Oct. 26, 2023
Trotter Multicultural Center’s Trotter Distinguished Leadership Series (TDLS) kicked off on Oct. 25 with a discussion on voting access. TDLS is a donor-funded programming series that invites speakers from the political and public service sectors to increase healthy discourse among the U-M community. Our first event of the year was a partnership with Turn Up Turnout, a nonpartisan organization that works with students, faculty and staff to increase voter registration.
Nick Martens, a member of Turn Up Turnout, provided a presentation that covered what voting districts are, focusing his talk on congressional districts. This breakdown showcased the depth of the American political system and demonstrated the importance of participating in the political sphere. Martens also provided attendees with a crash course on voting, including information on how to register to vote or how to verify the district in which individuals are registered to vote. Turn Up Turnout also offered attendees the chance to register to vote right at the event.
“College is one of the first times that students are on their own and voting in elections,” said one attendee. “These are big decisions and it’s important for us to be informed.”
The evening’s featured speaker was Dr. Jowei Chen. Dr. Chen is a U-M faculty member in the Department of Political Science. His research spans redistricting, political geography, distributive politics and executive agencies. His research has also examined the partisan and racial effects of redistricting maps and the effect of political geography on redistricting outcomes.
Dr. Chen’s presentation explained what partisan gerrymandering is as well as how it affects the political system. He also drew from his own personal research and legal cases he has worked on to further demonstrate the issues partisan gerrymandering can present. One lawsuit he worked on was with the state of North Carolina, where Dr. Chen was called to produce district borders for the state that were free of partisan gerrymandering using computer simulations.
“Redistricting is so deep in our political system,” said Dr. Chen. “It doesn't just affect which political party controls our state governments; it goes beyond that. It affects every level of government and very much shapes what the next generation of government will be.”
Dr. Chen said he was extremely pleased with and encouraged by the engagement students were having with his presentation.
“I’m so thrilled that everyone who came here had such great questions and wanted to learn more,” he said. “It was so gratifying to see that, and it was great to connect with the students.”