About Think the Vote

Voting is more than just turning 18 and walking up to the voting booth. It requires thought and intent in order to make an educated decision. Think the Vote is a website run by the Bill of Rights Institute. Our goal is to connect you with resources to think critically about the things going on around you. This will also equip you with the skills and information to engage in healthy civil discourse with fellow citizens.

Will you think the vote?

The Bill of Rights Institute has assembled a talented team to create each of our programs and resources, including a full-time staff with more than 100 years combined experience in the classroom. In addition, we partner with experts, including outstanding secondary school teachers; academics from the fields of American history, political science, and constitutional law; video producers; web site developers and designers; and evaluation and curriculum experts to create engaging materials for students, teachers and parents to use in the classroom and in their daily lives.

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Staff

Gary Colletti

Senior Manager, Teacher & Student Programs: Gary Colletti is the Manager of Teacher Professional Development at the Bill of Rights Institute. Prior to joining Institute, he was a policy associate at the National Association of State Boards of Education. His background also includes teaching for fourteen years in high schools in New York City and Richmond, VA. His classes and programs included history, philosophy, sociology, and theatre. Gary studied education policy at the George Washington University, education at Hofstra University, and philosophy at Binghamton University.

David Bobb

President: David joined the Bill of Rights Institute as president in 2013 and has worked for twenty years at the intersection of civic engagement and education reform. Having taught courses in American politics and public policy in the history and political science departments of Boston College and Hillsdale College, he was also founding director of a national civic education program for high school teachers at Hillsdale College, as well as the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Studies, in Washington, D.C. David has designed online educational programs used by more than half a million participants and is a nationally-recognized proponent of civic education that engages the hearts and minds of students. Author of Humility: An Unlikely Biography of America’s Greatest Virtue (HarperCollins, 2013), David has written for the Wall Street Journal and Fast Company, among many other publications. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from Boston College, where he received fellowships from the Pew, Earhart, and Bradley Foundations.

Josh Schmid

Why is Civil Discourse so important to you?: Civil discourse is an essential feature of our political system. It provides a way for us to express our opinions in a way that respects the rights of others who may disagree.

What Key Issue are you most passionate about?: Foreign Policy. I love studying the ways in which our foreign policy has changed throughout history, as well as keeping up on current events in the modern day.

If you could be in any branch of government, which would it be?: Judicial. I enjoy studying the Constitution and the different ways it has been interpreted.

If you could spend a day with one founding father, who would it be and what would you do?: Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was one of the most eccentric Founders, who also had a great sense of humor. I would enjoy just talking with him and picking his brain.