No matter what candidates locals will be casting their votes for in November, the process itself is an underrated uniting force, prompting the Santa Monica City Clerk’s Office to hone in on the shared action.
Beginning Saturday at 9am in the Santa Monica Main Library Multipurpose Room, the office will host "Loving Democracy: Why We Vote," a non-political community discussion and workshop to highlight the importance of democracy and voting. The event includes not only discussions, but fun activities for all ages, such as participation in a TikTok dance challenge and a mock election modeled after November’s City Council race.
City Clerk Nikima Newsome, who was appointed to the position in July after five years in the Clerk’s Office, said the event was born out of a speech California Secretary of State Shirley Weber gave at a Clerk’s conference last year. Weber spoke to Newsome and her constituents about how people "talk about the importance of voting, but they don’t talk about why they actually vote."
"It just kind of sparked some thoughts in my head, [it] made me think about my story and why I got involved in politics or government, and my interest in voting, which started at a very young age," Newsome said. "So I just thought it would make a really cool conversation to have with members of the public, because we get so caught up in who we’re voting for and this and that. But sometimes it’s just nice to hear about [the] commonality amongst us, regardless of what side we may fall on."
For the mock election, event participants will be choosing amongst 10 different animals as makeshift candidates, voting for four of them much like how voters will choose four of 10 City Council candidates on November 5. The lighthearted exercise is meant to not only inform about how voting works, but also increase passion amongst younger generations that have gone through what Newsome calls "disenfranchisement."
Also involved in the event will be The League of Women Voters, Vice Mayor Lana Negrete, Weber via video message and representatives from Los Angeles County demonstrating ballot-marking devices. The County will also be holding recruitment for election workers, specifically those who are bilingual.
"It’s not just Spanish … [there are] very rare languages that are representative of our community, so the County has been asking us for help and soliciting people who are fluent in these other languages to assist voters in the voting process," Newsome said of the recruitment.
The clerk emphasized that the event is meant to be a connecting one, a day to separate locals from the "camps" of their preferred candidates.
"I think at the end of the day, we all participate in this exercise [for] personal reasons, our personal stories [and] we’ll find that we’re linked together in those personal reasons for why we go out to do it … there’s more that unites us than divides us, and I think that’s what I’d like for us to understand," Newsome said. "As many differences as we may have, we’re all united for this general purpose."
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thomas@smdp.com
