Get Out the Vote: Voter Rights and Voter Suppression with Kia Sims, Michael Firestone, and Martha Minow
On August 4, 2020 MCC hosted “Voter Rights and Voter Suppression,” which is part of our Get Out the Vote: Voter Mobilization and Civic Education Series.
Watch the webinar now:
University Professor Martha Minow hosted a conversation on voter rights and voter suppression with Kia Simms, an organizer with Fair Fight Action, and Michael Firestone, Chief of Staff at Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.
About the Speakers
Mike Firestone is an attorney and political organizer who leads voter protection efforts for the Biden campaign and the Democratic party in Michigan. Prior to joining the campaign, Mike was a consultant with the Voter Protection Corps, a national voter protection advocacy group and served on the states team of Senator Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign, coordinating voter contact export programs across the country. Until late 2019, Mike served as Chief of Staff to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and as an assistant attorney general. As a member of the AG's senior leadership team, Mike oversaw a wide range of legal and policy matters relating to labor, higher education, health care, energy, environmental protection, nonprofits, grants, and budget in the 500-person agency and managed communications, speech writing, and scheduling. In 2014, Mike served as Attorney General Healey's campaign manager for which he was named “Campaign Manager of the Year" by the American Association of Political Consultants. He previously served as state field director for Senator Warren in 2012 and U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen in 2008. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Martha Minow is the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University where she has taught at Harvard Law School since 1981, and served as the inaugural Morgan and Helen Chu Dean from 2009-2017. She serves on the boards of the Campaign Legal Center, the Carnegie Corporation, the MacArthur Foundation, public broadcaster WGBH, and other nonprofit organizations. President Obama nominated her and the Senate confirmed her to the post of director of the bipartisan, government-sponsored Legal Services Corporation, providing civil legal assistance to low-income Americans, where she served Vice-Chair for 9 years. Her courses at Harvard include constitutional law and technology and privacy; her books include When Should Law Forgive? (2019); and In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Constitutional Landmark (2010); She was a law clerk for Judge David Bazelon of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Kia Sims is a Georgia native who grew up in Ellenwood, Georgia. Upon high school graduation, Kia moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to attend Louisiana State University and began working as an intern in the Office of the Governor. Upon graduation, Kia joined the Louisiana Governor’s Office full time as the Faith and Community Outreach Specialist. After leaving the Governor’s Office to return home to Atlanta, Kia then joined Fair Fight Action and is now the Organizing Manager. As a member of the Organizing Team, Kia helps to manage volunteers and leads college and high school engagement initiatives.
About the Series
Get Out the Vote: Voter Mobilization and Civic Education Series at Harvard's Making Caring Common is a new, non-partisan initiative designed to enable young people to become voter mobilization leaders.