Democrats of the Red Rocks (DORR), an all-volunteer organization serving Sedona, the Village of Oak Creek, the Verde Valley, and surrounding communities, is sponsoring the showing of ""Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook" at the Sedona International Film Festival’s Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Friday, October 13 at 4 pm.
The presentation of "Rigged" will be preceded by the screening of the animated short (7 minutes) "How to Rig An Election: The Racist History of the 1876 Presidential Contest", narrated by multiple award-winning actor Tom Hanks. Tickets for this special event are $12 ($9 for SIFF members). There will be a panel discussion and Q & A session following the film featuring DORR Board members.
Over the past couple of decades the political right in America has been waging what seems like a relentless war against voting rights. The film that has most recently—and most effectively—explored this attack on democracy, and which continues to this day, is the 2019 documentary, "Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook".
Narrated by actor Jeffrey Wright, "Rigged" chronicles how American’s right to vote has been attacked by decades of dirty tricks—including the partisan use of gerrymandering and voter purges, and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court. Filmed during the chaotic 2016 Presidential Election, the movie captures real-time voter purges in North Carolina and voter intimidation in Texas. The film also identifies and unpacks the 10-part strategy developed by Republicans to suppress votes that would be cast against them. “Rigged shows how the right to vote is under attack from every direction,” explain executive producers Mac Heller and Timothy Smith. “Unless we act now we will witness the slow bleed-out of our democracy.”
"How to Rig an Election", written and produced by former ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jeffrey Robinson, chronicles the story of the 1876 presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Republican Samuel Tilden, a bitter battle over 20 electoral votes with allegations of electoral fraud and voter suppression. It ended in a backroom deal in which Tilden would concede the vote to Hayes, in exchange for an agreement that Hayes would remove federal troops from the South, which effectively ended Reconstruction.
Democrats of the Red Rocks has championed voting rights since its formation in 2003. Among DORR’s events are the “DORR Breakfast,” a monthly hybrid in-person/Zoom event, featuring Sedona-area and Arizona political figures and issues, and a monthly “Zoom Film Club,” where attendees engage in lively discussion. DORR welcomes all independent-minded citizens and volunteers at its office located at 105 Roadrunner Drive, Suite 2A in West Sedona. For more information on DORR membership, programs, and events, visit www.democratsoftheredrocks.org or email at info@democratsoftheredrocks.org or call 928-212-1357.