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Stars from some of Broadway’s biggest musicals are virtually coming together Wednesday night to write letters to voters in key states in order to educate them on voter ID laws and deadlines ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The virtual letter-writing party will take place at 7 p.m. ET (RSVP for the event here), just two hours ahead of the start of the first primetime 2020 vice presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris.
Broadway has remained dark since New York City shut down in March, at the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic, and isn’t expected to reopen until 2021. Many stars in the live-theater industry have since lent their names and talents toward fundraising events ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
Participating stars in Wednesday’s event include Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Michael Potts, Nikki M. James, Rory O’Malley, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Darnell Abraham, Marc delaCruz, Krystal Joy Brown, Tommar Wilson, Gavin Creel, Katrina Lenk and David Hull.
The party, which promises lively entertainment, conversation and voter ID education, is hosted by VoteRiders and is specifically aimed at voters who are at risk of being disenfranchised in Florida and Wisconsin.
VoteRiders, which aims to raise awareness around the complexities of voter ID laws and help eligible voters cast their ballots state-by-state, held events in August and September that resulted in 40,000 letters being sent directly to at-risk voters in key states.
“More than 25 million voting-age Americans still do not have current, government-issued photo ID, including one in every four Black adults in this country — and 35 states do have voter ID laws,” says VoteRiders COO Shannon Anderson in a statement. “There are at least as many voters who do have the ID they need to vote but are so overwhelmed and confused by these constantly changing voter ID laws that they aren’t going to vote either unless we proactively help clarify the actual, current requirements in their state for them. We are the antidote to this confusion, especially in the face of threats of intimidation at the polls. We have to do something about it, together.”
Update: Watch the full event here.
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