Author
Sietse Goffard
Senior Program Coordinator, Voting Rights
Sietse Goffard
Senior Program Coordinator, Voting Rights
Sietse Goffard is the Senior Program Coordinator on the Voting Rights team at the Asian Law Caucus. His work focuses on fair redistricting and voter empowerment. Sietse previously worked on affordable housing and Section 8 rental assistance programs for the City of Boston. He also spent several years at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) leading projects to tackle racial discrimination in housing and lending. His research and articles have been published by the Brookings Institution, Cato Institute, US-China Perception Monitor, and National Bureau of Economic Research. In addition, Sietse is an avid public transportation enthusiast and served on the advisory council of Washington D.C.’s transit system to advocate for more equitable metro and bus coverage.
Sietse completed his graduate studies at Harvard Kennedy School and at Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College, where he served as class president and co-led a citizenship mentoring program for elderly Asian immigrants.
Voices of Democracy: Highlights from November 2022 Poll Monitoring
During the November 2022 California general election, Asian Law Caucus trained non-partisan volunteer poll monitors to observe 441 voting locations across 16 counties in Northern and Central California. For over a decade, ALC has run the largest non-partisan poll monitoring program in Northern California, with support from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Disability Rights California, and community-based partners. The goal of our long-standing program is to help counties identify and fix potential barriers to voting, including language access and disability access issues. Our program works closely with local election offices and offers them feedback on how to improve the overall voter experience.
Overall, we found that most counties complied with federal and state requirements and that voters generally had smooth, positive experiences casting their ballots. At the same time, we found several areas for continued improvement in voting access across the state, particularly in terms of language and disability access. We provide recommendations and continue to work with state and county election offices to ensure they take steps to address these challenges and make California's elections even more inclusive and accessible for all voters.
For inquiries about this study, our methodology, or volunteer opportunities with our poll monitoring program, please contact [email protected]. For general information or media inquiries, please contact [email protected].