Donald A. DeBats
Don DeBats is the Principal Investigator of the First Vote Project. His research interests cover contemporary and past US politics; he is a frequent commentator on current US politics and has written extensively on US political history. DeBats is Professor and Head of American Studies at Flinders University in Australia and Director of the Jeff Bleich Center for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security and Governance. His research appointments include the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Humanities Center of the United States, and Virginia Humanities at the University of Virginia. He has been a Visiting Professor at the College of William and Mary in the United States and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. His degrees are from Michigan State University (Mathematics) and the University of Wisconsin, Madison (MA, History) and PhD (major field: American History; minor field; Political Science).
Sarah John
Sarah John is the Project Manager of the First Vote project. She has a Ph.D. and law degree from Flinders University in Australia. She has published on election systems reform and political history. In recent years, she has managed research at D.C. - area nonprofits, including the Sunlight Foundation, FairVote, and the Legal Services Corporation. When not researching, John enjoys hiking with her two pugs.
Morgan Tompkins
Morgan Tompkins was the Research Associate for the First Vote project. Tompkins is a recent graduate of the College of William & Mary, where she studied Public Policy and Data Science. Her research interests focus on using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical analysis to study community and political behavior, and has studied this in historical, domestic, and international contexts. Her work on the First Vote project includes providing support in polling and census data entry, statistical and GIS analysis, and copy editing. Outside of her research interests, Tompkins enjoys going on trail runs and cooking with her housemates.
Catherine Cartwright
Catherine Cartwright provided research services to the First Vote project. Cartwright is a freelance research historian with a Masters in Anthropology from George Washington University. For the last ten years, her research has been primarily focused on the mid 19th through early 20th century in the Mid-Atlantic and Central United States. She has also done research for archaeological projects in Alexandria, Virginia. She enjoys working on projects designed to make history understandable to the general public.
