BRIEFING #6
National Briefing #2 - The Final Countdown
COMPLETED: October 30, 2024
WHAT: New data reveals voters remain significantly misinformed about key election procedures. National leaders call on reporters to adjust their approach to election-night projections. And preventing post-election political violence, while understanding potential court challenges, remains a key priority for experts and voters alike. These issues and were addressed Wednesday, October 30 during a national Election Overtime briefing, a program focused on rule-of-law clarity about close and contested races.
SPEAKERS
Ben Ginsberg, Election Law Expert and Presidential Legal Counsel
Ben Ginsberg, a nationally known political law advocate who has represented four of the last six Republican Presidential nominees, is the Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and co-chair of two nonprofits that aid election officials in enhancing confidence in American elections: the Pillars of the Community project and the Election Officials Legal Defense Network. He also served as co-chair of the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration, which produced a much-lauded report on recommendations improve U.S. elections. He appears frequently on television as an on-air commentator about the law and politics. |
Nick Pennimen, Founder and CEO, Issue One
Prior to founding Issue One, Nick was the founder and executive director of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, director of the Schuman Center for Media and Democracy, publisher of the Washington Monthly Magazine, director of the Alliance for Democracy, and an editor at various publications, including the American Prospect and the Lincoln Journal. He is coauthor of “Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy And What We Can Do About It,” published by Bloomsbury in 2016, and writes and appears regularly in various media outlets. He serves on multiple nonprofit boards, including OpenSecrets, and is a trustee of St. Lawrence University. |
Veronica Degraffenreid, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth
Veronica Degraffenreid is the senior manager of strategic partnerships in the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center. Degraffenreid previously served as the acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth. Prior to that, she spent six years as the director of election operations for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, where she managed a team of election technology and election program specialists responsible for providing training, support, and administrative oversight to the state’s one hundred county boards of elections. The program areas under her supervision included voter registration, voting processes, precinct and voting site administration, election event administration, and voting systems. She led efforts to modernize North Carolina’s aging statewide voter registration and election management system and developed the state’s first voting systems certification program.Previously, Degraffenreid was a special litigation legal assistant with the North Carolina Department of Justice for nearly 10 years, specializing in redistricting and election-related litigation. Mike Ford, Trustee, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
Mike Ford is the oldest son of President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford and serves as a Trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. He is the Associate Director of the Pro Humanitate Institute at Wake Forest University. In February 2018, Mike received the Medallion of Merit Award from the University. He serves as a lay leader at the First Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, North California. Mike holds a BA from Wake Forest University and a M.Div. from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. |
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson, Executive Director of the Election Reformers Network, will present newly released survey data on voter understanding of the rule of law in elections, as well as context around the increased attention to certification procedures in the U.S. He is the co-founder ERN, and since 2017, has led the organization’s research and advocacy programs focused on impartial election administration, independent redistricting, and election protection. Kevin draws on decades of experience supporting emerging democracies overseas and advancing reforms in the U.S. Kevin holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from Yale University. |
Heather Balas
Heather Balas, Vice President of the Election Reformers Network, will moderate the briefing and provide context on the Election Overtime legal briefing materials. She brings over 25 years of experience in public policy, including research, citizen deliberation, advocacy, and voter education. Heather is a senior consultant to the Carter Center, advising on reforms to strengthen American democracy. Heather is the previous President and Executive Director of New Mexico First, a cross-partisan public policy organization co-founded by former U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici. She holds a master’s degree in political communication from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in journalism. |