CLASSACT NEWS

Meet Our Bridge Partner: The Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) Ruth Mullen Memorial Scholarship Program

A scholarship program for undergraduate students attending a historically Black college or university (HBCU) and HBCU alums attending graduate school. 

About the EFA: Founded in 1970, the Editorial Freelancers Association is a national nonprofit professional organization with approximately 3,200 members, including writers, editors, copy editors, proofreaders, indexers, translators, and others who work in publishing, communications, and related fields. The EFA advances excellence among our dynamic community of freelance editorial professionals by providing opportunities for business development, learning, and networking. Our resources help our members and their clients build successful collaborations.

Origins of the EFA scholarship program: The impetus for the program came from EFA members Andrea Reid and Andrew (Andy) Huston, who together formed an ad hoc committee on HBCU scholarships in early 2021. Later that year, the committee proposed to the EFA Board of Governors that the EFA establish and fund a scholarship program for undergraduate students attending an HBCU and HBCU alums attending graduate school.

 

Andrea Reid—Chairperson, EFA Committee on HBCU Scholarships

“The 2020 societal epiphany that racial inequity had to finally be addressed on a national scale did not mark a racial reckoning, just the beginning of one. The EFA should play a part in the reckoning process by supporting educational equity,” the committee stated in its report to the board. “The entire publishing industry has not equitably provided careers for marginalized groups, and especially not for African Americans. An EFA HBCU scholarship program would be one way to help right that wrong.”

At its November 2021 meeting, the EFA Board of Governors approved the proposed scholarship program.

Program parameters: The EFA provides $5,000 scholarships to undergraduate students attending an HBCU and HBCU alums pursuing a graduate degree. The scholarships are available to students who are Black, African American, or of Black African descent and enrolled in a degree program leading to (1) employment in the publishing or communications industry, or (2) a career that could lead to their becoming a member of the EFA.

Each $5,000 award is paid directly to the scholarship recipient’s HBCU or graduate school in two annual installments of $2,500.

The scholarships, which are awarded in partnership with the UNCF (United Negro College Fund) are named in memory of Ruth Mullen, longtime EFA member and volunteer who died tragically in September 2021. At the time of her death, Ms. Mullen was serving as an EFA co-executive.

The EFA Ruth Mullen Memorial Scholarship program is administered by the UNCF, the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization. Founded in 1944, the UNCF is a groundbreaking organization made famous by its slogan, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” More than 500,000 students have earned degrees with the help of UNCF scholarships.

First cycle: For the first scholarship cycle (2022–2023), the EFA provided two scholarships, both funded by the EFA itself. Mauranne Vernier of Evanston, IL, received the undergraduate scholarship, and Kristen Shipley of York, PA, received the graduate scholarship.

At the time of her application for the scholarship, Mauranne was a junior at Spelman College majoring in English. She served as editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper and as an editorial intern for Spelman’s Blue Record podcast. She also worked as a scripted television publicity intern at Warner Bros. Discovery.

Kristen applied as a 2018 graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T), where she studied journalism and mass communications with a concentration in public relations. She was an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School and worked for Google, YouTube, and Obvious Ventures.      

Mauranne Vernier—Spelman College ’24	Kristen Shipley—Harvard Business School ’24

And now we are pleased and proud to announce that Mauranne and Kristen recently graduated from their respective schools. Read about their accomplishments and future plans at Our First HBCU Scholarship Recipients Have Graduated!

Second cycle: For the second cycle (2023–2024), the EFA funded two scholarships itself, and through the generous donations of individuals inside and outside of the EFA, we raised enough money to fund a third scholarship. Gabrielle Heyward of Rock Hill, SC, and Makiydah Berry of Hartford, CT, were the recipients in the undergraduate category, and Jordan Turner of Lawrenceville, GA, was the recipient in the graduate category.

 

Makiydah Berry, Jordan Turner, and Gabrielle Heyward

Ms. Heyward is a communications major at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) in Greensboro, NC, where her focus is journalism and media studies. Since receiving the EFA scholarship, she has become a Rhoden Fellow with ESPN and Andscape. Gabrielle has also been inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and she will serve this year as president of the NCAT Section of the National Council of Negro Women and editor-in-chief of the A&T Register (NC A&T newspaper).

