Safe & Easy! #Votebymail in Florida (Live Premiere) [Video]

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Our Director/Founder, Robert Greenwald is moderating a screening of “Safe & Easy! Vote By Mail In Florida” and a deep dive into the process with Marc Elias (Perkins Cole or Democracy Docket), Adner Marcelin (President, Florida NAACP), Bill Sauers (President, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans), Marcos Vilar (Alianza for Progress)
Join us and be a part of the discussion on voting safely during COVID-19!
Transcript provided by YouTube:
good morning i’m robert greenwald
the president of brave new films and i
want to welcome everybody
joining this zoom premiere this morning
all over the country and welcome to the
we’re being seen on facebook on twitter
on youtube on tick tock so wherever
you’re watching and wherever you’re
thank you for joining us and we look
to presenting to you this morning
how to vote by mail brave new films is a
in the last couple of months as our
producers have talked to groups
all around the country we’ve had a
request from many different states and
a video explainer how to vote by mail
they’re going to be millions and
millions of voters who have never voted
and so for those people we want to make
that there’s a simple and clear
that their votes are counted and they’re
safely with the help of our friend rob
and many people from florida
who are part of and in the video they
will be explaining to you
how to do it for the purposes of the
press if you have any follow-up
questions we’ll be able to connect you
in the video also for press the full
zoom premiere and event will be
as well as the psa itself
so i want to first of all thank all of
amazing groups led by an alliance for
retired americans the tallahassee
naacp the florida afl-cio the new
priorities usa democracy docket
public citizen and many more who are
day in and day out to making sure
and that the elections are protected and
every one of you can vote
so with that i’d like to show the video
some speakers right afterwards renato
our country’s in danger we have a
president who denies science
takes absolutely no responsibility of
right now hundreds of thousands of us
are dying but it doesn’t have to be this
we have the power to stop this madness
and that power is at the polls but if
of going to the polls you can request a
and it’s easy but make sure you do it
early and you get it in early
and there’s an organization that you can
and you’ll this video will show it to
it’s called vote.org it’ll explain it
it’ll make sure that you’re registered
it’ll you can request your mail and
and if we do this and we do this
overwhelmingly because we’re going to
really overwhelm those polls and make
sure we get our voices out
we’ll win this and we’ll be able to stop
this madness so go to vote.org
and find out how you can vote by mail
i’m yolanda russell and i live in
windermere florida barbara duvane
tallahassee florida florenzo canisares
south florida lorraine tuliano orange
stuart cohen sarasota florida i have 10
children nieces my mom wife grand nieces
grandchild son two grandkids out in san
three in d.c five dogs my granddaughter
and her new husband hospitals here in
florida are really at the tipping point
epicenter numbers continue to rise i am
so scared i have a cousin whose husband
passed away we’ve lost several of our uh
friend whose sister passed away he
passed away two weeks ago
this is their new hoax lost her mother
members lost a parent they are dying
it is what it is i think it’s under
control this misinformation going out
people don’t believe it’s as scary as it
people of color most black americans
have had multiple people that they know
i’m 73 i’m 68 between cancer and heart
attacks we’re very cautious
because there’s no guarantees you’re
going to live we must preserve the
and functioning of our economy ease the
very quickly open things up after living
raising families trying to get a secure
retirement why are we being told that we
disposable makes you feel pretty shitty
because you’re disposable
in the middle of a pandemic everything
seems to be geared towards
opening an economy when the science says
democracy is not about that kind of
thousands of people sacrificing them for
freedom not for the economy
sad angry hopeless appalled overwhelming
seniors being willing to die to save the
they have seniors in their family they
if all the consumers are dead there
i have my book here vote by mail vote by
vote voting by mail because hey you’re
kobe we have no idea you don’t know what
carrying mail drop it in the mail open
select your candidates mark them in fold
there’s a secrecy envelope in the
you put it in the secrecy envelope and
then there’s an outer envelope that you
put the secrecy envelope in
seal it up sign on the back date it and
you put it in the mail and send it off
two to three days later you can go
online to your supervisor of elections
then you can check the status of your
ballot get your voice heard
literally i believe that my life depends
on it vote like your life depends on it
all the groups that are participating
and the press that the video is
it’s free and we hope each and every one
of you will use it as a tool
to help spread the word to help protect
