Earlier this year, MAP created the Democracy Reform Task Force (DRTF), a bipartisan group of 12 state legislators, from 10 different states, organized for peer-to-peer crowdsourcing of state-level approaches to democracy reform. From January to December, DRTF members engaged in a series of discussions and expert-led briefings sharing their expertise on government accountability, redistricting, and access to voting.
After a year of research and Task Force policy discussions, MAP released its first issue-specific report “States of Democracy.” The report, authored by Cherisse Eatmon, director of the State Future Caucus Network, outlines legislative approaches to democracy reform members of the DRTF and the State Future Caucus Network have championed across the country.
On Wednesday, December 12th, MAP partnered with Quorum to celebrate the release of the report with a panel discussion including members of the Task Force. The panel discussion, moderated by Cherisse Eatmon, included DRTF Member Representative Chaz Beasley (D-NC), DRTF Member Representative Stephanie Clayton (R-KS), and Daniel Weiner, Senior Counsel of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Representatives Clayton and Beasley spoke about advocating for a better democracy in their states and shared ideas explored in the report. Mr. Weiner provided his expertise on combating money in politics and advocating for fair redistricting. In all, the group engaged in an insightful and lively conversation on ways states can continue to find solutions to undo failures in the American democracy. At the conclusion of the panel, audience members asked questions about the role of millennials in creating policy change as well as future bills working towards increasing government efficiency.
The panel discussion was live streamed and event photos are available on our Facebook page. Follow the Twitter conversation around our report through the hashtag #MAPStatesOfDemocracy.