Ms. Berry is pursuing a degree in strategic communications with a concentration in advertising at Howard University in Washington, DC. During the past year, she was inducted into Lambda Pi Eta, the national honor society for communications majors. She was also invited to the Vice President’s HBCU Student Leaders celebration for Black History Month.

Mr. Turner is a graduate of Savannah State University in Savannah, GA, the oldest HBCU in the state. He completed his first year as a graduate student at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he is pursuing his MFA with a concentration in screenwriting.

All three of our scholars have successfully completed the first of their two EFA scholarship years and are about to begin their second. Read more about Gabrielle, Jordan, and Makiydah at 2023 EFA Ruth Mullen Memorial Scholarships Awarded.

Third (current) cycle: The 2024–2025 application window for the EFA Ruth Mullen Memorial Scholarship program opened on April 30 and closed on June 17, 2024. This cycle, we are offering four $5,000 scholarships, three of which will be funded by the EFA and one by private donations. Three of the scholarships will be for undergraduates attending an HBCU, and one will be for a graduate of an HBCU attending graduate school. We and the UNCF are currently reviewing this cycle’s applications, and we expect that the awards will be made at the end of August.

Project Goals and Needs: For the inaugural year of the program, we had 54 applicants for the two scholarships the EFA funded. For the second cycle, 157 students applied for the three available scholarships. This cycle, we had 323 applications for the four available scholarships—for every candidate awarded a scholarship, we’ve had to turn down 80 others! We’re thrilled with the response to the program, of course, but saddened that we are not able to provide more than four scholarships a year.

Each $5,000 scholarship requires $5,750 in funding (including UNCF’s 15% admin fee). The EFA has committed to funding three scholarships per year itself. We are aiming to provide at least six scholarships per year, so we need to turn to outside sources to fund the additional three scholarships annually.

ClassACT has already been helpful, by connecting us with classmate Fred Bartenstein, who has shared his extensive knowledge of fundraising and given us many good ideas. We could also benefit from the knowledge of an experienced grant writer, especially one who can suggest individuals or entities whose mission aligns with the EFA’s and who might be especially receptive to a grant application from the EFA Ruth Mullen Memorial Scholarship program.

To any classmate who might be able to guide us in grant writing, or anyone who has any money-raising ideas at all, we’d love to hear from you. Our email address is hbcuscholarships@the-efa.org.

We have also established a Donate page on the UNCF website. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation, and feel free to post the Donate link on your social media and share it with friends and associates. Thank you!

Thank you to ClassACT: Expressing the EFA’s gratitude to ClassACT, Andy writes, “Andrea and I wish to deeply thank Fred Bartenstein for being so generous with his time and expertise. We'd also like to thank the ClassACT management with whom we have worked (Marion Dry, Stan Mark, Jerome Harris) for connecting us with Fred. Also a vote of appreciation to board member Vivian Lewis for her donation, and to my roommates Richard Gatto, for helping to get our project on the front burner, and Dr. Mark Ferguson and his wife Phyllis Young, for their very generous multi-year donations to the scholarship fund.”

REGISTER HERE

The upcoming national, state, and local elections in November 2024 provide opportunities and responsibilities for all citizens to address and improve our environment. In addition to supporting candidates who are strong advocates of protecting and restoring biodiversity, it is critical to also learn about and encourage the passage of numerous environmental initiatives on the ballot. This forum will bring together leaders who will provide information and insights on the most important biodiversity, conservation, climate change, and energy alternative issues that will be presented to voters in the upcoming elections.

ClassACT HR73 is pleased to welcome our latest Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program Fellow, Waheed Ahmad. ClassACT Chair Marion Dry ‘73 and ClassACT Treasurer George Putnam ‘73 met with Waheed over lunch at the Charles Hotel earlier this month to welcome him and share information about ClassACT. As an Edward S. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management at the Kennedy School, Waheed is a candidate for a Mid-Career Masters in Public Administration.

