Speakers include: Emmet J. Bondurant II, Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Melody Stewart and David Yost

Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law will convene leading voting rights scholars, advocates, and policy makers this fall to discuss key election law issues in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election and 2020 Census.

The conference, “Election Integrity in a Time of Political Polarization: Gerrymandering, Redistricting Commissions and the 2020 Census/Citizenship Question,” will highlight several key areas of election law that have a significant impact on voting outcomes. The conference will be held on Friday October 4, from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

“This conference will occur at a critical time,” says Cleveland-Marshall Professor Brian Glassman, a principal organizer of the event. “The United States Supreme Court issued decisions in both the gerrymandering and census question cases at the end of the spring term, in June 2019. Given the political polarization to which the title of the conference refers, the outcome of the upcoming election will likely have important consequences for years to come.”

The conference will include remarks by Emmet J. Bondurant II, a prominent voting rights attorney and a lawyer on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Wesberry v. Sanders; Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Esq., former campaign chair for Stacey Abrams for Governor of Georgia and legal counsel for Fair Fight Action; and Justice Melody Stewart, a Cleveland-Marshall alumna and the first African-American woman elected to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The conference will also feature panel discussions focused on partisan gerrymandering, the effectiveness of redistricting commissions, and the 2020 census citizenship question. Participants will include David Yost, Attorney General of Ohio, Freda Levenson, Legal Director for ACLU of Ohio, Jen Miller, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, and Michael Meuti, former deputy solicitor for the State of Ohio.

“The Cleveland Marshall College of Law is dedicated to the motto ‘learn law, live justice,’” adds Lee Fisher, Dean of Cleveland-Marshall. “This conference is a perfect example of how the College seeks to enhance understanding of the critical legal issues impacting society and the role members of the legal profession, practicing attorneys and law students alike, can play in improving justice for all.”

The conference is presented in partnership with the ACLU of Ohio and the Cleveland-Marshall Law Alumni Association. To learn more about the conference or to register, visit https://www.law.csuohio.edu/newsevents/events/2019100408305395.

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