Maryland Carey Law - Voting Rights Conference

The voting rights conference will discuss protecting fair elections, issues faced in voting rights now, multimember districts in Maryland and nationally, and opportunities for involvement and engagement that law students and others can take on now.

AGENDA: 

ACS VOTING RIGHTS CONFERENCE, SEPT. 24, 2026

At The University of Maryland-Carey School of Law

For Those Who Attend in Person or Attend Virtually

Note: All speakers are confirmed unless otherwise indicated. Full description of topics to come.

11:00-11:10am: Introduction to the event by Dean Laurent in the Ceremonial Courtroom

Topic: This will outline the goals of the event and key issues to be prepared for.

11:15am-12:45pm: Panel 1: Major Issues today in protecting fair elections. Four-person panel in the Ceremonial Courtroom. Moderator: Max Stearns [Invited, not confirmed]. Panelists:

David Daley (FairVote), https://fairvote.org/staff/david-daley/ (confirmed) 

Michael Li (Brennan Center), https://www.brennancenter.org/experts/michael-li (confirmed)

Brent Ferguson, Senior Director, Strategic Litigation, Campaign Legal Center, Brent Ferguson | Campaign Legal Center (confirmed) 

Sylvia Albert, Director of Voting and Elections, Common Cause, https://www.commoncause.org/ (invited, not confirmed)

The panel will begin with David Daley setting the stage, focusing on what political gerrymandering has done to the election map. There will be discussions of the federal role in elections; current problems, e.g., SAVE acts, attempts to limit voting by mail, and DOJ’s attempts to obtain sensitive voter information; and responses to these problems. 

1:00pm-2:00pm: Keynote Speech and Lunch: Sherrilyn Ifill (confirmed) with Q&A. This will be in Room 107.

2:10pm-3:10pm: Panel 2: Multimember Districts - Maryland and Nationally. Are there still viable litigation theories after the SCOTUS VRA decision? Two-person panel in the Ceremonial Courtroom. Moderator: Donald Tobin. [Invited, not confirmed]. Panelists:

Dara Johnson, Associate Staff Attorney, Md. ACLU, Dara Johnson - ACLU of Maryland (confirmed) 

Sarah Brannon, ACLU National Voting Rights Project Deputy Director, Sarah Brannon | American Civil Liberties Union (confirmed) 

3:20pm-4:20pm: Panel 3: Opportunities for Education, Engagement, and Involvement. This panel will talk about general opportunities for engagement and education with an emphasis on the legal profession. This will be in the Ceremonial Courtroom. Moderator: Michael Pinard [Confirmed]. Panelists:

Sam Novey from the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, co-founder of Baltimore Votes Coalition, https://cdce.umd.edu/facultyprofile/novey/sam (confirmed)

Lauren Rikleen, Executive Director from Lawyers Defending American Democracy, https://ldad.org/our-board (confirmed)

Laura Brill, CEO and Founder of the Civics Center, https://www.thecivicscenter.org/team (confirmed)

4:25pm: Closing Comments in the Ceremonial Courtroom

4:35pm-5:30pm: Org. Tabling in Locker Area