Over the course of the academic year, we look forward to introducing Waheed to the ClassACT community through in person and online events. Waheed is our first fellow from Afghanistan. To learn more about Waheed and his work, click here.

Waheed Ahmad has more than a decade of experience at the intersection of national security, governance, and development. He  served as a senior National Security staff member of the Afghanistan Democratic Government from 2018-2021. During his tenure, he was responsible for strategy and implementation of security sector reforms, and for developing the 2020 Afghanistan National Threat Assessment, among other projects.

Originally from Baghlan, Afghanistan, Waheed’s passion for public service began during his adolescence. In the early days of the Afghanistan democracy, he led many civic activities in his hometown, including the establishment of a library and sponsoring a radio station for women’s voices.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Balkh University in Mazar, Afghanistan and later pursued a Master of Public Administration degree from State University of New York- Binghamton as a Fulbright Scholar. He has worked at every level of the Afghanistan Democratic Government, from sub-national conflict resolution and community engagement with the Ministry of the Interior to empowering sub-national elected bodies and local councils with the Independent Directorate of Local Governance. In his past roles, he worked closely with the United Nations Development Program, the United States and NATO mission in Afghanistan, and the World Bank, as well as other relevant stakeholders. Waheed has also written many articles on Afghanistan’s security and political challenges that have been published in international news outlets, including a chapter on Afghanistan’s implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He has received several awards, including a top honor from the President of Afghanistan for his public service. He is fluent in English, Farsi, Pashto, and Urdu.

Waheed fled Afghanistan after the Taliban forcibly took power during the U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021. Once in the U.S., he served as Resident Practitioner at the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) at Binghamton University, focusing on human rights issues in Afghanistan.

Read

Highlights include:

-Meet Our New Bridge Partner: FoolProofMe

-Inflation, Housing Concerns Could Swing Nevada to Republicans in November, by Jacki Swearingen '73 and Susan Okie '73

-Update on Growing ClassACT

THE MANIPULATION OF CHILDREN ONLINE: What You Can Do to Help Fix This.

23 years ago, Walter Cronkite and a group of young people created the FoolProof Foundation. The Foundation’s goal: To add the teaching of healthy skepticism and caution to the teaching of financial literacy.

After 23 years, FoolProof remains the only major financial literacy resource in the United States focused on teaching the importance of healthy skepticism and caution.

Why aren’t other major financial literacy resources emphasizing the importance of healthy skepticism and caution?

Because the largest funders of financial literacy resources worldwide are the marketing and debt industries. These industries can’t be expected to develop or promote resources that consistently teach consumers to question the industries’ marketing objectives. 

The marketer’s role is to sell, not tell all sides of the story. In fact, around the world, the definitions of financial literacy never focus on the importance of questioning marketers’ messaging.

Please feel free to search “definitions of financial literacy” and tell us if we are wrong.

Children are damaged if they do not understand that financial literacy does not exist in the absence of healthy skepticism and caution.

Filling the holes in the cheese.

And that’s where FoolProof comes in. We fill the holes in the marketing and debt industry’s financial literacy training.

Teacher working with students at Ariel Community Academy in Chicago

Our middle and high school financial literacy curricula are unique and respected. Last year, 90,000 middle and high school students spent over 510,000 hours on our web-based resources. We feature peer-to-peer teaching. And teachers love us: Nationwide, 78% or teachers who see a FoolProof presentation sign up and use our curricula.

The giant in financial literacy also respects us.

 In April, FoolProof received the Jumpstart Coalition's national “Innovation Award” for our work that “significantly benefited students, consumers, and the financial literacy community at large."

The JumpStart Coalition is composed of 100 national organizations and 51 state coalitions to promote financial literacy.

Five nationally respected leaders accepted the award on our behalf: Sheila Bair, the 19th Chair of the FDIC, Walter Cronkite IV, Neiman Fellows Roberta Baskin and Jim Trengrove, and Washington Post syndicated finance columnist Michelle Singletary. All sit on our boards or strongly endorse FoolProof (pictured above).

An important reality.

Despite FoolProof’s broad reach and support, our opportunity to do dramatic good must start this fall and winter. That’s why we’re talking to you today.

