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Meet our student experts.
Ask Jack about the Red Mirage.
Jack Jacobson–born and raised in Houston, Texas–graduated from Texas A&M University before enrolling at Harvard Law School. He has always been interested in politics and the inner-workings of government, but studying the election over the summer was what motivated him to enroll in Professor Lessig’s course and pursue a more in-depth look at the mechanics of the election process. The Red Mirage appealed to him as a likely, tangible, impact of the lack of central organization and consistency of the way national elections operate. He envisioned the Red Mirage as something that would affect all Americans in many elections–but would be especially impactful this year. Upon researching the phenomenon, he has come to confirm his suspicions and believes that the Red Mirage should be receiving much more coverage than it currently is in order to prevent misinformation and confusion by prematurely calling the election. He is passionate about the topic and eager to speak with anyone and everyone with an interest in further discussion.
Katherine would be happy to discuss 3 U.S.C. § 2 (Failure to Make a Choice Provision) .
Katherine Mateo is from Philadelphia, PA. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and is now a joint degree student at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Katherine has been following the election closely. She has become concerned that the rise of mail-in voting and early voting could be used to claim election results are inconclusive or fraudulent in key swing states. Katherine has focused on Section 2 of the Electoral Count Act, which purports to grant state legislatures the power to appoint Electoral College electors in the event voters ”failed to make a choice” on Election Day. She would be happy to discuss this and other aspects of a contested election. Katherine is a native Spanish speaker and is available for inquiries in English and Spanish.
Mason would be happy to chat about 3 U.S.C. § 2 .
Mason Ji is from Seattle, WA and graduated from Yale University and the University of Oxford (as a Rhodes Scholar). He has studied and practiced public policy and politics, having served in government and in international affairs at the United Nations. He has always been interested in elections, having studied them in the US and beyond, but the critical and fiery nature of this year’s election motivated him to dive into the processes and laws surrounding US presidential elections. He has conducted in-depth researched on the trends underlying tipping point states and the original/legislative intents of 3 U.S.C. § 2 in case an election dispute over failure to make a choice gets litigated in courts. He is eager to speak with anyone on either topic. Mason is a native Chinese speaker and can answer any questions in either English or Chinese.
Talk to Steven about data, the 2020 political landscape, state-level laws on election certification, and 3 U.S.C. § 2.
Steven Jiang is from Houston, TX. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Mathematics in two years and now is a third-year J.D. student at Harvard Law School. Steven’s prior background has focused on global health and international development, ranging from work with human rights and humanitarian organizations across Puerto Rico, Syria, and Zimbabwe, to developing technology platforms with health applications at Flagship Pioneering. Now, Steven is concerned with ongoing threats to the conduct and maintenance of the rule of law in the United States and has been working on a variety of election protection work, such as with the Texas Civil Rights Project. To this end, Steven has developed a comprehensive landscape of election integrity, potential suppression, and legal avenues to halting interference across the United States, and has focused on Section 2 of the Electoral Count Act, especially around the question of state-level determination of “failed” elections. Steven is happy to discuss both Section 2 as well as the broader landscape of election and voter protection across the United States, including a state-by-state level analysis of where our focus should lie as we navigate the 2020 election.