Webinar Registration: "Managing State-Level Implications of the Electoral Count Reform Act"
Event Date & Time:
Tuesday September 26th from 1:30-2:30 EST
Title:
Managing State-Level Implications of the Electoral Count Reform Act
Designed for:
State election officials
Registration:
Click here to register. (If the time doesn’t work, request a recording at info@electionreformers.org.)
Background:
The Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) has several important implications for states, including that states may need to change some presidential election timelines and procedures to align with federal law. This issue most directly concerns state legislatures, but state election officials have an important role to play as well. Officials should update relevant state regulations and guidance documents, and they can support their legislatures in any changes to state law that may be required.
Speaker Detail:
Heather Balas brings over 25 years of experience in public policy, including policy research, citizen deliberation, legislative advocacy, voter education, and coalition-building to ERN as the Vice President of Programs. She is a senior consultant to the Carter Center, where she advises on advancing reforms to strengthen American democracy. Heather is also the previous President and Executive Director of New Mexico First, a cross-partisan public policy organization co-founded by U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici.
Previous employers include the Thornburg Foundation, where she managed a $1.2 million portfolio of good government investments, as well as the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commission on Presidential Debates, and the California Center for Civic Participation. Heather holds a master’s degree in political communication from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She is married and mother to two young adults.
Kelsey Rogers is currently the Senior Manager for State Advocacy at Campaign Legal Center, where she helps to lead the organization’s efforts to prevent election manipulation in the states. Before joining CLC, Kelsey spent seven years at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, where she helped states across the country pass meaningful gun violence prevention legislation. In her previous roles, Kelsey also worked for the communications and legal departments of Brady. She got her start in politics by running student chapters of the Obama for America campaign in 2008 and 2012. In 2013, Kelsey graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts with a B.A. in International Relations, and a focus on human rights and transitional justice.
Michael Parsons is Senior Counsel at Election Reformers Network and the Founder and Principal of Parsons Law PLLC. As a practitioner, Michael advises clients who are working to make government more representative, responsive, and responsible. He has also represented merits parties and amici in major constitutional cases implicating the law of democracy and the separation of powers, including Rucho v. Common Cause (partisan gerrymandering), Blumenthal v. Trump (emoluments), and Patchak v. Zinke (separation of powers). At Election Reformers Network, Michael provides policy guidance, strategic legal advice, legislative drafting assistance, and in-depth analysis of developments in state and federal legislation, election litigation, judicial doctrines, and emerging scholarship.