On Feb. 27, students, faculty and community members attended Use Your Voice, an event to inspire local and national civic engagement. Panelists were local staffers ranging from politicians to a counselor at California State University, Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) Personal Growth and Counseling Center.
The four panelists were:
- Kathy Biala: Marina City Council, Coalition for Asian Justice
- Steven Goings (Quazar), Counselor at Personal Growth and Counseling, NCBI Coordinator
- Chris Lopez, Monterey County District 3 Supervisor
- Lyndon Tarver, President of the NAACP Monterey County
Ahead of the Presidential Primary Election on Tuesday, March 5, the panelists answered questions regarding representation, the importance of voting and how to remain cautious when it comes to misinformation around elections. Around CSUMB’s campus are voting boxes for students to drop off their ballots. The official presidential election will be Nov. 5.
Speaking to about 50 attendees, each panelist provided personal and diverse answers to the moderator’s four questions. All the speakers were Monterey County locals and mostly provided local examples to support their ideas and emphasize the importance of civic engagement.
After Lopez won his election and went on a tour around District 3, he visited local elementary schools and asked the students what they thought needed improvement in their community. While visiting San Lucas, a town that had non-drinkable water, Lopez expected the students to ask for clean water.
He prompted the students to write him letters about what they wanted and said “I think it was the first or second letter that made me cry. Every other letter had me in tears. Unexpectedly, [what they asked for] was sidewalks.”
Lopez considered this, listening to the stories from these children explaining that they couldn’t walk to school when it rains because the ground becomes muddy, and they don’t have an adequate sidewalk.
Now, San Lucas has sidewalks that community members contributed to paving and students can walk to school. While the water is still an issue, change is evident in this community. Solar-powered street lights were also recently installed for safety, after kids explained that they couldn’t play outside at night because it was too dark out.
A similar story was told by Biala, who rallied a committee to ensure a candidate, that she alleged was racist, didn’t get reelected for a third consecutive, four-year term. “As a person of color, I had to do something,” said Biala. Many of Biala’s talking points included encouraging people of color to vote as there is often a lower percentage of Black, Indigenous, people of color voters than white voters.
“Voting is about choosing the policies and policymakers that you wish to support,” said Goings. Goings referred to this as the popular idea, but noted that many individuals feel their vote doesn’t matter. People often think politicians don’t listen to their communities regardless of the way they vote, but Lopez’s story confirms that civic engagement can inspire change.
Almost every person in the audience raised their hands when asked if they were registered to vote, but Tarver noticed the ratio of women to men in the audience was unequal, encouraging everyone to bring their male counterparts (as they typically vote less than women do) to the polls or someone who isn’t very civically engaged.
Another topic that was discussed throughout the entire panel, was combating misinformation surrounding elections. Lopez put it simply, “Vote under the influence of information.” Voters shouldn’t just read headlines and make their decisions based on one sentence.
“Folks will spoof, provide misinformation, disinformation, anything to trick you,” said Lyndon Tarver. “You must be astute and read everything, especially when you’re dealing with elections.”