As threats to our democracy continue, we invite members to join us for the annual state convention, where we can share successes and gain new insights from our keynote speaker, Professor Mara Suttmann-Lea.

Keynote: Mara Suttmann-Lea

“Close to Home: How Local Action Sustains American Democracy”

Sutmmann-Lea is an Associate Professor of Government at Connecticut College, and a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Their subject matter expertise is in American elections, political participation, and election administration. Through the lens of American Political Development, they teach courses in campaigns, parties and elections, election administration, urban politics, democratic theory, and a seminar on the subject of American Political Development.

Their research is centered around a singular question: how does democracy sustain itself? 

Presently, they study what election administration in the United States can teach us about democratic resilience. Their book project, The Right (To Know How) to Vote: Voter Education and Fractal Resilience in American Democracy, uses the historical emergence of voter education and outreach by the over 10,000 state and local electoral management bodies (EMBs) in the United States as a proof of concept for understanding how local actors strengthen democratic resilience in decentralized systems. This project develops the field of American Political Development by contributing a new concept of institutional change — fractal resilience—a form of simultaneous institutional change and maintenance that emerges not through top-down policy mandates or the strategic maneuvering of political actors around established institutional norms, but at the grassroots level through the values, ethics, and actions of local, interconnected actors serving as stewards of a democratic system.

For more information about their work, visit www.marasuttmannlea.com.