Prior to joining The Council of State Governments, Casandra worked as a Staff Attorney for the Department of Public Advocacy in Johnson County, Kentucky. Casandra earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Clarion University in 2011 and received her Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University Milton Kramer School of Law in 2014.
Morgan Thomas is a Policy Associate for the The Council of State Governments Overseas Voting Initiative. Morgan began his career with The Council of State Governments as a Roosevelt Fellow for the Overseas Voting Initiative. Morgan also works on the Commission on Military and Veteran’s Affairs, which brings together state leaders from all three branches of government to collaborate, share best practices, and exchange insights on issues impacting veterans and military families. Morgan is a proud member of the armed forces, serving as a non-commissioned officer in the Kentucky Air National Guard since 2015. He also serves as a Material Handler providing warehouse support for the 123rd Airlift Wing Logistics Readiness Squadron. Before that, Morgan served as a Personnelist for the 123rd Maintenance Group, providing administrative support for the Maintenance Operations Center. Morgan earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Kentucky and his Master of Arts in Diplomacy and International Commerce from the Patterson School of Diplomacy
He oversees CSG’s Overseas Voting Initiative work on data standardization, which aims to improve the voting experience for military and overseas voters by analyzing anonymized transactions across all 50 states and, with state and local election officials, developing recommendations for improvement. Prior to his work with CSG, he was Manager and Officer of Elections Technology at The Pew Charitable Trusts where he worked across all projects in the election initiatives portfolio. One of his primary roles at Pew was managing the Voting Information Project, a collaboration with state and local officials, Google, and Pew to create an open, standardized repository of election-related information for all 50 states and DC. In addition to many years of programming experience in various languages, Jared is also an accomplished interface and interaction designer, having worked on various news and commerce sites and online voting information tools. An experienced speaker, Jared has spoken at SXSW, NIST symposiums, and many election administrator conferences. Jared sits on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Voting Solutions for All People, or VSAP, project, an initiative by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk to assess their existing voting system and develop a new solution that meets the needs of Los Angeles County’s voters. Jared has previously worked at Six Apart and IBM, and is a graduate of the University of Vermont.
She oversees elections technology-related research programs focused on the sustainability of UOCAVA balloting solutions for the Overseas Voting Initiative. Michelle’s expertise is in the development and implementation of research initiatives and integrated communications programs in support of the election and government technology sectors. She has unequaled experience working with private corporations, local and state election administrators, U.S. based non-profits, and international non-governmental organizations. Michelle serves as an Election Judge in Travis County, Texas and has significant international elections experience having served as a Short-Term Observer to Cairo and Giza for the 2014 Egyptian Presidential Elections with Democracy International, New Voting Technology Expert as part of the OSCE-ODIHR Core Team supporting the Switzerland Election Assistance Mission for the country’s October 2011 Federal Elections, and a Polling Station Advisor for the December 2010 Snap Elections in the Northern Mitrovica region of Kosovo with IFES. An experienced speaker, Michelle has presented to convenings of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Association of Secretaries of State, National Association of State Election Directors, the Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project, E-Vote-ID, in addition to many other local, state, national and international groups. Michelle consults for CSG and other clients through her company, Magenta Sage Strategies, LLC, and has previously served in senior leadership team positions for election technology providers that include Hart InterCivic, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Scytl. Michelle is a graduate of Fordham University and received a Public Communications & Issues Management Certificate from The University of Texas at Austin’s Division of Continuing Education.