{"id":285,"date":"2023-09-25T17:54:43","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T21:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/florida\/resources\/common-cause-florida-v-byrd-plaintiffs\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T16:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T20:45:13","slug":"common-cause-florida-v-byrd-plaintiffs","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/florida\/resources\/common-cause-florida-v-byrd-plaintiffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Cause Florida v. Byrd Plaintiffs"},"template":"","class_list":["post-285","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry","resource_type-litigation"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Learn more about the Floridians that have joined Common Cause Florida, FairDistricts Now, and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP to challenge the discriminatory congressional map in Florida.","featured_image":"","resource_type":166,"authors":"","related_issues":[62,402],"related_work":[165],"location":12},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Cassandra Brown<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nCassandra Brown, a graduate of FAMU Law,\u00a0is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of All About the Ballots, a grassroots civic engagement initiative focusing on increased voter education and participation, overall civic engagement, and empowerment in\u00a0Black communities. She also served as a Fellow with the NAACP Florida\u2019s Legal Redress Committee and the Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council. She is currently the Chair for the Lake County table of the Black Women\u2019s Roundtable under the Florida Coalition of Black Civic Participation.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nPreviously, Ms. Brown was the President of the ACLU Central Florida chapter. She was elected to the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District Board as Supervisor for seat 3, a non-partisan office, where she was the only Black elected official at the county level.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n

Peter Butzin<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nPeter Butzin became Florida Common Cause\u2019s first Executive Director in 1976. During his tenure, he worked to support the Sunshine Amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, and much more. He has spent years lobbying for ethics, election, campaign finance, and redistricting reforms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nFrom 1987-2015, Mr. Butzin served as a National Governing Board Member for Common Cause, where he chaired the States Committee and was vice-chair of the Finance Committee. He currently serves\u00a0as a Board Member for Common Cause Florida\u2019s Advisory Board and previously served as a Board Member for the Tallahassee League of Women Voters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n

Dorothy Inman-Johnson<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nDorothy Inman-Johnson was the first Black woman <\/span>appointed in 1984 to fill an unexpired term, and then the first elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in 1986<\/span>. She served from 1986-1994. She <\/span>served two terms as Mayor in 1989-90 and 1993-94. <\/span>She formerly served on the Advisory Board of Common Cause Florida. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAfter her time on the City Commission, Ms. Inman-Johnson served as the City Manager of Midway, Florida. She spent 28 years <\/span>as a public-school teacher in the Leon County School District and the FSU K-12 Lab School;<\/span> and fourteen <\/span>years<\/span> as Executive Director of the Capital Area Community Action Agency, an organization that helps low-income families. Ms. Inman-Johnson currently serves on the boards of the South City Foundation and the Council on the Status of Men and Boys.\u00a0 She is the author of <\/span>Poverty, Politics, and Race in America <\/span><\/i><\/b>and<\/span> TALLAHASSEE's BLACK HISTORY FIRSTS: Post Reconstruction Era<\/span><\/i><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

Veatrice Holifield Farrell<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nVeatrice Farrell is the Director of Digital Inclusion St. Pete. As Director, she aims to help residents, regardless of age and economic status, have the tools necessary for education, employment, and quality of life through the expansion of access to equipment, internet, training, and support.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nPreviously, Ms. Farrell served as Executive Director of Deuces Live, Inc. The company aims to stimulate and restore viability to the 22nd Street South corridor (The Deuces). Prior to joining Deuces Live, Ms. Farrell worked in the banking, loan, and financial industries for nearly 25 years. In 2020-21, she received the Gathering of Women\u2019s Men & Women of Distinction Community Building and Public Service Award and the City of St. Petersburg 2021 Sunshine Ambassador Award. In 2022, she was nominated for the St. Petersburg Chamber Good Burger Award.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n

Nancy Ratzan<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nNancy Ratzan is the Vice Chair of the Common Cause Governing Board. She is a lawyer and community activist who champions women\u2019s rights and social justice. Ms. Ratzan was previously the national president of the National Council of Jewish Women and has led national awareness and advocacy campaigns focused on reproductive freedom, women\u2019s economic security and judicial nominations. She served on President Obama\u2019s Advisory Council to the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2009-2010).\u202f She founded Stop Sex Trafficking Miami, a collaborative community campaign to raise awareness about the sale of children for sex in order to engender the public activism and political will needed to create change. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAdditional Individual Plaintiffs Include: <\/strong>Charlie Clark, Brenda Holt, Rosemary McCoy, Leo R. Stoney, and Myrna Young\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Read More About Our Case<\/a>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Related Work","manually_curate":true,"work":["{\"site_id\":\"45\",\"post_type\":\"work\",\"post_id\":284}"]}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_resources","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_resources":{"heading":"Related Resources","button_text":"See all Related Resources","manually_curate":false,"resource":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\nCommon Cause Florida v. Byrd Plaintiffs - Common Cause Florida<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/florida\/resources\/common-cause-florida-v-byrd-plaintiffs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Common Cause Florida v. 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