Monday, May 18, 2026 at 06:00 PM
Moultonborough Library in Moultonborough , NHOur NH Voting Laws
Women Who Vote and Open Democracy invite you to join them on Monday, May 18th at 6pm at the Moultonborough Library for an informative talk with Open Democracy Executive Director Olivia Zink.Learn the basics of our new voting laws and how to make your voice heard.
Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 06:00 PM
Franklin UU Church in Franklin, NHBird-dog training
Want to learn how to bird-dog candidates like a Pro? Join us for a training by Olivia Zink from Open Democracy on May 27 from 6 pm-7:30 pm at the Franklin Unitarian Universalist Church.
The term bird-dog comes from hunting; the bird-dog's job is to flush the birds out of the bushes and into the open. Politicians are like the birds--they try to keep their positions hidden behind vague rhetoric. Using tightly crafted questions, the successful bird-dog forces candidates to reveal their position on an issue.
Learn with us: How do we ask questions on issues of importance to the candidates who are visiting our towns? The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Franklin is hosting this training designed to explain how to strategically follow and quiz candidates about significant issues. With incomparable access to presidential candidates and the media who follow them, New Hampshire’s citizen “bird-dog” can shift the political tides of the nation. We show up at candidate appearances with honed questions that both educate onlookers and the media and elicit informative answers from the targeted candidate.
Space is limited. RSVP HERE [email protected]
Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 05:00 PM · $10.00 USD · 10 rsvps
The Amato Center for Performing Arts in Milford, NHDifferent Ships, Same Boat
Get your tickets to the June 14 production of Different Ships, Same Boat!
Different Ships, Same Boat is an interactive, multidisciplinary performance combining powerful spoken word, music and song to explore the multifaceted ways Americans risk, live, love and laugh. Unfolding through a series of chapters — each curating real world stories — MA Poet Laureate & former Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson and composer/storycatcher Guy Mendilow guide audiences with podcast-like narration, at turns humorous, poignant or poetic, over an evocative musical score. With stories from small towns, cities and ports of entry, along with music spanning lyrical American Blues and songs from older homes from which today’s Americans came (e.g. Ottoman Jews from present-day Greece and Hungary), Different Ships, Same Boat offers a stirring exploration of the joys, tensions and complexities of who we are and who we wish to be.
As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Experiment, Different Ships, Same Boat invites audiences to celebrate not only America but Americans. This is for those craving a powerful artistic performance of captivating music and stories — a moving, finely-crafted, anthology that connects audiences to American histories, perspectives, and experiences both familiar and different from their own.
Watch trailer, scenes and more HERE.
If you wish to make a payment by check, please make it payable to "COD" and mail it to:
Coalition for Open Democracy
4 Park Street, Suite 301
Concord, NH 03301Please include a list of the number of each ticket level you would like to purchase.
NOTE: All checks that are returned from the bank for any reason will be charged the bank fees.
Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 07:00 PM · 4 rsvps
ZoomOpen Democracy Book Club: Corporatocracy
In Corporatocracy, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy reveals the role corporations play in this dire state of political affairs, and explains why and how they should be held accountable by the courts, their shareholders, and citizens themselves. Drawing on key Supreme Court cases, Torres-Spelliscy explores how corporations have, more often than not, been on the wrong side of history by working to undermine democratic norms, practices, and laws. From bankrolling regressive politicians to funding ghost candidates with dark money, she shows us how corporations subvert the will of the American people, and how courts struggle to hold them and corrupt politicians accountable.
Corporations have existed far longer than democracies have. If voters, consumers, and investors are not careful, corporations may well outlive democracy. Corporatocracy brings all of these shadowy tactics to light and offers meaningful legal reforms that can strengthen and protect American democracy.Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is a professor teaching courses in Election Law, the First Amendment, Corporate Governance, Business Entities, and Constitutional Law.
Prior to joining Stetson's faculty, Professor Torres-Spelliscy was counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law where she provided guidance on the issues of money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers. She was an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP and a staffer for Senator Richard Durbin.
