On the heels of long lines for the first day of early voting and the President having a rally in Macon on Friday, one of the nation’s foremost experts on election security and voting procedures will speak and take questions at The Grand Opera House on Saturday at 7:30 PM. Cathy Cox is the current Mercer Law School Dean and the former Secretary of State of Georgia. This background means that few people have the depth of knowledge that Cox does on the subject.

Macon Masters is a brand-new flagship series of speakers at The Grand featuring bold leaders in Central Georgia with the vision to tackle today’s most vital questions. The Grand will bring people together both locally and virtually around the world, with in-person and digital access experiences available, making the series accessible to all audiences in this vulnerable climate.

Let your voice be heard: A unique three-part structure puts audience members in the driver’s seat of listening and learning. The evening begins with a master talk given by the leader. Then, the audience will submit their most pressing thoughts to be answered live onstage in a Q&A. There will be an opportunity for a post-event chat in an online forum much the way one might discuss with a neighbor as walking out of the theatre or at a local bar after the show. This is an opportunity to bridge a connection to Central Georgians from different backgrounds. The moderated discussion will start 30 minutes after the end of the event to allow people to settle in.

Who is Cathy Cox? Reflecting contemporary topics and ideas, the 2020-2021 Macon Masters series will focus on the values of health, education, equity, citizenship, and leadership starting with Cathy Cox. Cox broaches the topic of election security in October of a presidential election year, as the nation looks at Georgia as one of the critical deciding states.  

As the Secretary of State of Georgia, for eight years Cox oversaw every aspect of implementing Georgia’s election system. She moved the largest division of the office from Atlanta to Macon and instituted Georgia’s first universal electronic voting system to improve the accuracy of the state’s elections, making Georgia the first American state to do so. Cox has been recently quoted in national news like The New York Times and The Associated Press for her expertise on voting, and now she’ll answer questions at The Grand in the midst of ballots being cast.