Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are co-chairing a national event this month, aiming to promote the protection of voting rights in the United States.

The event, titled “The National Nonpartisan Conversation on Voter Rights,” is set to take place in Denver from Oct. 21 to Oct. 23, Hancock’s office said. It will feature mayors, legislators, county clerks, election administrators and community leaders from across the country.

Hancock said the goal of the event is to develop a framework to implement national strategies for protecting voter rights, including ending gerrymandering, ensuring safe access to the ballot and preventing efforts to diminish voter access.

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“There is nothing more foundational to our democracy in the United States than the free exercise of the right and access to vote,” Hancock said. “That’s why (we) are coming together to have this conversation and express to our national leadership a path forward that secures the foundational right of every American.”

Lightfoot said the event was inspired by recent bills to restrict voter access through methods like shortening the deadline and application window for mail-in ballots, reducing the number of drop boxes and polling places and banning providing snacks and water for voters waiting in line.

In 2021, voting restrictions like those were introduced in more than 400 bills across 49 states — 18 of which have already enacted the provisions, according to data from Hancock’s office.

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“Across the country we are seeing a wave of voter suppression bills being signed into law which threaten the very foundation of our democracy,” Lightfoot said. “As we call upon Congress to protect voter rights, local leaders and stakeholders must also swiftly and strongly address these issues.”

So far the event has received public support from mayors in Texas, Ohio, Missouri, Arizona, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and California. Other notable supporters include Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the Democratic Mayors Association and the African American Mayors Association.

The speakers and panel line-up for the event are expected to be announced in the coming days and weeks at denvergov.org/VoterRightsDenver.