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Keynote Speaker & Honoree

Isabel Longoria
Harris County Elections Administrator

Born of Mexican and French immigrant parents, Isabel is a policy wonk and native Houstonian. A dedicated progressive public servant, she is proud to have held positions with AARP, The Office of State Senator Sylvia R. Garcia and the Office of State Representative Jessica Farrar. Her previous work experience includes political campaigns and working for elected officials in the Houston area, with a focus on Latino and LGBTQIA+ community organizing, urban planning, and civic engagement.

Isabel is proud to have served on the City of Houston’s Planning Commission, the Mayor's LGBTQ Advisory Board, the New Leaders' Council Board, and the Board of the League of Women Voters. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Sociology from Trinity University (San Antonio) and a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs (Austin).

In November 2020 she was appointed as Harris County's first ever Elections Administrator, and served under Interim County Clerk Chris Hollings during the November 2020 Presidential election.

Isabel's goal is to build access for Harris County’s 2.5 million registered and future voters. Under her tenure, elections are administered with a focus on equity, access, fairness, and security – an approach that has led to the adoption of new voting machines, more data transparency, and higher rates of voter turnout in the country’s third largest county.

Other Honorees

Heider Garcia

Tarrant County Elections Administrator

Heider Garcia is a computer engineer of Venezuelan descent. After graduating from Universidad Simón Bolívar in 2003, he started working as a software developer for Smartmatic. Garcia was in charge of voting machine deployment and certification for 12 nationwide election processes, each involving deployment of 30,000 voting machines and a voter registration of 18 million voters on average.

In 2009, he was selected as the Election Systems Manager for the project team to run the 2010 automated elections in the Philippines. Garcia was responsible for customizing the technology, certifying the solution under VVSG standards in the United States, and ensuring 100% compliance with the local legislation. At the end of the project, he also took on the responsibility of answering to both Congress and Senate of the Philippines when the Oversight Committees required information.

Heider Garcia worked for Smartmatic for over 12 years, until early 2016. In April 2016, Garcia became Elections Manager in Placer County, California. For close to two years, he ran the elections in that county, while also creating the Elections Wiki knowledge base for the County and the Customer Satisfaction Program. In February 2018, Heider accepted the position of Elections Administrator of Tarrant County. He implemented the new Electronic Poll Book platform, a new line of voting equipment and joined the Vote Centers program. In July 2020 Tarrant County received an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties in the category of Information Technology for Modernizing Election Systems.

Michael Scarpello

Dallas County Elections Administrator

Michael Scarpello currently serves at the Elections Administrator for Dallas County and has 20 years of experience in elections services and management, having previously served in Nebraska as the Chief Deputy Election Commissioner & Elections Manager from 2000 to 2007, in Colorado as the Director of Elections from 2007 to 2011, in California as the Registrar of Voters from 2011 to 2018, and most recently in Arizona as the Vice President of Election Management Systems.

Scarpello holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Nebraska College of Law, a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and is a Certified Elections & Registration Administrator via the National Association of Election Officials.

When he was running elections in Denver, Scarpello helped pioneer the state’s mail voting system, which has been celebrated by voting rights activists and election security specialists alike.

Bruce Sherbet

Collin County Elections Administrator

Bruce Sherbet began working in elections when he was only 19 years old. He has been serving as the Elections Administrator for Collin County since December 2015 and brings almost 40 years of experience to the appointed position, having served as an elections administrator in Dallas County for 24 years and Ellis County for 2 years.

When asked by Francesca D’Annunzio of the Plano Star Courier how he felt about his job, Sherbet said that he’s passionate about his role because free and fair elections are essential for democracy. “I love it. It’s been my honor to come in here and be a part of something that is real special,” Sherbet said. “This is a very difficult job. You have to have a thicker skin.”

When asked about the importance of his job, Sherbet responded with personal sentiments. “I think democracy is very precious,” he said. “It’s something I hold dear to my heart. I’ve never thought of not wanting to do this job.”

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