Coordinators

Ramon Sevilla brings to the EDA Council lifelong experience in diverse campaigns to secure voter rights and expand access to the electoral process. Beginning with his own emancipation at the age of 16, Ramon became an advocate for full access to the electoral process for emancipated youth.

Ramon became the youngest person appointed to a city commission in Berkeley, CA, first serving on the Youth Employment Council, and later being appointed to the Human Relations and Welfare Commission and the Citizens Budget Review Commission.

After co-authoring the Youth Law Handbook for Berkeley Youth Alternatives, Ramon was appointed to the White House Council on Youth during President Carter’s administration.

As a student at UC Berkeley, Ramon was a founding member of the Steering Committee for Campuses United Against Apartheid, organizing colleges and universities to divest their investments in companies doing business with the then-apartheid government of South Africa.

In 1985 and 1986 he served as a volunteer consultant on the Election Monitoring Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, developing an election infrastructure for South Africa.

Ramon has long been an advocate for the rights of all citizens to vote, having served as director of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project (1979–1981), chair of the Voting Rights Committee for the Hispanic Caucus of the California State Democratic Party (1983–1985), and national co-chair of the National Consultation for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (1986–1991).

As a member of the Hispanic Caucus of the State of California Democratic Central Committee (1983-1985) Ramon led the drive to amend the Simpson, Rodino, Mazzoli Bill (Immigration Reform Act) to extend voting access to U.S. residents in the process of obtaining naturalized citizenship. Although that amendment was omitted from the final bill, Ramon and the National Consultation on Immigrants and Refugees were successful in increasing by millions the quota numbers allowing persons to apply for the amnesty program that became part of the Immigration Reform Act.

Ramon has also been at the forefront of the movements to secure workers collective bargaining rights and fair living wage, having served as legal and community affairs director for the Teamsters and United Farm Workers unions
(1983–1985).

Ramon is currently a project coordinator with Organizing for America, Neighbor to Neighbor, and the Latino Census Development Project, all projects that emphasize the primary importance of voting rights in struggles to fulfill every other human right.

He is active with Organizing for America in promoting uniform laws in all states to restore full voting and constitutional rights to citizens convicted of nonviolent felonies who have completed their sentencing, or who have had their convictions overturned or their sentences commuted.

Ramon has served as a Contra Costa County (CA) Election Board Member and Inspector since 2000. He brings his experience supervising pollworkers and monitoring the election process as a county elections inspector to his role as Co-Cooridinator for the EDA Election Monitoring Working Group.

In his professional work life, Ramon Sevilla is the chief technical officer for a National WIFI/WIMAX internet implementation company with its main office in San Jose, California.