March 3, 2022

1pm-2pm

Preemption Webinar- Preemption of Local Election Administration

This session examines state preemption of local authority to administer elections on the impact that is having in key battleground states. Following the thoroughly discredited claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, several states have implemented policies to take authority away from local election boards, restrict ballot access, redraw district maps to favor candidates of a certain party, and potentially overturn local election results. All of these changes disempower voters, particularly from urban and marginalized communities.  This session will discuss some of these trends at a national level and then engage with advocates on the ground in Texas and North Carolina to understand the real impact of this preemption.

 

Speakers: Richard Briffault, Deandrea Newsome, Luis Figueroa, and Marissa Roy

 

Richard Briffault is the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation at Columbia Law School. His work focuses on state and local government law, the law of the political process, and government ethics. He served as Chair of the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board (2014-2020); was a member of New York’s Moreland Act Commission to Investigate Public Corruption; is the Reporter for the American Law Institute’s project on Principles of Government Ethics; and is the Reporter of the Drafting Committee on Public Meetings During Emergencies of the Uniform Laws Commission. He was a member of or consultant to several New York City and State commissions, including the State Commission on Local Government Efficiency & Competitiveness, the Temporary Commission on Constitutional Revision, the Real Property Tax Reform Commission, and the New York City Charter Revision Commission. Before joining the Columbia faculty, he was assistant counsel to Governor Hugh Carey of New York. He is co-author of the texts State and Local Government Law and The New Preemption Reader, and author of Balancing Acts: The Reality Behind State Balanced Budget Requirements as well as more than seventy-five law review articles.

 

Deandrea Newsome is the North Carolina State Coordinator. Deandrea is responsible for driving all of Local Progress’s work in NC including: growing and strengthening our membership and leadership, creating and implementing an organizing strategy, identifying and implementing NC specific campaigns and supporting the work of NC members to participate in LP’s broader work. She works closely with partner organizations throughout the Tarheel State to support and collaborate with our local elected officials. Prior to joining CPD, she served as the Organizing Director of Advance Carolina, where she managed political and community campaigns in majority black counties across the state. She has worked in the North Carolina General Assembly and organized for the North Carolina Democratic Party and Common Cause. In the Durham community she spearheaded an initiative she co-founded called 2020 StartsNow and registered students on the campus of North Carolina Central University in 2018.

 

Luis Figueroa joined Every Texan in 2018 as the first Legislative and Policy Director. In this important new role, Luis oversees Every Texan’s comprehensive legislative strategy and leads our distinguished team of policy experts. He was previously General Counsel for Texas State Senator José Rodríguez and Executive Director of the Texas Senate Hispanic Caucus. Previously, he served as the Legislative Attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), where he worked from 2004 to 2013. A proud Texan from El Paso, Luis received the 2013 MALDEF Award for services performed on behalf of the Latino community in pursuit of social justice, the 2011 Champion of Equality and Justice Award from LULAC, and the 2009 Spirit of Change Award by State Rep. Joaquin Castro, among other honors. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Speech Communications with a concentration in American Politics and Law from Trinity University in San Antonio, and his Juris Doctorate from the University Of Texas School Of Law. He is licensed to practice law in the State of Texas.

 

Marissa Roy has spent her career working with local governments to engage in high-impact litigation. As a Deputy City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles, Marissa helped bring one of the Office's first large-scale workers' rights lawsuits to hold accountable port trucking companies that were classifying truck drivers as independent contractors rather than employees and deducting thousands of dollars from their wages. In addition to protecting workers' rights, Marissa worked with the City of Los Angeles and later the County of Los Angeles to challenge the Trump Administration's hostile immigration agenda, from the federal district court all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Marissa earned her J.D. from Yale Law School as well as her Master in Public Diplomacy and B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Law from the University of Southern California.