For several years Project Vote has been expanding our research, litigation, and advocacy capacity to more effectively achieve our mission of ensuring that all Americans can register, vote, and cast a ballot that counts. This week, as we return to work for the new year, I wanted to announce that political scientist Lorraine Minnite and attorney Estelle Rogers have joined Project Vote’s staff.
Lorraine C. Minnite started yesterday as Project Vote’s new Director of Research. Lori has been a long-standing friend of Project Vote; she is the author of our 2007 report The Politics of Voter Fraud, has served as a consultant on other research projects, and has just completed a term on our board of directors. For the last ten years Lori has taught American and urban politics at Barnard College, and prior to that she was the Associate Director of the Center for Urban Research and Policy at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is the author of The Myth of Voter Fraud, which will be published by Cornell University Press in June 2010, and co-author with Frances Fox Piven and Margaret Groarke of Keeping Down the Black Vote: Race and the Demobilization of American Voters (New Press, 2009). Lori holds a B.A. in History from Boston University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the City University of New York.
Also joining us as of yesterday is Estelle Rogers, who serves as our Director of Advocacy. As many of you know, Estelle has been a frequent consultant to Project Vote over the last several years, and most recently authored our report, The National Voter Registration Act at Fifteen. Prior to her work with us, Estelle was a Senior Attorney at Advancement Project and, in the 2004 cycle, was Special Counsel to the Voter Protection Project of America’s Families United. We are confident that the voting rights policy agenda will benefit from Estelle’s extensive experience in civil rights and civil liberties advocacy in Washington.
We are excited to welcome Estelle and Lori, and we’re fortunate to have their expertise and commitment as we work to achieve our policy goals in 2010 and for years to come.