and preserve democracy in voting
and with that it’s my pleasure to
taped not able to be with us here today
one of the real heroes of the fight to
mark elias who i’m sure many of you know
in so many of the different legal fights
the efforts to protect the efforts to
that state by state the battle is there
that the rights are forefront and he has
incredible champion for those fights all
many different courts including the
renato if you could let us see mark
hi this is mark elias and i am pleased
to be talking to you today
uh about the alliance for retired
americans and the tremendous and
important work they have done
to support voting rights not just for
but for all americans this november uh
uh secret that the country faces greater
this november than it ever has before uh
in recent history we are in the middle
we have a president who is bad mouthing
and obstructing voting every day
we have a republican party that is
spending 20 million dollars in court to
and of course we have a u.s postal
interested in doing the bidding of the
president than in protecting voting
and ensuring timely mail delivery
against that backdrop uh in early march
before the pandemic really took hold
and became as deadly as we now know it
i wrote about four pillars to protect
voting rights with vote by mail
these four pillars have now served as
the basis for dozens of lawsuits some of
and some of which other organizations
and there is no state where the voting
laws are more important than in the
know and it’s no secret that florida has
and hard-fought elections and as we
looked out on the landscape of states
difficult voting laws florida
immediately jumped off the map
working on behalf of the alliance
and other allies we sued the state and
67 county supervisors of elections to
that there are fair and enfranchising
in place for this november as a result
of that hard-fought battle we entered
with the state of florida which will
lead to a massive voter education
uh uh more language access for voters
and perhaps most importantly
an increase in the use of drop boxes
as a way to have people securely return
sealed mailed ballots without having to
go through the us postal system so at a
other states being pressured by
republicans or republican officials are
cutting back on drop boxes
as a result of the great work that the
led we will actually see an expansion of
in florida but this is not the end
um we still have 50 plus days before
and i want to thank everyone uh uh
listening to this and watching this for
your hard work and perseverance and
to protect our democracy and to protect
voting rights and i particularly
want to single out the alliance for all
and great work in this area not just in
florida but throughout the country
i wish i could be there with with you in
person today but unfortunately the fight
uh has to continue but i promise after
uh and our successes uh we will all
what he has said florida once again is
of the fight around voting rights and
voting and voting by mail which is why
break new films we’ll be doing other
but we’re leading off with florida
and with that i’d like to introduce
who is a social studies teacher retired
and an active member of the alliance and
technology and zoom we’re going to go
to barbara on location barbara
all right and you go good morning
thanks for joining us today this is such
message for all retirees and seniors
all citizens in the state of florida
i’m barbara devane and i’m secretary of
the florida alliance for retired
i’m here at the supervisor of elections
in leon county in fact mark earley the
out talking to me he just cut a psa
on vote by mail it’s so important
i haven’t voted by mail for over 20
but i did this year when the virus
in florida and in tallahassee my
it was so easy you can either come to
office or you can call or you can do
as soon as mark early sent out an unlock
all of us i went right online clicked
that very day and up popped a
copy of what i’m holding in my hand
it is so simple you just fill in your
name your birthday your signature things
very easy only a half page
so do this today it’s never been more
than this election seniors
are noted for voting in mass
but we have to vote even more this year
we have to vote like our very lives
like our social security depends on it
thank you so much get your vote by mail
thank you and thank you barbara
and as i was always taught always listen
and a retired social studies teacher
with that i’d like to introduce the
president of the tallahassee branch of
and a leader in the african-american
in central florida and throughout
thank you so much for joining us this
good afternoon everybody my name is
abner marslin and i am president of the
of the naacp but i heard about this
documentary and the premiere i knew that
uh the black vote is very very important
and elections in florida that have been
have proven time and time again of how
that we get out and we vote and that our
vote is not suppressed in any way
every single vote in florida matters and
everybody to do with me today is to go
out to the supervisor of elections
office and request that you get one of
these your mail-in ballot
and that you sign up and that you return
because the key is that they’re trying
in any way possible and if you do not
