The Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) at Reed College hosted a second webinar on October 27th, 2021 sponsored by the Stewards of Democracy Initiative (SDI). The webinar, titled “Stewards of Democracy Initiative: Adaptation, Adjustment, and Learning from the 2020 Election, was attended by 70 election community stakeholders including academic researchers, state and local election officials, nonprofit representatives, election technology providers, and the media.
SDI is a multi-pronged collaborative research effort of EVIC consisting of webinar conversations, a cross-sector book publication, and a research convening of election science-focused academic researchers, local election official practitioners, and other election community stakeholders.
There has been a burst of interest in election administration since the 2020 election. Thus, our second SDI webinar brought together election officials and election science researchers to discuss ways to adapt, adjust, and learn from the key challenges of 2020, while looking ahead to 2022. Reed College political science professor and EVIC Director Paul Gronke kicked off this event and introduced the following two panels:
- The Challenges of Off-year Elections and Communicating State Election Legislation Changes to Voters
- How to Minimize Turnover, Broaden Appeal, and Diversify the Workforce of Local Election Officials
Paul Gronke and EVIC Research Director Paul Manson wrapped up the event with an interactive session for the webinar attendees to provide feedback on upcoming events and surveys.
Paul Gronke began the discussion of the initiative, followed by two panels led by the SDI track leaders:
- Bridgett King of Auburn University
- David Kimball of the University of Missouri, St. Louis
- Mara Suttmann-Lea of Connecticut College
- Lia Merivaki of Mississippi State University.
Panel participants included the following local election officials:
- Lynn Bailey, Executive Director Richmond County Board of Elections, GA
- Hon. Barb Byrum, Ingham County Clerk, MI
- Hon. Brian Corley, MPA, Supervisor of Elections, Pasco County, FL
- Cathy Darling Allen, Registrar of Voters and County Clerk, Shasta County, CA.
SDI is made possible by the generous support of the Democracy Fund, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab, and the University of Southern California Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy.
To view the agenda and list of participants, click here. If you have any questions or are interested in getting involved in the initiative, please contact EVIC’s senior program advisor, Michelle Shafer at shaferm@reed.edu.