Available at your local book store (Hardcover 32.00, also available in audio):
Gibson's Bookstore, 45 South Main St., Concord, NH 03301 603-224-0562 Needs to be ordered
Main Street BookEnds of Warner, 16 East Main St., Warner, NH 03278 (603) 456-2700 Needs to be ordered
Toadstool Bookstores, 12 Depot St., Peterborough, NH 03458 (603) 924-3543 Needs to be ordered
Water Street Bookstore, 125 Water Street, Exeter, NH 03833 (603) 778-9731 Needs to be ordered
ISBN: 978-1479828326
ISBN-10: 1479828327
Publisher: NYU Press
Publication Date: November 5, 2024
Pages: 302Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at 06:00 PM · $55.00 USD · 11 rsvps
Derryfield Restaurant2026 Annual Meeting
We're very excited to invite you to the 2026 Annual Meeting!This year's Annual Meeting will be held on June 24, 2026 at the Derryfield Restaurant in Manchester. Doors will open at 5:30 for cocktails and mingling. Dinner will be at 6pm (be sure to email Doreen if you have dietary restrictions).
Our keynote speaker will be Marina Pino from the Brennan Center for Justice. The Brennan Center for Justice works with NYU law school faculty and students to uphold the American ideals of democracy and equal justice for all. With offices in New York and Washington, the Center draws on the energy and skills of its students and faculty, and is a highly valued and a reliable partner of Open Democracy.
Marina serves as counsel in the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program, focusing on issues related to money in politics, election administration, and election security. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, she served as a legal fellow with the Fair Elections Center in Washington, DC and a law clerk for Judge Gershwin A. Drain of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.We will also present awards and elect officers for both Open Democracy and Open Democracy Action.
You won't want to miss this special event!
Tickets are $55 each, in advance, $60 at the door. Please use link below.
Please CLICK HERE for $30 student/youth option.
We invite you to become a sponsor. All sponsors will be listed in the program book. Please CLICK HERE for sponsor levels.
If you are unable to attend, please consider donating a ticket. And as always, if cost is a barrier to your attending, please email Doreen for details on receiving a donated ticket.
Saturday, August 01, 2026 at 12:00 PM · 5 rsvps
Putnam Park in Peterborough, NH2026 Democracy Festival
SAVE THE DATE!
Planning for the 4th Annual 2026 Granny D Walk and Democracy has begun! It will be August 1, 2026. The walk will begin at 9 am near Granny D's former home on Cobb Meadow Rd in Dublin and will cover approximately 6.2 miles to Putnam Park in Peterborough for an afternoon of celebrating democracy with music, speakers, entertainment for the kids, food and CAKE!
Donations are gratefully accepted to help pay for the festival. You can make a tax deductible donation HERE.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 07:00 PM
ZoomOpen Democracy Book Club: Love and Democracy
Join Open Democracy Book Club on September 15 at 7pm Eastern as we welcome Dennis Michael Burke and his newest book Love and Democracy, to the Book Club for conversations and Q&A!Political organizer, strategist and writer Dennis Michael Burke, who originated the first I Voted stickers now used nationally and has won important campaign finance and gerrymandering reforms via ballot issues, describes his remarkable road adventures with heroes of American democracy, most notably Doris "Granny D" Haddock, the 90-year-old New Hampshire woman who walked across the US to successfully advance McCain's campaign finance reform bill. The Gandhi-inspired efforts of Haddock and others helped teach Burke how to win against the political Far Right—lessons he shares in these stories.
Dennis has pursued remarkable stories from interesting people worldwide—from bank robbers to the president of the World Bank, and from the Congo to his own Arizona. He has been published multiple times by Random House, Little Brown, and other publishers. Burke’s first two historical fiction novels, Diary of the Tiger Woman, set in 1922 Los Angeles, and A Place for Our Rain, set in the Southwest of 1911, arise from the real stories of his family’s deep history in the American Southwest.
The book is available from local booksellers, but you can order it directly from us! Click HERE for purchase options.