Read Freely Alabama welcomed supporters from across the state for a virtual town hall with the League of Women Voters of Alabama, focused on voting rights, voter participation, and civic engagement ahead of Alabama’s November 3 general election.

The event brought together members of the Read Freely Alabama network and the League for a practical conversation about how Alabamians can prepare to vote and participate confidently in the democratic process.

Topics included absentee voting, checking voter registration, poll monitoring, transportation, and ride-share options for getting to the polls, and other ways citizens can become more involved in the upcoming election.

Read Freely Alabama is grateful to the League of Women Voters for sharing its expertise and resources with participants and helping make the sometimes-complicated mechanics of voting easier to understand.

For those who were unable to attend live, the full town hall recording is available online.

Watch the Virtual Town Hall Recording

Connecting the Freedom to Read and Civic Participation

The town hall was about voting, but the conversation is closely connected to Read Freely Alabama’s broader work. Decisions affecting public libraries, schools, books, and access to information are made through public institutions. Understanding how those institutions work and knowing how to participate in civic life are important parts of protecting the freedom to read.

The virtual town hall is part of Beyond the Bookshelf, an ongoing Read Freely Alabama series designed to connect the fight against censorship with broader questions of civic engagement, civil rights, racial justice, and community participation.

The series is supported through a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and will include a combination of in-person and online educational events.

Through these conversations, Read Freely Alabama hopes to give participants practical information, new relationships, and greater confidence to engage with the public decisions that shape their communities. Future events will feature Read Freely Alabama coalition partners and community leaders addressing different dimensions of civic engagement and the freedom to read.

[Learn More About Beyond the Bookshelf and See Upcoming Events ]

Read Freely Alabama thanks everyone who joined the town hall and the League of Women Voters of Alabama for helping make the conversation possible. We look forward to continuing these discussions and to welcoming even more Alabamians into the Beyond the Bookshelf series in the weeks ahead.