Elections
What is the best way for North Carolina to conduct elections?
Over the course of five months, NCLF will explore a critically important topic for the future of our state: “What is the best way for North Carolina to conduct elections?”
NCLF brings together a distinguished bipartisan group of North Carolina leaders to discuss major issues facing our state, to understand different points of view about how to address those issues, and to discuss solutions that improve the lives of North Carolinians. Our goal is to facilitate substantive and meaningful dialogue among people positioned to help shape the future.
The North Carolina Leadership Forum (NCLF) seeks to create constructive engagement between North Carolina government, business, and non-profit policy leaders across party lines, ideologies, professional experiences, and regional perspectives. A program of Duke University, NCLF has been bringing together cohorts of NC leaders since 2015.
The Challenge
Although North Carolinians have always had significant political differences, they have historically exhibited a practical, problem-solving mindset to politics. Today, however, the tenor of the times is highly partisan, and North Carolina, like many other states, finds itself sharply divided. Progressive and conservative leaders often depend on different media and social media outlets, operate with different facts and beliefs, do not often enough engage substantively with people with whom they disagree, and all too often assume the worst about the motives of others. For these reasons, our leaders are less willing and able to work together to create widely-embraced solutions and opportunities for our state and its people. Our aim is to help bridge this divide.
Participants from Cohort 7
Val Applewhite – Senator, NC General Assembly
Brian Biggs – Representative, NC General Assembly
Mary Wills Bode – Senator, NC General Assembly
Terry Brown – Representative, North Carolina General Assembly
Javiera Caballero – City Council Member, CIty of Durham
Damon Circosta – Former Chair, NC State Board of Elections
Chantalle Couba – Partner, Korn Ferry
John Cummings – Vice Chairman, Robeson County Commissioners
Lige Daughtridge – City Council Member, City of Rocky Mount
Tare Davis – Commissioner, NCACC
Tom Farr – Partner, Nelson Mullins
Kate Fellman – Founder and Executive Director, You Can Vote
Monica Gibbs – Activist/Consultant, Gibbs Consulting LLC
Lilyn Hester – Head of Southeast External Affairs and Government Relations, Google
Andy Jackson – Director, Civitas Center for Public Integrity John Locke Foundation
Jeff Loperfido – Interim Chief Counsel for Voting Rights, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Edward Lopez – Professor of Economics and Distinguished Professor of Capitalism, Western Carolina University
Kevin McLaughlin – Vice President, Government Affairs and External Relations – Duke Energy
Juan Pleitez – Policy Advisor | Research Assistant to Rep. John Hardister, NC General Assembly
Nelson Powell – Senior Vice President, First Bank & Trust Company
Lindsey Prather – Representative, NC General Assembly
Patti Ramseur – President, NC Bar Association
Benton Sawrey – Senator, NC General Assembly
Julie Scott Emmons – South Regional Director, Government Affairs, Human Coalition
Reggie Shuford – Executive, Director NC Justice Center
Phil Strach – Attorney, Nelson Mullins
Tim Tsujii – Director of Elections, Forsyth County Board of Elections
Craig Turner – Alamance County Commissioner, Alamance County/The Vernon Law Firm
Joy Vermillion Heinsohn – Executive Director, Z.Smith Reynolds Foundation
Kyle Villemain – Founder, The Assembly
Jeff Zenger – Representative, NC General Assembly