FoolProof tackles the manipulation and safety of young people online.

The web poses a significant threat to the mental and physical safety of children.  

In 1973, kids looked at screens at the age of four. They looked at TV screens. But today kids start looking at screens at the age of four months–and the screens are looking back. New research shows that any significant screen time by itself in the first 18 months of life can lead to significant cognitive damage.

And of course, the amount of time kids spend in front of screens increases as they get older. Nine to twelve-year-olds now spend an average of 4-6 hours online every day. For teens, that number increases to about 8 hours per day.

Just looking can hurt.

Kids simply looking at screens for long periods of time is linked to a host of problems including sleep deprivation, obesity, depression, anxiety, and decreased school performance. But that’s only the beginning of the problem.

About 33% of kids online have experienced some form of cyberbullying. Victims of cyberbullying are twice as likely to attempt suicide as those who don’t experience it.

Kids are increasingly vulnerable to sexual harassment on social media platforms. About 100,000 children per day are subjected to sexual harassment on Facebook and Instagram, according to internal Facebook and Instagram communications. 

And that’s just 2 of the 34 social media platforms that have over 100 million monthly active users.

Even features we all use online without thinking can be more detrimental to young people: The impact of “share” buttons, “likes” and “comment” opportunities trigger chemical reactions in kids similar to the effects of drug use.

It’s a tough world out there to be a kid. Many adults know this and are concerned. But few have the time or understanding to consistently tackle these extraordinarily complex issues.

Middle schools as the battlefront.

Middle school children are primary targets for online manipulation. Middle schoolers are at a developmentally vulnerable stage in life.  At the same time, schools are at a developmentally vulnerable stage in their relationship with the web. Cash-strapped school systems are looking for free and online ways to teach traditional subjects–like math and English.

But here’s an uncomfortable reality. Many of the free resources being offered to schools to teach traditional subjects have been developed by the same businesses that are manipulating kids online. Consider the gaming industry.

The commercial gaming industry tackles teaching math to middle school students.

Under the guise of teaching math, about 90,000 middle schools have relied on a “free” game called Prodigy to teach math. But according to experts, it doesn’t teach math. And it can pose a threat to children’s mental health.

Prodigy uses its classroom access to encourage children to play the game at home, where they and their parents are constantly shamed into paying to play.

More than 24 million primary and middle school students—representing half of all elementary and middle school students in North America—have signed up for Prodigy.

This is precisely why consumer advocates, not marketers, need to be in schools when it comes to addressing online manipulation and safety. States are developing those guidelines right now.

How we propose to address the issue.

FoolProof needs to become the battle HQ to help schools prepare their students to be safer online.

We have the respect of the educational and the consumer community to lead this initiative. We must be at the table in every state when those decisions are made.

The businesses that manipulate children online are already at the table.

Team introducing FoolProofMe to juniors and seniors at New York High School

Our first task: Creating a “National Online Safety Hub” for use by educators.

Effective resources are already available to counter issues of childhood safety and manipulation. But few of these resources have been converted into teachable moments or scaled for a national audience. FoolProof has the ability to develop those teachable moments and scale them. And we will include them in our existing curricula.    

Our initial focus. Middle school teachers and their students.

Working with experts.

FoolProof is increasing its research and resource development in this area. Fairplay for Kids—the leading child advocacy initiative in the online arena—is FoolProof’s key partner in our work.

Dr. Lennette Coleman, FoolProof's President, talking to a group of students

Timing

FoolProof currently has preliminary resources that address online manipulation. Starting in October we will begin to incorporate these and other resources from respected experts into our middle school curricula. Starting in January, our goal is to add new resources every month.

Why we need your help.

The enormity of the dangers a child faces online makes any thought of a solution daunting. But here’s the reality. The tidal wave of manipulation aimed at children comes down to a single moment of contact with a single child. We can address that moment and help protect that child, child by child, school by school. 

How you can help. 

Some of FoolProof’s most important achievements have come from people who thought they could not help. You could be one of those people.

What we need now.

We need your help to expand the use of FoolProof’s current financial literacy resources in your city and state. Our new work addressing the safety of children online will be housed in our current middle and high school curricula. To build an audience for our new resources, we need to expand FoolProof’s overall educational reach.

