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Biographical Sketches of Candidates for the 2006-2007 Board of Directors |
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All of the above were unanimously elected to the 2007-2008 Board of FFEC.
Executive Director and Founder—Susan Pynchon As founder and Executive Director of Florida Fair Elections Coalition and its research counterpart Florida Fair Elections Center, Susan Pynchon has become a leader in the election integrity movement throughout Florida and the nation. Under her leadership, the organization has grown into a respected entity known for its nonpartisan dedication to fair, transparent, verifiable, accessible, and secure elections. Ms. Pynchon has also forged cooperative relationships with established civil rights organizations to monitor proposed legislation on the state and national level and to lobby for election reform. Her numerous speaking engagements have helped to educate Floridians about the problems with electronic voting, partisan election administration, and other reform issues. She has helped found election integrity organizations in Jacksonville and Tampa. Prior to moving to Florida in 1998, Ms. Pynchon was a reporter in
Kennebunk, Maine, where she did environmental and investigative reporting.
In 2004, Ms. Pynchon gave up a successful career as a real estate
broker/salesperson in Volusia County to work full time at reforming
Florida's flawed election system.
A co-founder of Florida Fair Elections Coalition, Kitty Garber brings to the organization more than a decade of experience in the area of minority political issues. As FFEC research director, she collects and analyzes election data, prepares reports and studies on election issues, and assists the executive director and board with other tasks as assigned. She served as Volusia County Coordinator for the Committee for Fair Election’s redistricting initiative and sits on Volusia County’s Election Advisory Board. Before moving to Florida in 2003, Ms. Garber was a writer and editor on national policy issues for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a minority think tank in Washington. Her articles in the Joint Center’s public policy magazine covered such topics as redistricting, election reform, felon disenfranchisement, minority voting rights, and proportional voting. Ms. Garber holds a B.A. in philosophy from Christopher Newport College of the College of William and Mary and pursued a year of graduate studies at the University of Virginia.
As co-founder and general counsel for Florida Fair Elections Coalition and Center, Anita Lapidus has advised the organizations on legal and legislative issues since their inception. Her opinion on the Volusia County Council’s options during the debate on the purchase of disabled accessible equipment was ultimately vindicated by the courts, while contrary advice and threats from attorneys for the state of Florida, the vendor, and a national disabilities group were repudiated. After the vendor delivered uncertified voting equipment to Volusia and other counties, she drafted a complaint to Florida attorney general objecting to the state’s acquiescence in the unlawful activity. She is also working on a lawsuit against the state for its failure to meet its obligations to provide secure elections. In 2006 she worked with several state senators to draft a comprehensive paper trail bill. Along with Pynchon and Garber, she has lobbied the legislature and worked with established civil rights organizations to devise cooperative strategies for election reform. She holds a Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where she was an associate editor of the law review and an LLM from Columbia Law School where she was a teaching fellow. Before coming to Florida, she was Assistant General Counsel for the
Department of Social Services of the City of New York where she was in
charge of appeals and complex litigation in addition to developing and
commenting on legislation.
Another of the co-founders of FFEC, Elizabeth S. Camarota, known to all as Beeg, serves as treasurer to the board and on staff as financial director and office manager. From the beginning, she has been responsible for day-to-day administrative tasks. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry and Environ-mental Studies and an M.S. in
Economics, both from Baylor University. She is a Certified Environmental
Planner by the National Association of Environmental Professions. She worked
for fourteen years as an environmental consultant for FPL, U.S. Army Corps,
U.S. Navy, City of Miami, and numerous others. She was Senior Financial
Analyst for Southeast Bank in Miami for four years. She has been a private
financial consultant for twenty-two years.
Jerry Axelrod has been an active member of Florida Fair Elections Coalition since 2005. For the past six months, he has served as the board’s secretary. In addition, he has worked on fundraising and membership activities for the organization. Dr. Axelrod is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic
Medicine and certified in General Surgery. He has served as chair of the
American Board of Osteopathic Surgery for six years, chair of the American
Osteopathic Residency Training for seven years, and a member of the
Association of Surgical Educators for twelve years. He retired in 1996 as
Professor of Surgery Emeritus at Ohio University, Athens, OH. He is a member
of the Quality of Life Advisory Board of Ormond Beach, secretary of the
Halifax Democratic Club, and a Democratic Committeeman.
As a founding member of Florida Fair Elections Coalition and Center, Sylvia Perkins has assisted the organization in many capacities. Most recently, she has researched grant opportunities and worked on other fundraising activities. She has also assisted the staff with the editorial preparation of reports and other documents and assisted with administrative duties. Currently a Scholar in Residence at Stetson University, Sylvia Walsh Perkins has been an adjunct professor and visiting associate professor of philosophy at Stetson since 1989. She has also taught at Clark College and Emory University in Atlanta, GA. She holds an A.B. degree from Oberlin College, a M.A. in Religion from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from Emory University. She is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles on the
philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard. She has served twice as president of the
Søren Kierkegaard Society in North America and is a member of the Advisory
Board of the International Kierkegaard Commentary. She is also a member of
the American Academy of Religion, the Society for Philosophy of Religion,
and the National League of American Pen Women.
Award-winning author and historian, Spencer Lane has been an active member of FFEC since 2005. Most recently, Mr. Lane was the chief planner and moderator for FFEC’s highly successful public forum, “Is Your Vote Being Counted,” held May 20, 2006, at Daytona Beach Community College. Having served on the boards of numerous non-profit and for-profit organizations, Mr. Lane has brought to the board valuable experience in the areas of management, business practices, and administration. For more than three decades, Mr. Lane was the owner and CEO of an international corporation that was the largest supplier of OEM peripherals to the computer market. Mr. Lane holds an Airline Transport Pilot’s License and has set four
world air speed records. Mr. Lane received a B.A. from Hunters College and
did graduate work at the Bernard Baruch School of Business Administration,
CCNY.
Since joining FFEC in 2005, A.J. Devies has brought to the board a wide range of expertise in computer programming, voting technology, and disability accessibility issues. In addition, she created and maintains the FFEC website. In the summer of 2005, Ms. Devies assisted in the development and testing of the Vote Pad, a paper ballot assistive device for people with a wide range of disabilities. The device has been certified for use in certain jurisdictions in Wisconsin and was used successfully in a parallel municipal election in Riverside, CA, as well. It is currently scheduled for certification testing in California. She assisted with the writing of New York State’s new voting systems standards and helped defend the legislation to New York-based disability organizations. In April 2006, she spoke at a press conference in Washington, DC, as part of the VotetrustUSA lobbying effort for HR 550, a federal paper trail bill. Ms. Devies, who has been disabled since a workplace injury in September 2001, has served as accessibility chair and president for HAVOC (Handicapped Adults of Volusia County). She is a graduate of the Volusia Citizens Academy and holds an A.A. in Math and Science from Daytona Beach Community College. She is also a member of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee to the Volusia County MPO.
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FFEC is a non-partisan, non-profit organization, registered with the State of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Registration Numbers: CH19386 and CH19387 A copy of the official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Division of Consumer Services by calling toll-free within the State 1-800-472-9297. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. Contributions are not being solicited from outside the State of Florida. Florida Fair Elections Center is a program of International Humanities Center, a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. Descriptions of the law and discussions thereof are not meant as a substitute for legal counsel. No one should rely on this website for legal opinion but should seek their own counsel. Florida Fair Elections Coalition |
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