About Why Tuesday?

Why Tuesday? is a 501(c)3 non-partisan organization founded in 2005 in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At the urging of Ambassador Andrew Young, Senator Bill Bradley and Congressman Jack Kemp joined together to ask a simple question: why do we vote on Tuesday? By asking a question that few knew the answer to and most, even our nation’s leaders, had never even thought of, Why Tuesday? set out to raise awareness about America’s low voter turnout and the broken state of our voting system.

Why Tuesday? has for the past 7 years provided a platform for national dialogue about the current voting system, problems with our current voting system, and solutions that can directly improve the voting process, increase registration and drive turnout. Why Tuesday? kicked off the 2012 campaign with a forum at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The Why Tuesday? documentary video blog has been seen millions of times across online and traditional media channels, including national news outlets, and is the subject of a TED Talk seen over 140,000 times. Why Tuesday? was the recipient of the Film Your Issue Award as well as the only non-mainstream news outlet nominated for the 2008 Webby Award for Best Political Blog.

Why Tuesday? has inspired the introduction of the Weekend Voting Act in Congress. It has also prompted the passage of the Saturday Voting Act in San Francisco, and a study by the U.S. GAO about the feasibility of implementing Weekend Voting in the United States.

Board of Directors

Ambassador Andrew Young, Chairman

Ambassador Young has held a wide range of leadership positions. He was a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the civil rights movement before being elected to three terms as Representative for the Fifth Congressional District of Georgia. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed him as the United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Young then served two terms as Mayor of the City of Atlanta and was a Co-Chairman of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. He is Chairman of the Southern Africa Enterprise development Fund, Co-Chairman of GoodWorks International, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Drum Major Institute.

Norman J. Ornstein, Co-Founder

Mr. Ornstein is a long-time observer of Congress and politics. He writes a weekly column for Roll Call called “Congress Inside Out” and is an election eve analyst for CBS News. He served as codirector of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project and participates in AEI’s Election Watch series. He also served as a senior counselor to the Continuity of Government Commission. Mr. Ornstein led a working group of scholars and practitioners that helped shape the law, known as McCain-Feingold, that reformed the campaign financing system. He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. His many books include The Permanent Campaign and Its Future (AEI Press, 2000); The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track, with Thomas E. Mann (Oxford University Press, 2006, named by the Washington Post one of the best books of 2006 and called by the Economist “a classic”); and, most recently, the New York Times bestseller, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, also with Tom Mann, published in May by Basic Books.

William B. Wachtel, Co-Founder

Mr. Wachtel is the founding partner of Wachtel & Masyr, a law firm comprised of approximately 30 attorneys specializing in domestic and international business transactions and litigations. He is also the founder of the progressive Drum Major Institute, originally the Drum Major Foundation, established by his father Harry Wachtel. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont (B.A. 1975, magna cum laude) and Columbia University (J.D., 1979); Phi Beta Kappa; Harlan Fiske Scholar. Mr. Wachtel was the legislative assistant to United States Senator P.J. Leahy from 1974-75. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American Bar Association.

Jacob Soboroff

Jacob joined Why Tuesday? in 2006 and was Executive Director from 2007-2012. He is a host and producer for HuffPost Live, a contributor to MTV News’ 2012 election coverage and is the AMC News correspondent, hosting specials and reporting from film festivals and other industry events for the award-winning network. In 2010, Jacob co-hosted the NBC series “School Pride” and executive produced and narrated the AMC original documentary “Committed,” directed by Oscar and Emmy nominee Morgan Spurlock. He has contributed reporting to CNN, NPR’s “Weekend Edition,” and the PBS/Wired Magazine series “Wired Science.” Jacob is a member of the associates board of City Year Los Angeles. During college, Jacob was an advance man to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and presidential candidate Howard Dean. A Los Angeles native, Jacob holds a B.A. in Politics and an M.A. in Political Theory and Philosophy from New York University. jacobsoboroff.com | @jacobsoboroff | Facebook

Our Team

Mimi Marziani, Executive Director

Mimi joined Why Tuesday? in 2011, and became Executive Director in 2013. She is currently an associate with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where she litigates a wide variety of civil cases and maintains an active pro bono practice. Mimi also serves as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, teaching undergraduate students about the ways constitutional law influences public policy debates. From 2009 to 2012, Mimi was an attorney with the Brennan Center for Justice. In this role, she litigated election law cases nationwide and played an active role in the Brennan Center’s policy advocacy efforts involving money in politics, voting rights and legislative dysfunction. Mimi has contributed articles on democracy issues to a range of news outlets, including Politico, The Hill, U.S. News and World Report, The National Law Journal, The New York Law Journal, and has been a featured speaker in a range of academic, media and political forums. From 2008 to 2009, Mimi clerked for the Honorable James C. Francis, IV in the Southern District of New York. She is an alumna of NYU School of Law and Vanderbilt University. @mimimarziani

Thomas Rossmeissl, Chief Strategy Officer

In 2007, Tom helped launch the Why Tuesday? video blog and the organization’s online strategy, which he continues to oversee. He is Director of Joe Trippi & Associates where he has helped pioneer the use of new media technologies and strategies for a variety of domestic and international campaigns, non-profit organizations and corporations. Internationally, Tom has developed comprehensive mobile, text messaging and communication strategies for advocacy organizations and political campaigns in Brazil, the EU, Nepal, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Domestically, Tom directs campaign television ad production and online fundraising strategies for political clients, most recently serving as a key member on the successful Jerry Brown for Governor (CA) campaign. @trossmei

Advisory Board

Andrea Batista Schlesinger
Former Policy Advisor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City

Jeff Berman
GM, NFL Digital Media

Jake Brewer
Partner, Fission Strategy

John Bonifaz
Founder, National Voting Rights Institute, and Legal Director, Voter Action

Bill Bradley, Why Tuesday? Honorary Co-Chair
Former United States Senator

Jim Brayton
President, Long Trail Media

Lee Brenner
Publisher of HyperVocal and Founding Principal, FastFWD Group

James Carmichael

Wendy Cohen
Senior Director of Film Campaigns, Participant Media

Tim Cullen

Rev. James Forbes
Founder and Chairman, Healing of the Nations Foundation

Steve Grove
Google

Leo Hindery, Jr.
InterMedia Partners, LLP

Harold Kaplan
Consultant

Martin L. King, III
CEO, Realizing the Dream

Mimi Murray Digby Marziani
Counsel, Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

Mark Meckler
President, Citizens for Self Governance
Co-Founder / Former National Coordinator, Tea Party Patriots

Meghan McCain
Columnist, Author, Blogger, and MSNBC Contributor

Kenneth B. Mehlman
Head of Global Public Affairs, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and Former RNC Chairman

Nicco Mele
Partner, EchoDitto

Marc Morgenstern
VP, Concord Music Group

Steven M. Pesner
Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld LLP

Andrew Rasiej
Founder, Personal Democracy Forum

Liba Rubenstein
Tumblr

Michael Skolnik
Political Director to Russell Simmons

Steve Sugerman
President, Sugerman Communications Group

Sara Taylor
President, BlueFront Strategies, and Former White House Director of Political Affairs

Sean Treglia
President, The Treglia Group, and President, L.A. City Ethics Commission

Joe Trippi
President, Trippi and Associates

Madeline Wachtel

Tova Andrea Wang
Senior Democracy Fellow, Demos and Democracy Fellow, The Century Foundation

Gideon Yago
Former Correspondent, CBS and MTV News

Andrew Young III
President, Young Solutions

Barnett Zitron
Operations Director, MADE Fashion