We need contacts.

Help us establish a FoolProof Leadership Council in your state. We need feet-on-the-ground to make a major impact in a city or state. The Leadership Council’s role is to help us have those feet-on-the-ground.

We need funding, of course.

Help us identify funding sources in your state. 

FoolProof is a small foundation with a limited budget. We operate nationally with only 6 full-time team members. Our whole team works remotely. Our boards are volunteer based. We currently have only three team members available to travel the country and meet with educators. Just one of our commercial competitors has 200 full-time staff members.

But when FoolProof has the funding to put feet-on-the-ground, we are recognized as the David against Goliath. Our resources are almost always adopted.  

Does money really do its job when it comes to FoolProof?

It does.

Take Orlando, Florida.

A $25,000 grant from the Fairwinds Foundation allowed FoolProof to be on the ground in Orlando. The result? In one year, over 13,000 high school students completed over 47,000 FoolProof sessions.

Did they learn anything?

They did. The pre- and post-test financial literacy scores based on standardized testing rose from 46--an F grade—to 84%--a B Grade.

Take Oklahoma.

Over the years, 200,000 students in Oklahoma have completed FoolProof’s curricula. Ask us for details.

A legacy FoolProof would like to create with HR73

HR73 and FoolProof have a unique opportunity: Today, in your community, every child on any device is a target for manipulation. FoolProof has the integrity and software capability to help each of those kids protect themselves. Classroom-by-classroom, school-by-school we can empower them to tackle the financial and emotional issues they relentlessly face in today’s web-driven world. 

But to accomplish this, we need a partner with vision, national reach, and integrity.

We’re hoping that partnership can be with HR73 and we hope that partnership can begin with you.

Next steps

First, bookmark this page.

Second, contact us. Simply opening a door for us in one state can change the lives of thousands of children.  

Remar Sutton

FoolProof Co-founder and Team Leader

remar.sutton@foolprooffoundation.org

404-229-5094

William Mears

The Manipulation Project Team Leader

will.mears@foolprooffoundation.org

310-923-4191

Third. Learn more about FoolProof.

 The Walter Cronkite Project drives the vision of FoolProof.         

 Review our middle school curriculum to understand FoolProof’s unique approach to teaching.

Our Kids in Poverty website focuses on economic and emotional inequality.

Fourth. Think about a donation. We would appreciate that!

Want more details? Email us and we’ll send you a footnoted copy of this article.

Since our inception, ClassACT HR73 has made it a priority to share our model with other Harvard classes and alumni groups. ClassACT chair Marion Dry, who is also a member of the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors, has been using her time as a director to share the ClassACT story with HAA leadership. On June 1, leaders from the ClassACT groups of ‘73 ‘75, ‘78 and ‘85 held an open house for reunioning classes in Sever Hall. We shared our stories with our visitors from reunioning classes and with one another while having a wonderful time together.

Click below to watch the video of the June 1 Open House, edited by Rick Brotman '73.

We are growing the movement. Would you like to help us move this along? If so, email Marion Dry with your interest/ideas and let’s talk soon!

By Jacki Swearingen and Susan Okie

Edited by Marilyn Go, Jim Harbison and Ryan O’Connell

Nevada, which helped deliver victory to Biden in 2020, now appears close to slipping from the Democrats’ grasp in the November election. The economic woes of the last several years – inflation, higher interest rates, limited housing stock – have contributed to a deep disenchantment among voters in a state where Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 2.4 points four years ago. Democrats hope their traditional success with Latino voters and their formidable “Get out the vote” machine can secure the state’s six electoral votes once again, while Republicans point to the widespread discontent as a sign that they will prevail in the fall.

Nevada voters will also make crucial choices about abortion rights and a US Senate race that could decide the control of the Senate. Legislative races will determine whether the Democrats in the state assembly and senate secure a veto-proof majority. All these far-reaching decisions by Nevadans will occur in a state where efforts at making it harder to cast a ballot as well as challenges to election results have grown since 2020.

