ORLANDO, Fla. – Floridians have a lot on their ballots this year and the state could see some drastic changes, depending on which way the votes go.
To help voters make sense of it all, News 6 anchor Lisa Bell will host an election night roundtable with a panel of experts who will help break down the big issues and what they will mean for you.
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Starting at 7 p.m., the roundtable will be streaming live in the media player at the top of this story and on the News 6 YouTube page, which will feature a live chat where you can have your questions answered by our panel of experts.
Below is a list of the experts who be taking part in this special hour of coverage:
LeRoy Pernell
LeRoy Pernell is a professor and former dean of Florida A&M University College of Law. He is credited with leading the law school to full accreditation from the American Bar Association in 2009 and reaccreditation in 2014. He is also professor emeritus and former dean of the Northern Illinois University College of Law.
He began his career in legal education at The Ohio State University College of Law where he served as Professor of Law and Vice Provost of Minority Affairs. Teaching primarily in the areas of Criminal Procedure, Torts and Juvenile Law, he also created clinical education courses at Ohio State in the areas of Mental and Developmental Disability as well as Criminal Appeals and Post-Conviction Relief. At Northern Illinois University, he created the Zeke Giogi Legal Clinic, in Rockford, the first clinical program for the NIU College of Law. Professor Pernell has also held the position of a public defender and served as counsel to the law practice of the late Otto Beatty, Jr, former Ohio state representative.
Professor Pernell is a frequent contributor to both national and local print and electronic media on topics ranging from Elections to Criminal Justice. In 2021 he was awarded, along with the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law, the Telly Award honoring excellence in video and television across all screens for his contribution to Legal Connections: Ocoee Massacre. He has testified before the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives regarding pending federal habeas corpus legislation and its impact on persons of color. He is also the recipient of numerous awards including the CLEO EDGE AWARD and has been inducted into The National HBCU Pre-Law Hall of Fame.
Pernell recently published, along with Professor Omar Saleem, Cases and Materials on Combatting Racism in Criminal Procedure (Vandeplas Press 2020). He has published a wide range of articles and book chapters in the areas of criminal procedure, race and the law, torts and sports law. Among his most recent articles are “In Memoriam: David Williams II – Mentor, Colleague, Friend”, 81 Ohio St. L.J. 11 (2020) and “Racial Justice and Federal Habeas Corpus as Post-Conviction Relief from State Convictions”,69 Mercer Law Review 433 (2018).
Pernell earned his bachelor’s degree in government from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1971, and received his Juris Doctor from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1974.
Patrick Rickert
Patrick Rickert is an assistant professor of political science at Rollins College, where he specializes in American national politics, public policy and data analytics. His research has been featured in The Hill and Vox, and he has appeared on multiple Central Florida local news outlets discussing the 2024 election. Patrick received his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis and has degrees in history and politics from the University of Alabama.
Dr. Fernando Rivera
Dr. Fernando I. Rivera currently serves as a professor of sociology and founding director of the Puerto Rico Research Hub at UCF, with a mission to investigate the Puerto Rican population and demographic trends to better inform public policy decisions. Rivera is recognized as one of the foremost authorities for information on Puerto Rican and other Hispanic issues in the state of Florida.
Sean Snaith
Sean Snaith, Ph.D., is the director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting and a nationally recognized economist in the field of economics, forecasting, analysis and market-sizing. He has been recognized by Bloomberg News as one of the country’s most accurate economic forecasters and has served as a consultant for both local governments and multinational corporations.
Snaith is frequently interviewed by national and international media and is a sought-after speaker known for his engaging and humorous presentations. He has built a national reputation for his unique ability to explain complex subject matter in a digestible manner. He earned praise from one business editor for having “an uncanny knack of making economics not only understandable but interesting.” Before joining UCF’s College of Business, Snaith held faculty positions at Pennsylvania State University, American University in Cairo, the University of North Dakota and the University of the Pacific.
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