Advisors and other friends

Advisory Committee

Our advisory committee includes some of the smartest people we know, who can help us think about aspects of elections outside of our expertise.

Norelys R. Consuegra
Deputy Director of  Elections for Rhode Island

Photo of Norelys ConsuegraNorelys, a native Rhode Islander, is Deputy Director of Elections for RI Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1996 and completed her master’s degree in International Relations from Salve Regina University in 2012. Prior to her work in elections, she worked for US Senator Jack Reed, as a Senate Aide for 20 years.  Norelys is the recipient of the Ralph Gabellieri Service Award by Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island, has been recognized as a Diversity Ambassador by the State of Rhode Island, was awarded the Extraordinary Women Award for community work, received recognition from RI Latino Public Radio, the National Archives and Records Administration and Telemundo Providence for her collaborating work in the community, among other community recognition. She has received numerous commendation letters from Rhode Islanders thanking her for her service and assistance.

In addition to her full-time employment, she is an Adjunct Professor in the Public Administration Program at University College at Roger Williams University. She has been very involved in community service as a member of the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund, serving as Program Coordinator for the RI Latina Leadership Institute (LLI), Secretary for the Pawtucket Youth Soccer Association, among volunteering with many Rhode Island organizations. Her most recent appointments are as an Advisor with the Center for Technology & Civic Life (CTCL) and with the Center for Civic Design (CCD). She is an avid advocate for communities of color, the immigrant community, the LGBTQ community and enjoys teaching others about the importance of civic engagement. She makes her home in Johnston with her husband Salvador and three sons, Gabriel (18), Ashten (9) and Tristen (2).

Kathay Feng
Common Cause

Photo of KathayKathay Feng is Executive Director of California Common Cause and National Redistricting Director. She helped spearhead California Common Cause’s successful effort to create an independent citizens redistricting commission; the state’s program has become a national model. Kathay has also led efforts that secured passage of California laws bringing online voter registration and same day registration to the state and works on California’s election  protection efforts, assisting and independently monitoring elections throughout the state.

Kathay has been an activist and civil rights attorney in California for more than 15 years. Before joining Common Cause in 2005, she headed the Voting Rights and Anti-Discrimination Unit at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. She helped the center secure key voting rights, anti-hate crime, language rights and consumer rights laws while also working on high profile hate crimes cases, civil liberties advocacy, and election monitoring and polling. She has served on numerous boards including the California Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Voter Participation and Outreach, the LA County Human Relations Commission, and the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. She is a graduate of Cornell University, and holds a law degree from UCLA School of Law.

Joseph Lorenzo Hall
Senior VP, Strong Internet, Internet Society

Photo of Joe HallJoseph Lorenzo Hall is the Senior Vice President for a Strong Internet at the Internet Society (ISOC), a global non-profit organization dedicated to an open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet for everyone.  Hall leads ISOC’s Strong Internet portfolio and provides substantive technical and policy expertise to ISOC’s programs.

Prior to joining ISOC in 2019, Hall was the Chief Technologist and Director of the Internet Architecture project at the Center for Democracy & Technology. He holds master’s degrees in astrophysics and information systems from UC Berkeley and was a founding member of the National Science Foundation’s ACCURATE Center (A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable and Transparent Elections).

Hall has served as an expert on independent teams invited by the States of California, Ohio and Maryland to analyze legal, privacy, security, usability and economic aspects of voting systems. Hall is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the California Voter Foundation, a member of the Board of Directors of the Verified Voting Foundation and a member of technical advisory boards to the Los Angeles County’s Open Technology Advisory Group, the Electronic Registration Information Center, TechCongress, and VotingWorks. In 2012, Hall received the John Gideon Memorial Award from the Election Verification Network for contributions to election verification. In 2017, Hall was part of a team that received the Researcher Award at the 2017 O’Reilly Security Defender Awards in recognition of the team’s dedication and innovative contributions to election security for organizing the first Voting Machine Hacking Village at DEFCON 25.

Publications and Projects

Ricky Hatch, CPA, CPO
Weber County Clerk/Auditor (Utah)

Photo of Ricky HatchRicky is the County Clerk/Auditor for Weber County, Utah.  After graduating with honors from Brigham Young University with a Master’s degree in Accounting, he worked for seven years as an information systems auditor and consultant for in Los Angeles and Warsaw, Poland. He worked as a business analyst and project manager in Munich, Germany, and Boston. In 2002, he established, ran, and taught at a private K-12 school in Ogden, Utah, later becoming CFO and COO of a chain of private schools throughout the western U.S.

In 2003, Ricky decided to be more involved in government than just as an informed voter and has served in various capacities ever since, eventually being elected in 2010.  He was Utah’s County Clerk of the Year in 2015 and County Auditor of the Year in 2013 and 2017.

