The Challenge of Elections at Home and Abroad: Making Democracy Great (Again)

Rokey Suleman, currently executive director of elections for Richland County in South Carolina, has worked overseas on elections in places including Egypt, Russia, Afghanistan, Montenegro, Macedonia, Georgia, Nepal and more. In the US he has overseen elections in the District of Columbia and other positions in Virginia and Ohio. Given his breadth of experience, he is in a unique position to understand the challenges and opportunities related to elections – and more broadly for democracy – in a truly comparative way. He will discuss his many experiences and the lessons he has learned in conversation with Bard College dean of international studies James Ketterer, who has also worked on elections at home and abroad. This event is co-sponsored and hosted by the Vance Center for International Justice and supported by Foreign Affairs magazine.