 

The Polls That Stoke Anxiety and Hope

A spate of recent state polls has increased Democratic anxiety. Results from the Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released on April 30 gave Trump a 45% to 44% lead over Biden in a head-to-head match-up in Nevada, with 11% of voters undecided. More worrisome for Democrats was the May 15 New York Times/Siena Poll in which Trump led Biden by 12 points among registered Nevada voters. Concerns about the economy and inflation ranked at the top for Nevada voters. Sixty one percent trusted Trump to manage the economy better; only 32% preferred Biden to handle it.

“The state has been slowly shifting to the right – not just in polling but in Election Day results,” wrote John Ralston, the esteemed observer of Nevada politics last year in The Atlantic. Ralston added, “In 2020 Nevada was the only battleground state that saw worse Democratic performance compared with 2016, unless you count the more solidly red Florida.” In 2022 Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election to the US Senate by a mere 9,000 votes.

Five months from Election Day, long-time political observers caution that it is still too early to make firm predictions. Strategists on both sides would be wise to heed Ralston’s warnings about the difficulties of polling in the Silver State. Ralston points out that pollsters often underestimate the number of people they need to survey to get a representative sampling. In addition, pollsters often lack enough bilingual interviewers for a state whose population is one-third Latino.

Demographics and the Latino Vote

Most political experts agree that demographics and voter turnout in one of the nation’s fastest- growing states will play key roles in the election’s outcome.  Among Nevada’s more than 3,100,000 residents, about 46% are white and non-Hispanic and about 30% are Hispanic. Nevada’s Black population is about 11% percent and its Asian population is 9.4 percent. Native Americans make up 5.1 percent of its population. The average age for a resident is 38 years.

In recent elections Democrats have counted on strong support from Nevada’s Latino voters to lift them to victory. In 2020 about sixty percent of Latino voters cast their ballots for Biden. In 2022 a nearly identical percentage backed Sen. Cortez-Masto. However, recent polls suggest that this traditional support is eroding, particularly because of Latinos’ frustration with economic problems. Among Latino voters in Nevada polled recently in the NYT/Siena Poll, Trump led Biden by nine points.

Economic Issues Trouble Voters

For both parties, the economic issues that affect individual voters and their families – the cost of groceries, gasoline, mortgages and rent – cannot be ignored by simply touting GDP increases. Nevada’s unemployment rate of 5.1 percent is down significantly from its high of 30.6 percent during the early days of the pandemic, but it remains the highest in the nation. Gas prices hover at $4.80 per gallon, the country’s third highest, even though they have dropped nearly $2 since mid-2022. And in the nation’s worst housing crisis, home prices since 2011 have jumped six times higher than wage increases.

In Clark County, where 73 percent of the population live in or around Las Vegas, the median household income is $5,000 less than the national average. The poverty rate is almost two percent higher. Most adults work long hours for low wages in the casinos, hotels and service industries that shore up Las Vegas, the principal city. Only 26 percent of residents hold a bachelor’s degree. All these factors have helped the GOP to make inroads, particularly with voters who lack a college or high school degree.

Faced with weak poll numbers, President Joe Biden’s strategy is to point to his administration’s economic successes like job growth and affordable housing initiatives. During his time in office Nevada has gained 285,000 jobs. Biden’s 2021 American Rescue Plan provided $1 billion for affordable housing units nationwide, which his 2025 Budget would build upon with $285 million for initiatives like building new units and increasing rental assistance.

On his recent trips to Nevada, Biden touted the $3 billion allocated in the Infrastructure Bill for the Brightline Rail, the nation’s first high-speed rail, which will connect Las Vegas and Southern California. Groundbreaking for the $12 billion project, which is projected to create more than 35,000 jobs, was April 22.

In contrast, Republicans hone in on the high costs of inflation, particularly for the working poor. They echo Trump’s belief that sharply increasing the production of fossil fuels would lower the cost of gasoline and virtually everything else. Trump’s plan to lease even more public lands for oil drilling and fracking is likely to include the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, where the Trump administration in its final months auctioned off 50 square miles and triggered environmental protests.

