VOTING MATTERS
““The 15th Amendment protects citizens’ right to vote, but having a right does not guarantee you will be able to use it. A new documentary directed by Dawn Porter profiles the state by state difficulties set in place to cast a vote.” ”
More than 50 years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most extensive pieces of civil rights legislation, people of color across the United States still are engaged in a battle to protect their right to vote. This short documentary directed by Dawn Porter follows one dynamic woman working tirelessly on the ground and in the courts to ensure that they are not denied this right.
The film follows attorney Donita Judge, an advocate for voting rights, on Election Day 2016, as she troubleshoots claims of voting irregularities in Columbus, Ohio. In recent years, no president has ever won national office without winning Ohio, making it a crucial swing state. As Judge crisscrosses the city to support poll workers and citizens, we see how new voting restrictions such as ID laws affect the ability of people on the ground to vote.
Voting Matters was part of the 2018 Meet the Press Film Festival, presented in partnership with the American Film Institute, that focused on midterm election issues.
The film was funded by a grant from Glassbreaker Films and the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation. It’s available to watch on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and broadcast on several PBS stations stations in 2018.