Voting in the Wake of Natural Disasters & Major Disruptions
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
AMERICAN LEGION POST 1111 | TAMPA, FL
PROGRAM OF EVENTS
5:30 PM
Doors Open
6:00 PM
Welcome & Acknowledgements
6:05 PM
Helene & Milton Rememberance
7:20 PM
Open Q&A
6:15 PM
7:45 PM
Vet the Vote Spotlight
7:55 PM
Closing Remarks
CHRIS HOLLINS
Chris Hollins is a native Houstonian who has served as Houston City Controller since January 2024.As the independently elected Chief Financial Officer of the nation’s fourth-largest city, Controller Hollins provides oversight of a budget exceeding $6 billion and manages the City’s $6 billion investment and $14 billion debt portfolios. Hollins is deeply committed to transparency, fiscal responsibility, and results-driven operations, using his office’s auditing authority to bring new ideas and best practices to City departments that result in cost savings and a higher standard of service to Houston residents. Prior to his service as City Controller, Hollins led the 2020 elections effort in Harris County as County Clerk, gaining national acclaim for protecting and expanding voting rights for 2.5 million Houston-area voters during the most important election of our lifetime. Hollins’s innovations – which included drive-thru voting, 24-hour voting, online mail ballot tracking, and tripling the number of early voting centers – led to eye-popping record voter turnout despite the ongoing global pandemic.Hollins and his wife, Morgan, live in Houston’s Third Ward with their daughter, Vivian, and their son, George.Houston City Controller
CHRISTOPHER MCGINN, PHD
Christopher McGinn is a Professor in the Department of Environmental, Earth, and Geospatial Sciences at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, North Carolina, where he has served on the faculty since 2014. He holds a B.S. in Geography from East Carolina University (2000), as well as an M.A. in Applied Geography (2005) and a Ph.D. in Geography (2012) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.Dr. McGinn’s academic and research expertise spans political geography, electoral spatial analysis, geospatial technologies, and food security. His published work covers topics such as the statistical analysis of COVID-19 and by-mail voting, rural food insecurity, and evaluations of digital geospatial data sources. Over his career, he has served as a Principal Investigator and Co-PI on multiple major research and capacity-building grants funded by federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and the USDA.In addition to his research, Dr. McGinn has served as the Executive Director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, where he has overseen the growth of the association to over 700 members representing 229 of the 254 counties in Texas. Dr. McGinn has served on numerous panels and delivered numerous invited presentations nationwide on election administration, ballot dynamics, and GIS applications. He is a Certified Elections Registration Administrator and an active member of professional associations like the Association of American Geographers (AAG).Texas Association of County Election Officials
ESTHER CARDENAS
Chief Deputy of the Harris County Clerk's Office
Navy Veteran SpouseEsther Cardenas serves as Chief Deputy of the Harris County Clerk’s Office, which serves the third-largest county in the nation and the largest county in Texas, with a population of more than 4.9 million. She is the second woman and first Latina to serve as Chief Deputy and has built a public service career spanning more than two decades.
Her career with the Harris County Clerk’s Office began in 2005 as an administrative receptionist and worked her way up through a variety of roles with increasing levels of responsibility, including serving as Executive Assistant to County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth. In 2024, she was promoted to Chief Deputy.
In her current role, she helps oversee the operations of the County Clerk’s Office, including elections and the recording and maintenance of records for Commissioners Court, Probate Courts, County Civil Courts at Law, and other vital and official records. Since becoming Chief Deputy, she has worked closely with County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and the elections team to successfully conduct numerous elections.
Jennifer Ballard
Jennifer Ballard serves as Advisor of Election Operations to the Harris County Clerk, bringing more than three decades of experience in election administration and operations.
She began her career with the County Clerk’s Elections Department in 1992 in Ballot by Mail, became Supervisor of Ballot by Mail in 1996, and was named Assistant Administrator of Elections in 2019.
Throughout her career, Jennifer has helped advance innovative election initiatives. In 2006, she helped NASA develop the process used for voting in space, including Harris County’s first ballot transmitted to space. She has also collaborated with the Federal Voting Assistance Program and the United States Postal Service on military and overseas ballot tracking and led an effort that contributed to a change in Texas legislation regarding electronic signature verification for the Early Voting Ballot Board.
Jennifer has firsthand experience managing elections through tropical storms, hurricanes, and the loss of voting equipment following a fire. After retiring in 2021, she returned to the Harris County Clerk’s Office in 2023.
Today, Jennifer brings extensive expertise in election operations, emergency preparedness, and election continuity, along with a steadfast commitment to ensuring elections remain accessible, secure, and resilient.Harris County Clerk's Office
Dr. Melissa Marshall
Professor Marschall's research and teaching focuses on local elections, urban politics, educational policy, political behavior, and representation, mostly in the U.S., but also in Turkey. She is currently PI of the New Voter Project and Co-PI of “A Study of Election Timing and Its Consequences in Houston,” (with Zoltan Hajnal, UCSD), both of which are funded by the Houston Endowment. Her book, Choosing Schools: Consumer Choice and the Quality of American Schools (coauthored with Mark Schneider and Paul Teske) was recipient of the Policy Studies Association Aaron Wildavsky Award for the Best Policy Book in 2000-2001. Her research has appeared in such journals as American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Educational Policy, Political Behavior, Social Science Quarterly, and Urban Affairs Review. Professor Marschall also created and directs the Urban Lab program and has taught courses on urban politics, education policy, social policy, comparative urban politics & policy, and research methods.Rice University