The Reid Machine

While Democratic strategists acknowledge the impact of economic worries and border issues on Nevada voters, they remain confident that they have a better ground game in place, particularly in the two most populous counties of Clark and Washoe, the home of Reno. In these urban centers the Reid Machine, named after the late Majority Leader of the US Senate Harry Reid, has delivered victories time after time. Since 2008 the Reid Machine has helped put Nevada in the Democratic column in presidential elections, thanks largely to its partnership with the Culinary Workers Union.

The union’s more than 60,000 members cook in the kitchens and clean the hotel rooms of the flashy hotels and casinos of Las Vegas and Reno. During campaign seasons their volunteer teams register voters and inform them about candidates and issues. When elections roll around, many volunteers spread out to knock on doors and drive voters to the polls in one of the nation’s largest turnout operations.

Biden strategists are counting on this infrastructure to energize voters, particularly in Latino communities because 54 percent of union members are Hispanic. In 2022 they played a crucial role in Cortez Masto’s Senate victory. But they failed to re-elect Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, who no doubt lost votes because of the toll the pandemic took on Nevada’s hospitality industry.

An Unpredictable Election     

Adding to the unpredictability of November election results is the large percentage of the more than two million Nevada voters registered as independents. They make up 33 percent, followed by Democrats at 31 percent, and Republican voters at 28 percent.

Moreover, the specter of past voter suppression efforts compounds the uncertainty. “Nevada has a zealous election denial movement that has been a disruptive force in the past two election cycles,” a 2023 Brennan Center study reported.

Four years ago armed vigilantes stood outside the vote-counting center in Clark County, and Republicans sued unsuccessfully to halt the counting of absentee ballots. Election deniers claimed there was mass fraud across Nevada—allegations that the Secretary of State investigated and rejected. In addition, the Trump campaign attempted to get a court order to access voting machine software, but the Nevada courts denied that request. In the 2022 Senate race some local officials tried to substitute hand-counting of ballots for machine tabulation.

In this election cycle a problem that looms is the loss of nearly one-half of the state’s top election officials because of harassment and threats. Those forms of intimidation have also driven away many election workers at individual precincts who kept voting running smoothly and accurately.

This past April Trump and the Republican National Committee announced a “100,000 person strong” initiative to target election workers in Nevada and other states.

On the other hand, some developments bode well for free and fair voting in Nevada. In 2022 Democrat Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar defeated an election denier to become the Secretary of State. And over the last two years the Nevada legislature has passed additional statutory protections against voter intimidation and safeguards for absentee ballots during signature review.

Efforts to tighten requirements for voting persist in Nevada, however. In late May the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that an initiative to amend the state constitution to require voter ID can appear on the November ballot if supporters obtain the necessary 100,000 signatures by June 26. The Supreme Court is considering another case that would tighten mail-in ballot requirements, a proposal opposed by many advocacy groups for seniors and veterans.

Abortion Rights on the Ballot

The likelihood that an abortion rights referendum will be on the November ballot in Nevada has buoyed Democratic confidence in the face of unfavorable poll numbers. The referendum places abortion rights front and center and promises to increase voter turnout. Reproductive rights advocates hope that the Nevada measure will prevail in November, as have similar initiatives in six other states.

Compared with abortion laws in other U.S. states, Nevada’s can be considered middle-of-the-road. Nevada is neither among the states most protective of reproductive rights nor among the most restrictive. Abortion is permitted until 24 weeks of pregnancy have elapsed, a point at which a fetus is considered potentially viable outside the womb. Nevada allows only physicians to perform abortions, not other trained health care professionals. A shield law protects doctors who do so from being investigated by authorities in other states. Women entering an abortion clinic are legally protected from harassment or physical harm.

As in neighboring Arizona, supporters of reproductive rights in Nevada, with funding from The Nevada Reproductive Freedom PAC, have gathered signatures in favor of an ambitious ballot referendum, The Nevada Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.

The amendment would codify women’s right to abortion in Nevada. An opposing PAC, the Coalition for Parents and Children, is supporting conservative organizations as it seeks to keep the referendum off the ballot.

