Panelists appearing at the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act Hearing on March 11, 2005

First Panel

Gwendolyn Patton
Dr. Gwendolyn Patton is the Program/Field Director for the Southern Rainbow Education Project, a coalition dedicated to grassroots action. She serves as the archivist for Trenholm State Technical College and heads the Montgomery Friends of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic trail.

Second Panel

Vernon Burton
Dr. Vernon Burton is Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Illinois. Professor Burton has written and testified extensively about the issue of racial discrimination in voting.

Hon. Frank Jackson
Frank Jackson was elected mayor of Prairie View, Texas, in 2004 after serving on the Prairie View City Council for 12 years and as County Commissioner of Waller County for 8 years. Mayor Jackson has worked in higher education administration at Prairie View A&M University since 1982.

Richard Engstrom
Dr. Richard Engstrom is a Research Professor of Political Science and Endowed Professor of Africana Studies at the University of New Orleans. Dr. Engstrom has published extensively on election systems and minority rights, and has been testifying as an expert in voting rights cases since the 1970’s.

Victor Landa
Victor Landa is the Central Region Director of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, which registered 100,000 new Latino voters in 16 states in 2004. Mr. Landa has worked in Spanish and English broadcast and print media for 22 years.

Raoul Cunningham
Raoul Cunningham is the President of the Louisville, Kentucky branch of the NAACP. Mr. Cunningham has served as the National Deputy Director of the NAACP Voter Empowerment Program, as well as Region III Coordinator and the Kentucky State Coordinator.

Third Panel

Hon. Bobby Singleton
Senator Bobby Singleton was elected to the Alabama Senate in January, 2005. From 2002 to 2005, Senator Singleton served in the Alabama House of Representatives. Senator Singleton represents Alabama’s “Black Belt.”

James Blacksher Click here to view testimony
James Blacksher is a civil rights attorney in Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Blacksher has served as counsel of record in over 90 reported cases, mainly in voting rights. He has served as a witness and legal panelist in hearings before Congress on the Voting Rights Act in 1981 and 1993.

Helen Butler
Helen Butler is the Voter Empowerment Coordinator for the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda.

Anita Earls Click here to view testimony
Anita Earls is the Director of Advocacy at the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights. Ms. Earls formerly served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, where she was responsible for, among other sections, the Division’s Voting Section.

Leslie Lobos
Leslie Lobos is a staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational fund in Atlanta, Georgia.

Laughlin McDonald Click here to view testimony
Laughlin McDonald is the Director of the Southern Regional Office and Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. McDonald has litigated numerous key voting rights cases across the country and has authored several books on civil rights. He has testified before Congress on several occasions, including the Committee on the Judiciary of both the Senate and House during the Voting Rights Act Extension hearings of 1982.


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Southern Regional Hearing
Montgomery, Alabama
March 11, 2005

Southwest Regional Hearing
Phoenix, AZ
April 7, 2005

Northeast Regional Hearing
New York, New York
June 14, 2005

Midwest Regional Hearing
Minneapolis, Minnesota
July 22, 2005

South Georgia Hearing
Americus, Georgia
August 2, 2005

Florida Hearing
Orlando, Florida
80th National Convention of the National Bar Association
August 4, 2005

South Dakota Hearing
Rapid City, South Dakota
September 9, 2005

Western Regional Hearing
Los Angeles, California
September 27, 2005

Mid-Atlantic Regional Hearing
Washington, DC
October 14, 2005

Mississippi Hearing
Jackson, Mississippi
October 29, 2005