early enough and you do not return your
be suppressed and your vote may not be
counted so please join me
during early voting like barbara said
and we need to get in there and get our
early the elections are critical and
that is the only way that our voices
on critical issues that affect our
community is going to be heard
and so again i implore everybody to
request an absentee ballot
if you requested it and you did not
receive it please go to vote.org
or contact your local supervisor of the
elections office and they’ll be glad to
but please make sure that as soon as you
can that you get your ballots in
that you actually go out and vote and
that you do it in a very early fashion
join me in early voting here in florida
and thank you and thank the naacp for
the work that they’ve done
historically over the years in fighting
for the vote in organizing for the vote
and making sure that everybody in every
has the opportunity to vote and have
counted and with that i’d like to
introduce bill sauers who is
president of the florida alliance for
retired americans which you’ve been
hearing about a lot this morning
it’s an organization which has more than
000 members statewide hopefully before
the election it’ll be 200 000 members
and with that bill thank you robert
uh i am bill sauer is the president of
the florida alliance retired americans
and it’s important to make a plan on how
we want to keep you safe you can vote by
you can vote during the early voting
in person or you can vote on election
i urge you to make a plan today
to make sure you know the deadlines and
if you are going to vote by mail you
need to request your ballot
today and return it as soon as you can
the united states postal service has
warned that voters who wish to vote by
should request their ballots at least
before the deadline to ensure your
i’m going to put my request in right now
you can also return your ballot via the
rather than the mail your county
supervisor of elections can tell you
where they will be the pandemic has
about how we live and it is important
that it doesn’t change our right to fair
that truly reflect the voices and the
of the people seniors have so much at
that we will need to protect our health
i urge florida voters to plan ahead and
until the last minute it’s already time
to make sure you are registered to vote
and if you plan on voting by mail
thank you so much bill and um
our fi final speaker will be marcos
who has a long and extensive record of
working for the good things from high
school teacher to seiu to heads of
goes on and on and on thank you so much
marcos for the work you’re doing
and for joining us today if you will
and marcos will now speak
thank you robert um it’s certainly a
pleasure to be here among such great
uh talking about an important subject of
alias for progress my organization was
that brought the case against the state
uh around fixing some of the problems we
we did that because more than 150 people
turned out to vote in 2018 uh
did not get their votes counted 150
and we knew that with the covet pandemic
there would be a lot more people seeking
by mayo and so we thought it was very
towards uh getting folks to go by mail
particularly in the latino community
which is a community that’s not used to
concerted effort calling voters
texting voters and i’m very proud to say
leading up to the primary elections in
we were able to talk to more than 300
about signing up to vote and of those
000 people uh 25 percent about 80 000 of
uh signed up to vote by mail and the
best news of all is that 78
of them voted by mail so we had an
all latino voters many of them voting by
and that’s sort of the dry run for what
come november so we’re all in
uh voting like all the speakers before
me voting by mail is easy
it’s secure it’s safe it’s the best
during the pandemic to get your vote to
count you can also track your ballot
as has been stated before which is a
great way to make sure that your ballot
your home to the supervisor of election
and you can track that ballot
by uh going to your supervisor or your
local supervisor of elections website
so it’s a pleasure for me to be here
this morning uh we will continue
uh getting those people uh our our
our community uh to uh sign up to vote
and ultimately vote in november to make
sure we bring back this country into a
thank you so much and you know there’s a
saying slogan i’m not sure where it
started democracy is not a spectator
and we’re seeing that today with all
people who are doing the work day in and
and with that commitment to work and to
and democracy and to each and every one
watching this video watching this
seeing the work that’s being done take a
spread the word use social media
use it to reach your friends your
colleagues your relatives
and let them know how to vote when to
and that it’s simple and easy and they
for any of the press as i’ve said before
this will all be available to you
afterwards if you have further questions
for any of these inspirational leaders
will be able to arrange to put you in
thank you everyone go to work the time
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This post was previously published on YouTube and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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