Participants had the option of participating in four different strategy sessions that were outcome-oriented and participatory in their design. Participants were encouraged to engage in the session that best reflected their interest and type of legal/policy/community work.

Option I: Civic and Electoral Engagement (Room 244)

This strategy session addressed the civic and electoral participation of communities of color in local, state, and federal elections. Participants were charged with discussing the following issues: low-voter registration and electoral participation of voters of color, the political mobilization of immigrant communities, and strategies to increase civic and electoral participation.

Facilitator: Lisa Garcia Bedolla, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California Berkeley

Option II: Policy and Advocacy (Room 141)

This strategy session discussed how electoral policies and practices are reformed through public policy. Facilitators touched on: state statutes (same day voter registration, voter identification laws, early voting), redistricting reforms (state commissions and statutes), state voting rights statutory frameworks (California Voting Rights Act), and the role of elected officials in the facilitation of elections, particularly the role of Secretaries of State. Participants were charged with sharing anecdotal observations on how state election laws and practices implicated communities of color, how advocates worked to develop equitable election procedures, and how advocacy and policy can shape equitable outcomes in the democratic participation of communities of color.

Facilitators: Joanna Cuevas Ingram, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area & Juan Carlos Ibarra, Staff Attorney, Advancement Project

Option III: Litigation Strategies (Room 107)

This strategy session described a variety of litigation strategies in the protection and expansion of voting rights for people of color. Facilitators described voting rights litigation strategies under Sections 2 & 5 of the VRA, the California Voting Rights Act, and the Fourteenth Amendment. Participants were charged with discussing the role of affirmative litigation versus defending voting rights statutory frameworks, the role of various models of lawyering, particularly impact litigation and community lawyering in the context of voting rights, and the burden-shifting schemes under different voting rights regimes.

Facilitators: Nicholas Espiritu, National Staff Attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) & Mike Baller, Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardian

Option IV: Legal Scholarship & Theory (Room 111)

This strategy session explored the theoretical underpinnings of voting rights jurisprudence as it relates to protecting the rights of communities of color to participate equally in the political process and elect their candidates of choice. The legal approach that was effective when black-white relations and de jure discrimination were the dominant paradigms requires retooling in the consideration of racial equity in the twenty-first century. Facilitators discussed how changes in ethnic/racial stratification implicate the discriminatory purpose/intent standard, how the Gingles v. Thornburg, 478 U.S. 30 (1986) preconditions complicate vote dilution cases, the value of theories surrounding cultural compactness, and the viability of coalition-districts. Participants were charged with engaging in a discussion of discriminatory purpose/intent, inter/cross-ethnic relations (cultural compactness), and how to replace the black-white paradigm of race relations with a more culturally appropriate legal framework.

Facilitators: Janai S. Nelson, Associate Professor of Law, St. John's University & Guy-Uriel Charles, Charles S. Rhyne Professor of Law, Duke University