Elections: How Should We Encourage and Safeguard Voting? Many Americans are concerned about the US election system, although we don’t always agree on the main problem or how best to fix it. It is too hard to vote? Is the system too easy to manipulate? Local, state, and federal laws governing the election system can be confusing and complicates efforts to improve both access and security. This year, Nevadans are voting on a ballot initiative related to voter ID, and the federal government has been looking for ways to limit mail-in ballots. With lots of changes happening to our election systems, we need to think about what approach is best for our interests. This is your chance to talk with others and share your thoughts on actions such as: Making Election Day a national holidayRemoving voters from registration rolls if they haven’t voted recentlyEliminating the Electoral CollegeUsing nonpartisan commissions, rather than politicians, for redistricting processesWhat are Community Howls? The Howls are for YOU to voice your own opinions, experiences, and interests related to the topic while also being open to listen to other perspectives from your peers—no advanced research or expertise required! It’s a chance for interested faculty, students, and staff members to have a deliberative discussion (small group structured conversation with a facilitator) about issues that impact our community. It is not a debate—we aren’t looking for winning sides or partisan talking points. We are looking to create experiences of dialogue and bringing perspectives together in one place. In this deliberation, we’ll discuss actions related to how to move forward in order to avoid the polarizing rhetoric now growing around the major policy options. We will consider questions such as: Do ID requirements for voting, in order to help maintain the system’s integrity, merely discourage voters by placing hurdles in their way?Would having uniform national standards for voting, instead of having state and local officials continue to set the rules, give us more confidence in our electoral system?Would having more public funding of election encourage more candidates to run, or would this mean too many unqualified candidates on the ballot?Students from COM 468: Facilitating Difficult Discussions will be facilitating small group discussions for this event—so bring your thoughts and willingness to gain new understanding of this complex issue! MORE INFORMATION about the issue guide, the options and tradeoffs for deliberative dialogue, please visit: https://nifi.org/nifi-issue-guide/elections/ Who: Event is open to all UNR students, faculty, staff and interested community members who want to deliberate with others on our election system. When: Wednesday, October 7 from 6:00-7:30 pm Where: JSCU Ballroom A Contact for More Information: Amy Pason (apason@unr.edu), Department of Communication Studies