Three New Voting/Election Professionals Join the U.S. Vote Foundation Advisory Board

US Vote is pleased to announce Ms. Marcia Blanco-Johnson, Ms. Dana Chisnell and Ms. Clarissa Martínez-De-Castro as new members of our Advisory Board. These three seasoned voting and elections professionals will contribute strongly to US Vote’s mission and direction as we aim to further solidify our brand, conquer new ground, and make voting important and accessible to all US citizens. All are experts in their respective areas and have played important roles in areas of voting and public advocacy.

Here is a bit about our new members:  

Marcia Blanco-Johnson is the Co-director of the Lawyers' Committee's Voting Rights Project. She manages the Project's programmatic and advocacy portfolios which include leading Election Protection, the nation's largest non-partisan voter protection program, overseeing the work of the National Commission on Voting Rights, promoting election reform, ensuring minority participation in the redistricting process and ensuring that those with felony convictions regain their right to vote. Marcia is a recognized voting rights expert who has participated in countless voting rights discussions at conferences and in the media.  She also coordinates the Lawyers’ Committee's international human rights initiatives.

Dana Chisnell is an elections and user experience research specialist who has trained thousands of people, including government workers, to test their design. Currently she is a design research consultant at the White House for the United States Digital Service. She helps teams at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and at Veterans’ Affairs to create better customer experiences. Chisnell is a co-founder of the Center for Civic Design and a visiting scientist in political science at MIT. She is the lead researcher on The Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent. The Field Guides are designed to be quick, easy, and accessible help for local election officials to do the best possible design.

Clarissa Martínez-De-Castro is Deputy Vice President at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) where she leads and manages NCLR’s Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation (ORAL).  Ms. Martínez-De-Castro oversees the organization’s work to advance fair and effective immigration policies and efforts to expand Latino policy advocacy and electoral participation.  She is a frequent commentator on the Latino electorate and immigration issues on television, radio and print media, including CNN, Telemundo, The Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, and other major news outlets. In 2007, Ms. Martínez-De-Castro served as manager of the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, a multi-sector network of national, state, and local organizations committed to advancing policy solutions on immigration.