To place the measure onto the ballot, proponents of the constitutional amendment had to obtain 102,362 validated signatures of Nevada residents by June 26, 2024. In late May Nevada Reproductive Freedom submitted more than 200,000 signatures from all 17 counties to the Secretary of State for validation. If enough signatures are deemed valid, the measure will go on the November ballot. Even if enough voters support the amendment, they must approve it again in 2026 for it to go into effect.  

Other Consequential Races  

Adding to the high stakes in Nevada this election cycle is a US Senate race that the Cook Political Report rates a “toss-up.” Incumbent Jacky Rosen is a center-left Democrat who has garnered a bipartisan reputation during her six years in the Senate. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Rosen has a strong following among veterans, who make up 200,000 of Nevada’s population. In the most recent NYT/Siena poll, she led her  Republican opponent, Sam Brown. However, 23 percent of voters were undecided or refused to answer.

Sam Brown, who just received Donald Trump’s endorsement, nearly won the Republican nomination for US Senator in 2022. He is a former Army Captain and Purple Heart recipient who was badly burned in 2008 by the explosion of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. Brown is seeking to appeal to independent voters, and he recently switched his position on abortion rights to support the current law, which allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Despite the closeness of the presidential race in Nevada, Democrats hope to win a super-majority in the state’s legislature. If they can hold onto their current senate seats and flip one Republican district, they will achieve a two-thirds majority in the upper house, matching the one they have in the state assembly. That would allow them to override any vetoes by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardi. The governor set a state record last year for vetoing the most bills in a single session of the Nevada Legislature.

What You Can Do

Nevada has emerged not only as a key battleground state but also as the possible determinant of which party will control the US Senate. Early voting for this critical election begins Saturday, October 19 and runs through Friday, November 1. You can play a role by registering new voters and increasing voter turnout by working with the following organizations: 

1. All Voting is Local – Nevada: All Voting is Local Nevada works to protect voting access and pro-voting policies and prevent election sabotage as well as increase language access for all urban, rural and tribal voters in the state.

2. Chicanos Por La Causa Nevada – Chicanos Por La Causa Nevada works to educate voters and to get out the Latino vote, especially among infrequent voters.

3. Nevada Native Vote Project – Nevada Native Vote Project focuses on voter registration, election protection, education and data for Native American tribes in the state, which include the Paiute and the Shoshone peoples.

4.League of Women Voters of Northern Nevada – The local branch of the national League promotes voter education and voter registration.

REGISTER

To Know Our Trees: A Vital Task and Responsibility for Today and Tomorrow

Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 12-1pm ET

ClassACT HR73 is pleased to announce a ClassACTors Learn at Lunch series in Biodiversity, Climate Change and the Environment…an informal monthly zoom meeting to hear, learn from, and ask questions of members of the ClassACT Environmental Working Group and others.

This discussion, led by John Kress ‘73 Ph.D., Distinguished Scientist and Curator Emeritus, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, is aimed at helping us regain a relationship and respect for Nature through our connection to trees. Topics will include the value of trees, the ecology and evolution of trees, the diversity of trees, and the conservation of trees.

On Thursday, June 6, from 7-8:30pm EDT, the Harvard Class of 1998 and ClassACT HR73 invite you to join us for LIFE AT MIDLIFE: WHAT’S NEXT?, a special intergenerational program exploring change and meaning in midlife and beyond.

We hope that many members of both classes will join us for this special opportunity to get to know one another while learning about the challenges we all experience in life and how to consider navigating them. Changes in career, family structure, gender, and priorities can seem daunting in midlife, but they can lead to a greater sense of life well-lived.

Dr. Robert Waldinger ‘73, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, and Alexis Redding '98, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will be moderated by Michael Feferman ‘98, to begin our program and provide us with tools for informed conversation.

Drawing on questions from the 25th Reunion survey of the Class of ‘98, HR’73 classmates, Bobby Clayton, Ron Dieckmann, Anne MacKinnon, and Lindsey Straus will share personal reflections about changes they made in their lives during midlife and beyond, why they made them, and how those changes have impacted their lives.

All attending will then be invited to join breakout rooms to allow us to talk freely with one another about our own experiences, questions, and concerns.

Finally, we will come together for a few minutes at the end to share the takeaways from our rooms.

Register here