FRANKLIN — Franklin College will welcome internationally recognized expert in election law Richard L. Hasen to campus as the Constitution Day speaker on Monday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. in the Branigin Room of the Napolitan Student Center.
Hasen will serve as the first speaker in the college’s 2024-25 Convocation Lecture Series, as he addresses the crowd on “Safeguarding American Democracy: Why We Need a Real Right to Vote.” The event will be free and open to the public.
Hasen will discuss how throughout history, too many Americans have been disenfranchised or faced needless barriers to voting. Part of the blame falls on the Constitution, which does not contain an affirmative right to vote. He believes the time has come for voters to act and push for an amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee this right for all. Following his lecture, a short Q&A will take place.
Hasen is the Gary T. Schwartz Endowed Chair in Law, professor of political science, and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law. He also has written about legislation and statutory interpretation, remedies and torts. He is co-author of leading casebooks in election law and remedies.
Hasen served in 2020 as a CNN Election Law Analyst and in 2022 served as an NBC News/MSNBC Election Law Analyst. From 2001-2010, he served as founding co-editor of the quarterly peer-reviewed publication, Election Law Journal. He is the author of more than 100 articles on election law issues, published in numerous journals including the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, and Supreme Court Review.
Hasen was elected to The American Law Institute (ALI) in 2009. He was named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by The National Law Journal in 2013, and one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California in 2005 and 2016 by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal.
Support for the event has been provided by the Community Engaged Alliance of Indiana. Those interested in attending are asked to register at bit.ly/Hasen_Convo.
