COUNTING and COLLECTING (Votes and Trash)

Add to calendar Google Calendar iCalendar Outlook 365 Outlook Live About COUNTING AND COLLECTING (Votes and Trash)What becomes visible when policy is counted-and when it is not collected?COUNTING and COLLECTING (Votes and Trash) is an evening organized as a public forum ahead of the November 2026 election to examine the post-election process and the counting of votes and the persistent and highly visible civic issue of illegal dumping. Bringing together elected officials, policymakers, community organizers, and activists, the program considers Houston and Texas in relation to the national political landscape and asks how policy is enacted, experienced, and made visible.VOTES – in anticipation of the November election, looks beyond campaigns and candidates to what happens after a ballot is cast. The counting, certification, administration, and interpretation of election results constitute an essential but largely non-visible infrastructure of democracy.The discussion considers how votes will be counted and can be translated into political capital in Houston and Texas; how local and state electoral systems operate in relation to the national election; and what happens when political authority and policy diverge across municipal, county, state, and federal governments. Rather than a forum to predict the outcome of the election,VOTES asks what structures will determine how that outcome is counted, understood, and ultimately acted upon.TRASH – if the infrastructure surrounding the counting of votes is largely non-visible, illegal dumping is its opposite: an immediately visible manifestation of how public systems and policies fail to operate in equal measure for all. Across Houston, illegally dumped construction debris, household waste, tires, and other materials accumulate in public spaces, with neighborhoods of color disproportionately confronting the consequences. TRASH brings together local activists and organizations working directly on the issue to examine why illegal dumping persists, what policies and enforcement mechanisms currently exist, whether they are effective, and what needs to be done.The discussion asks not simply how trash can be removed, but what its continued accumulation reveals about infrastructure, municipal services, environmental justice, enforcement, public investment, and political responsibility. VOTES | 6PM Moderated by: Molly Cook, Texas State SenatorTeneshia Hudspeth, Harris County Clerk and Chief Election Official Annette Ramirez, Harris County Voter Registrar TRASH | 7:30PM Moderated by: Martin Melosi, University of Houston, Cullen Professor Emeritus of HistoryBryce Randall, Policy Director,Office of Council Member Alejandra Salinas, City of Houston Andrew Beaver, Clean the Block, Houston Joetta Stevenson, Greater Fifth Ward Super Neighborhood President This program is free to attend. RSVP is recommended. RSVP Organizer The forum is a public program organized by political strategist Evan Choate and conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll as a part of their career survey at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, How To Talk Dirty and Influence People curated by Rebecca Matalon. About Molly Cook Senator Molly Cook is a sixth-generation Texan, born and raised in the Houston area. She is a registered nurse and grassroots organizer. She earned her nursing degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her dual nursing and public health graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland). As an emergency room nurse and grassroots organizer, Molly advocated for the health and safety of her neighbors, and she is honored to continue that work from the Texas Senate. Molly’s community advocacy helped pass a citizen-driven amendment to the City of Houston charter, and she has been recognized by the Houston Chronicle as one of Houston’s transportation leaders. About Teneshia Hudspeth Teneshia Hudspeth is the Harris County Clerk and Chief Election Official and has been with the County Clerk’s office for more than 16 years and has served under four County Clerks. She began her career as a Mickey Leland Congressional Intern and went on to work in the County Clerk’s Office as the Public Affairs Administrative Assistant and six positions later was elected Harris County Clerk. Clerk Hudspeth earned her degree in Communications at Texas Southern University (Houston, Texas). She is also a graduate of the Leadership Houston (Class 34) and the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut). Clerk Hudspeth is currently the 1st Vice President of the Houston Chapter of Women Professionals in Government and serves as 2nd Vice President for the Executive Board of the International Association of Government Officials; however, these are only a few of the many community organizations she supports. Clerk Hudspeth’s innate desire to serve the community through volunteer work and leadership positions has taught her that service to the community is not a chore but a way of life. One of the most critical functions of Hudspeth’s office is to maintain, improve, and enhance the integrity of the voter registration rolls. While federal and state law determine the minimum the office must do, there are opportunities to go beyond what’s required to become the state’s leading county for making sure every eligible voter is registered and ready to participate in the democratic process. About Annette Ramirez Annette Ramirez is the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar, elected in 2024 and sworn into office in January 2025. A first-generation Mexican American raised in El Paso, Texas, she earned a bachelor’s degree in maritime administration from Texas A&M University at Galveston (Texas) and a law degree from South Texas College of Law (Houston). Before taking county office, Ramirez spent more than two decades at Aldine Independent School District, where she worked in tax law and served as Assistant General Counsel. Her experience includes property-tax collection and litigation, as well as public service on League City’s Planning and Zoning Commission. About Martin Melosi Martin V. Melosi is Cullen Professor Emeritus of History and founding director of the Center for Public History at the University of Houston (Texas). A pioneering environmental and urban historian, his research examines the histories of cities, energy, infrastructure, water, waste, and environmental justice, with particular attention to Houston and the Gulf Coast. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including Energy Metropolis: An Environmental History of Houston and the Gulf Coast, and received the American Society for Environmental History’s Distinguished Scholar Award in 2016. About Andrew Beaver Andrew Beaver is the founder of Clean the Block Houston, a nonprofit he established in 2024 to address illegal dumping through direct neighborhood cleanup, community organizing, and advocacy. A Houston real-estate developer based in Sunnyside, Beaver created the organization after confronting persistent dumping in the communities where he works, focusing its efforts in Sunnyside and the Third Ward. About Bryce Randall Bryce Anthony Randall is Policy & Advocacy Director in the Office of Houston City Council Member Alejandra Salinas, representing At-Large Position 4. A policy advocate, public servant, and organizer from Houston’s historic Independence Heights neighborhood, he previously served as Senior Advisor for Policy Advocacy in the Office of Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, working with county divisions and community advocates to advance progressive policy. Randall also worked with the Harris County Elections Division on voter engagement, education, and registration. He holds a B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in Sociology, from Texas A&M University (College Station). His work is grounded in the belief that effective public policy must be well-researched, data-driven, and centered on the people most directly affected by it. About Joetta Stevenson Joetta Stevenson is the President of the Greater Fifth Ward Super Neighborhood Council #55 and a longtime advocate for Houston’s historic Fifth Ward who has multigenerational family roots in the neighborhood. Stevenson works to advance affordable housing, environmental justice, accessible transportation, historic preservation, and meaningful resident participation amid ongoing development and displacement. She also serves as an officer with local civic and fair-housing organizations and has been active in efforts addressing contamination and public-health concerns in the Fifth Ward. About Mary Ellen Carroll Mary Ellen Carroll / MEC, studios is a conceptual artist and activist whose work interrogates the political, material, and linguistic structures through which power is organized and made legible. They mobilize public policy, infrastructure, and institutional processes as artistic materials. Carroll is the founder of prototype 180 / Innovation Territories in Houston and co-founded DYKWTCA (Do You Know Where the Children Are?), an initiative addressing the conditions facing immigrant youth. Their career survey, Mary Ellen Carroll: How To Talk Dirty and Influence People, is on view at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston through November 1, 2026. About Evan Choate Evan Choate is a Houston-based community organizer, and campaign manager. He holds a PhD in English from Rice University (Houston, Texas) and is a scholar of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. Choate has taught at Rice University and has worked to connect humanities research with civic life and local organizing, including campaigns for more equitable regional representation in Houston. Upcoming Programs View Calendar