Why Tuesday? is a non-partisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2005 to find solutions to increase voter turnout and participation in elections. We provide a platform for national dialogue about the current voting system and the need for election reform by bringing attention to the problems with our current voting system and identifying solutions that can directly improve the voting process, increase registration and drive turnout. We aim to amplify the national debate around election reform by highlighting the problems with our voting system and the practical solutions we need.

Why Tuesday? was founded in 2005 to honor the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Rather than just celebrate this civil rights achievement, we acknowledged that there was still work to be done, and used the anniversary as a platform to spark a national discussion about voting in America. With great sadness, we take note that today, nearly half a century after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the United States lags behind nearly all nations in voter turnout.

Honoring the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the other civil rights leaders who courageously fought for and won the right to vote for all Americans, Why Tuesday? emerged with a focused purpose: advance the job started by the civil rights leaders of the 1960s by sparking a national discussion about voting, and seek out national reforms which will result in an America where voting is seen not just as a right, but as a democratic imperative for all citizens.

We embarked on our work by asking a simple question that most elected officials cannot answer: why do we vote on Tuesday, a day smack in the middle of the work week? The short answer: our process of voting is based on an outdated 19th century agrarian model that long ago lost its relevance (click for long answer). Isn’t it time for an upgrade?

Board of Directors

Founder, William B. Wachtel

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.

Andrew Young

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. The U.S. Secretary of State recently appointed him as a member of the National Security Council Study Group.

Norman J. Ornstein

Mr. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He also serves as an election analyst for CBS News and writes a weekly column called “Congress Inside Out” for Roll Call newspaper. His campaign finance working group of scholars and practitioners helped shape the major law, known as McCain/Feingold, that reformed the campaign financing system. He is also co-directing a multi-year effort, called the Transition to Governing Project, to create a better climate for governing in the era of the permanent campaign. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the Campaign Legal Center and of the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. Mr. Ornstein 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; Intensive Care: How Congress Shapes Health Policy, both with Thomas E. Mann; and Debt and Taxes: How America Got Into Its Budget Mess and What to Do About It, with John H. Makin. The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and What Can Be Done about It, co-authored by Thomas E. Mann, is published by Oxford University Press.

Staff

Jacob Soboroff, Executive Director

In addition to his work with Why Tuesday?, Jacob Soboroff is the correspondent for AMC News on the AMC television network, covering current events and entertainment news including film premieres, major film festivals, and industry award happenings. He also contributes to Weekend Soapbox from NPR’s Weekend Edition, and was a contributor to the PBS series Wired Science, a production of KCET Los Angeles and Wired magazine. In college Jacob was a part-time advance man to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and presidential candidate Howard Dean. Jacob has an MA in political theory and philosophy from New York University. His website is jacobsoboroff.com. E-mail him at jacob-at-whytuesday-dot-org.

Barnett A. Zitron, Managing Director

Barnett is a native New Yorker. He is a graduate of the Horace Mann School and New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he studied City Planning and the built environment. Barnett lived abroad in Italy for a year, observing life in the European Union and studying human-figure drawing. He returned to New York with a deep-rooted sense of civic responsibility and enrolled in the Introduction to Architecture Program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning, and began working at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation. Simultaneously, Barnett, reinvigorated and re-launched Why Tuesday? as the nation’s premier video blog for election-related content. Barnett also serves as Executive Director of the Ultimate College Bowl, an unprecedented effort conceived by Why Tuesday? to register every eligible US college student to vote in the 2008 elections. He also blogs for Huffington Post’s Off the Bus. E-mail him at barnett-at-whytuesday-dot-org.

Thomas Macker, Director of Photography and Field Producer

Thomas, a Los Angeles native, earned his BFA in painting from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004. Since graduation, he has worked in various fields of production, serving as researcher, set designer, and editor for commercials, music videos and feature documentaries in both New York and Los Angeles. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Thomas recently attended the Harold Arts Residency and will be curating a related exhibit at the gallery in Chicago. He also works as an artistic and freelance commercial photographer. Click here for Thomas’ website.

AJ Handler, Summer Intern

AJ is a New Yorker and recent graduate of the Horace Mann School. In the Fall, he will attend Washington University in St. Louis, where he is considering pursuing dual degrees in fine arts and liberal arts.

Advisory Board

Andrea Batista Schlesinger
Executive Director, Drum Major Institute

Sam Bell
Director of Advocacy, Genocide Intervention Network

Jeff Berman
Executive Vice President of Marketing and Content, MySpace

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
Executive Producer of Political Programming, and Director of IMPACT, MySpace

James Carmichael
Gary S. Becker Distinguished Fellow, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

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

Steve Grove
Editor, YouTube News & Politics

Leo Hindery, Jr.
InterMedia Partners, LLP

Harold Kaplan
Consultant

Jack Kemp, Why Tuesday? Honorary Co-Chair
Former United States Representative, and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Martin L. King, III
CEO, Realizing the Dream

Becca Kovacik
The Hofflund Company

Mary Lisio
Vice President, Actual Reality Pictures

Kenneth B. Mehlman
Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld LLP, and Former Chairman, Republican National Committee

Nicco Mele
Partner, EchoDitto

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

Massie Ritsch
Communications Director, Center for Responsive Politics

Andrea Ross
Agent, Creative Artists Agency

Liba Rubenstein
Public Affairs, MySpace

Steve Sugerman
President, Sugerman Communications Group

Sara Taylor
Former White House Director of Political Affairs

Sean Treglia
President, The Treglia Group, and President, Los Angeles City Ethics Commission

Joe Trippi
President, Trippi & Associates

Madeline Wachtel

Tova Andrea Wang
Vice President for Research, Common Cause

Gideon Yago
Correspondent, CBS and MTV News

Andrew Young III
President, Young Solutions

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