Nov 03, 2022 - 08:00am
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This course can be claimed as 1 hour of self-study CLE credit with the State Bar of Texas. Self-study is optional and 3 of your total 15 hours can be completed in the form of self-study activities. Contact your State Bar with any questions.
This program was a timely discussion before Election Day on November 8. During this conversation, Liz Avore of the Voting Rights Lab discussed her pathway to advocating for better voting laws. She highlighted current legislative efforts to address voting issues. She especially highlighted policies that restrict or expand voting access, which creates an atmosphere where one’s zip code determines their ability to cast a ballot. She also highlighted policies that interfere with the nonpartisan administration of our elections, which could sow broad distrust in U.S. elections. (The Voting Rights Lab is a nonpartisan organization accelerating the movement for free and fair elections through expert analysis, research, and innovations. They track election-related legislation and current law in all 50 states and D.C.) Mimi Marziani, President of the Texas Civil Rights Project, moderated this discussion.
About the Speaker:
Liz Avore is Senior Policy Advisor at Voting Rights Lab, and is a leading national expert on election legislation and policy development. With a particular focus on policy that impacts voter access and election administration, her analysis has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, NPR, and a number of other national and state-based outlets. She previously served as the Managing Director for Law and Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, where she built the policy department for the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country; as Assistant Attorney General for the country of Palau; and as an associate at Greenberg Traurig. Liz has a J.D. from Duke University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.
About the Moderator:
Mimi Marziani is the President of the Texas Civil Rights Project, a position she assumed in 2016 at the age of 33. She has an extensive background in civil rights advocacy, nonprofit management, and Texas politics, and is a nationally recognized expert in voting rights and election law. As such, Ms. Marziani is regularly featured in the press, in a variety of public forums, and before the U.S. Congress and other governmental bodies. She is also a teacher and mentor for young lawyers, serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law and on the NYU School of Law Board of Trustees. In 2020, she was recognized with an “Austin Under 40” award.
Prior to TCRP, Ms. Marziani led voting rights efforts for political organizations, including running the first coordinated, statewide voter protection program for progressive candidates in Texas in 2014. Ms. Marziani has also worked as Counsel for the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice in New York City, where she litigated voting rights cases across the country, and as an associate of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
Ms. Marziani graduated cum laude from NYU School of Law, and clerked for the honorable James C. Francis, a U.S. magistrate judge for the Southern District of New York. She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Vanderbilt University.