He is a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) and chairs its Communications working group.  He serves on the Board of Advisors for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.  He testified before Congress regarding election cybersecurity.  He serves as First Vice President of the Utah Association of Counties and chairs the Utah Clerk’s Legislative Committee.  He served as the Election Officials Division Director for the International Association of Government Officials (iGO).

Ricky has a wonderful wife, five fantastic children, and three cute-as-a-button grandchildren.

Whitney May
Center for Technology and Civic Life

Photo of Whitney MayWhitney May is Co-founder and Director of Government Services at the Center for Technology and Civic Life. At CTCL she leads a team that’s building the best professional development network for election officials who want to learn new ways to engage the public and keep up with changing technology. To date, her team has trained thousands of election officials on critical topics that include election website best practices and cybersecurity.

Whitney first caught the election bug in 2007 when she served the Durham County Board of Elections in North Carolina. She was responsible for recruiting, training, and managing hundreds of poll workers. Then, in 2012 she moved to Washington, D.C. to join the Voting Information Project, helping states partner with technology companies to connect millions of U.S. voters with official election information like polling place locations.

Whitney lives in Chicago where she’s a voter and an election judge.

Publications and projects

  • ElectionTools.org – a civic engagement toolkit for election officials
  • Tech Tutorials – Step-by-step guides on simple technology to better serve voters, candidates, and poll workers

Jennifer Morrell
Election Validation Project, Democracy Fund

Photo of Jennifer MorrellJennifer Morrell is an election professional who is passionate about observing and measuring the election process to improve efficiency as well as the voter experience. She has partnered as a consultant with Democracy Fund to lead the Election Validation Project, aimed at increasing trust in elections through rigorous audits, standards, and testing.

As the Arapahoe County, Colorado Deputy of Elections & Recording, Jennifer was instrumental in Colorado’s successful implementation of the first statewide risk-limiting audit. She has been an outspoken advocate for election audit standards beyond just post-election audits and has a vision of creating uniform audit and testing standards for all critical components of the election system.

Jennifer worked as an election official for nine years (2009-2018) in both Utah and Colorado managing county, city, and special service district elections. She was co-chair of the Colorado Clerk’s Association Election Statute Review Committee – leading an effort to standardize how election expenses are calculated in Colorado. She is an Election Center CERA graduate and holds a Master of Arts in Management and Leadership from Webster University.  Jennifer is a veteran of the United States Air Force, an avid runner, and loves baking.

Publications and projects

Tammy Patrick
Senior Advisor, Democracy Fund

Photo of Tammy PatrickTammy Patrick is a Senior Advisor to the Elections program at the Democracy Fund, a bipartisan foundation working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people. Focusing on modern elections, Tammy helps lead the Democracy Fund’s efforts to foster a voter-centric election system and work to provide election officials across the country with the tools and knowledge they need to best serve their voters.

Previously, Tammy served as a Democracy Project Fellow with the Bipartisan Policy Center, focusing on discussions on recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA). Former Federal Compliance Officer for Maricopa County Elections Department for eleven years, Tammy was tasked with serving more than 1.9 million registered voters in the greater Phoenix Valley. She collaborates with community and political organizations to create a productive working relationship with the goal of voter participation.

In May of 2013 she was selected by President Obama to serve as a Commissioner on the Presidential Commission on Election Administration which has led to the position at the Bipartisan Policy Center to further the work of the PCEA.

Publications and projects

Ginny Redish
Plain language and usability expert

Photo of Ginny Redish. Janice (Ginny) Redish is a consultant and expert in plain language and usability.

In the 1980s, she led an interdisciplinary team that brought plain language to many government documents – forms, regulations, letters, and notices. When computers started to appear on everyone’s desks, Ginny’s team transformed system-oriented user manuals into conversational, task-oriented information. Dana Chisnell was part of that team.

Ginny’s forte is bringing together research and practice. For example, she and Dana did an extensive research project for AARP from which they developed guidelines for writing and designing for older adults.

Whitney Quesenbery introduced Ginny to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) group working on the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. Ginny then did several studies for NIST about voting, including a major project (with Dana) showing the importance of plain language in ballots.

Ginny has been called the “mother of usability” for her pioneering work in introducing many of the concepts and methods the Center for Civic Design uses in their work: field research to understand how people go through a process, plain language guidelines for assessing materials, and usability testing – watching and listening as people try out a developing product or draft document.

Ginny earned her bachelor’s degree at Bryn Mawr College and holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Harvard University.

Publications and projects

Advisory groups we serve on

Because we love collaborating with other groups doing great civic work, we have proudly served on formal and informal advisory groups. We currently serve on:

Past assignments include:

  • Bridge Alliance Leadership Council
  • Center for Plain Language
  • EAC’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee (Human Factors and Privacy Subcommittee Chair)
  • Rosenfeld Media
  • San Francisco Ballot Simplification Committee
  • The Access Board’s TEITAC updating Section 508
  • U.S. Vote Foundation
  • Usability in Civic Life
  • UXPA – User Experience Professionals Association
  • Vote.org

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