences.
Kyle Taylor
Founder and Director of Fair Vote UK, which published whistleblower evidence of Vote Leave’s lawbreaking in the EU referendum and supported Chris Wylie’s whistleblower revelations around Cambridge Analytica’s global data theft and misappropriation. Fair Vote UK now campaigns on digital democracy reform and platform regulation in the UK and internationally. He is also the lead claimant in a class action lawsuit against Facebook and acts as Secretariat to a parliamentary inquiry into foreign money and electoral transparency. Kyle was the Chief of Staff to a UK government minister and has worked on half a dozen elections, including the 2016 US Presidential Campaign and the 2020 US Georgia Senate Runoff. His first book on the subject - The Little Black Book of Data and Democracy - is published next week.
Midge Purcell
Midge Purcell is former Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the Urban League in Portland, and a founding member of Oregon Voice, organising to increase voter engagement and political power in communities of color. Midge has worked with Common Cause to ensure fair redistricting outcomes for black communities and as a grassroots lobbyist in the Oregon legislature. She is a DAUK Black Caucus and a DAUK Policy Network member.
For more information contact: policynetwork@democratsabroad.org.uk (putting voting rights in the subject).
