Day Two Agenda

Opening Remarks

Secretary of State of New Mexico Maggie Toulouse Oliver will kick off Day Two with opening remarks on the importance of women's leadership at the state level.

Expert Discussion 1: Preserving Democracy: State Voting Rights Acts

Time: 3:10 - 3:35pm ET

For our first session of Day Two, we will be joined by Rebecca Mears, Director of Democracy, Center for American Progress, Candice Battiste, Campaign Strategist, Senior Community Organizer at Legal Defense Fund, and Erica Peresman, Senior Advisor at Promote the Vote for a fireside conversation on the need for State Voting Rights Acts as an effective solution to protect voters in every state. 

Expert Discussion 2: Removing Barriers to State Legislative Office with Ranked Choice Voting

Time: 3:35 - 4:15pm ET

As momentum continues to build for ranked choice voting at the local level, state-wide campaigns are happening simultaneously. Our second expert discussion of Day Two will be a panel discussion moderated by Jeanne Massey, Executive Director of FairVote Minnesota, and will feature Michelle Sparck, Director of Get Out the Native Vote, Brianna McGowan, Make All Votes Count DC, Katie Fahey, Executive Director of The People, and Michelle Whittaker, President of the RepresentWomen Board. These experts will speak to the strategies and learnings from state=level efforts to advocate for ranked choice voting in their respective states.

Expert Discussion #3: Modernizing State Legislatures: Campaign Funds for Childcare, Security, and Legislative Pay

Time: 4:15-4:50pm ET

For the final session of the day, we will have a fireside discussion led by Celinda Lake, President of Lake Research Partners, with Sarah Hague, Chief Program Officer at Vote Mama, Layla Zaidane, President & CEO of Future Caucus and Marvelous Maeze, U.S. Research Manager at RepresentWomen. Our experts will discuss the transformative solutions to remove barriers women, women of color, mothers, and young people face when running and serving in state legislatures.

Closing Remarks

We will wrap up Day Two with closing remarks from Stacey Abrams, political leader, business owner and New York Times bestselling author, on the value of women in elected office at the state level and the need for policy solutions to increase women's representation.