Internet Advocacy Roundtable

Protecting the Right to Vote and Empowering Voters Through Collaboration

February 14, 2012, 3:00pm – 5:00pm

About This Event

Watch the Internet Advocacy Roundtable Live

Since the 2008 election, there has been a wave of voting changes, the most burdensome of which requires voters to show government-issued photo ID in order to vote. According to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice, millions of voters may be denied the right to vote because they lack an official photo ID. Opponents of strict photo ID laws are collaborating and using social media to protect the right to vote. From online petitions to crowd-sourced apps, advocacy groups and ordinary citizens are harnessing the power of social media, including Facebook and Twitter (#VoterID), to organize opposition and raise awareness of the new voting requirements.

Panelists will provide an overview of voter ID requirements, their impact on the changing demographics of the American electorate, and the importance of messaging. There will be a demo of the Cost of Freedom App, a location-based web app that will provide voters with concise information on how to apply for a voter ID.

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Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Nicole Austin-Hillery is the first Director and Counsel of The Brennan Center’s Washington, DC office, which she opened in March 2008. In her role, Ms. Austin-Hillery oversees D.C. office operations, serves as the chief advocate for the Brennan Center on a host of justice and democracy issues and coordinates work with other civil rights, social justice and democracy organizations in D.C. Ms. Austin-Hillery is the organization’s chief liaison to Congress and the Administration. Priority areas of Ms. Austin-Hillery’s portfolio at the Brennan Center include racial and criminal justice advocacy and reform, voting rights and felon enfranchisement. In her role, Ms. Austin-Hillery has been a contributing writer to several advocacy publications, submitted testimony for Congressional hearings and has served as a speaker on a host of public interest advocacy issues.

Before beginning her career at the Brennan Center, Ms. Austin-Hillery practiced with the law firm of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC where she focused primarily on the firm's civil rights employment class action litigation practice. While there, Ms. Austin-Hillery worked on all aspects of complex employment class action litigation and outreach to the larger public-interest civil rights community. Her experience as a litigator included work on a variety of employment matters focused on race and gender including employment negotiations, pre-filing settlements, with an emphasis on both individual and programmatic relief, as well as work with federal trial courts.

Prior to joining Mehri & Skalet, Ms. Austin-Hillery was the George N. Lindsay Civil Rights Law Fellow at the national office of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C. where she worked on public housing litigation as well as policy and community development issues. During her fellowship, Ms. Austin-Hillery was a member of the Lawyers' Committee's delegation to the NGO Forum of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

In 2007, Ms. Austin-Hillery was selected as a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School. She currently serves on the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Committee and is a past-president of the Washington Council of Lawyers. Ms. Austin-Hillery is a graduate of the Howard University School of Law and Carnegie Mellon University.

 

Vanessa Cárdenas is the Director of Progress 2050, a project of American Progress which seeks to build a progressive agenda that is more inclusive of the rich racial and ethnic makeup of our nation. Prior to this position, Vanessa served as the Center's Director for Ethnic Media, where she helped elevate the organization’s profile among ethnic media outlets. Vanessa came to American Progress from the National Immigration Forum, where she worked as a policy/communications associate and outreach coordinator and helped bridge the policy, communications, and grassroots advocacy world to disseminate the Forum’s message and work. At the Forum, she participated in numerous local and national organizing and legislative campaigns including the efforts to pass immigration reform in 2006 and 2007, organizing in support of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, and the campaign to defeat Proposition 200 in Arizona.

 

Rashad Robinson serves as Executive Director of ColorOfChange, having joined the organization in May 2011. For well over a decade, Robinson has helped to mobilize communities across the country to create more inclusive cultural and political institutions. A recognized expert on how popular culture impacts American attitudes and values, he has served as a thought leader, widely sought-out speaker, strategist and leader on holding public figures accountable and utilizing media to shift public opinion concerning progressive and civil rights issues. He has appeared in hundred of news stories, interviews, and political discussions through outlets such as ABC, BET, CNN, MSNBC, OWN, The New York Times, Fast Company, and NPR. In 2010, Robinson was selected as one of "The Root 100," a list of emerging and influential African Americans. He has previously held leadership roles at GLAAD, the Right to Vote Campaign, and FairVote.

 

Faye M. Anderson, a public policy and social media consultant, focuses on the intersection of technology, public policy and civic engagement. Faye is the founder of Tracking Change Wiki, an online platform to promote accountability and engagement in the policymaking process. As a citizen journalist, Faye provides fact-based commentary and curates links to news and information that resonate with African American readers, political influentials, thought leaders and activists. Faye’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Stanford magazine, among other publications. She has a JD from Stanford Law School, a BA from the City College of New York, and a Certificate in French Proficiency from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Sénégal.

 

Alan Rosenblatt is the Associate Director for Online Advocacy at American Progress and CAP Action Fund, directing the organizations’ social media program. He is a pioneer, frequent speaker, and author on the intersection of digital media, advocacy, and politics, specializing in social media strategy. He is the founder of the Internet Advocacy Roundtable; an adjunct professor at Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and American Universities, where he teaches graduate courses on Internet politics, digital political strategies, and Internet advocacy communications; has been a contributing blogger at TechPresident.com and currently blogs at BigThink.com. DrDigiPol.Tumblr.com and occasionally at the Huffington Post; and he is a former fellow at George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy, & the Internet.

 

Eric Rodriguez is Vice President at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) where he heads NCLR’s Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation. In this capacity he leads and manages a team that oversees the institution’s legislative affairs, public policy research, policy analysis, and field advocacy work. In 2007-2008 he served as Deputy Vice President of the public policy department, and previously directed NCLR's Policy Analysis Center, a position he held for five years. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NCLR is the nation’s principal Hispanic organization, representing nearly 300 Affiliates – community-based organizations who together serve more than three million Latinos each year. In addition to providing capacity-building technical and financial assistance to its affiliates, NCLR carries out public policy advocacy on behalf of all Hispanics in the United States.

 

Erika Maye is a Communications Specialist and came to Advancement Project in October 2009. Graduating with a degree in History, Erika decided to try her hand at entrepreneurship and started her own internet-based company. After experiencing three years of success as a business owner, she joined a national restaurant chain and spent two years with them as the training and business development coordinator. She comes to Advancement Project with a passion for civil rights and racial justice issues, and she plans to go to law school in the near future.