by Mary Elizabeth Lonergan
Soldier, attorney, father and program manager for The Council of State Governments Program Manager are just a few hats Taylor Lansdale can wear. Husband, captain and proud grandson are a few others.
Lansdale is the program manager for the Overseas Voting Initiative (OVI), a collaboration between CSG and the U.S. Department of Defense through its Federal Voting Assistance Program to educate state policymakers, election officials, and other election community stakeholders about unique voting challenges faced by uniformed services personnel and other U.S. citizens overseas, and methods for improving the voting process for these individuals.
Prior to working for CSG, Lansdale served as a public defender in Kentucky and as a captain in the Kentucky Army National Guard.
“When people would ask me, when I was a kid, what I wanted to do, I told them I wanted to be an army man,” Lansdale said.
Lansdale’s inspiration to serve came from his grandfather, who served in the military, and his great-grandfather, who died while serving in WWII. “I wanted to carry on the tradition,” Lansdale said.
While a public defender, Lansdale came across an opportunity to work for CSG. The job combined his passion for positively impacting others, challenging work and his first-hand knowledge of veteran needs.
Lansadale said he was drawn to “the work that they were doing to make it easier for veteran skills to translate into skilled trades, and then the work occupational licensure does to make it easier on military spouses as they are moving from post to post. I thought that was a cool way to serve the people I was serving with.”
In his role today, Lansdale’s insight is essential to helping policymakers understand the unique needs of military voters.
Lansdale said military service members, including Army National Guard soldiers, stepped up to serve Americans on the front lines of war and during the pandemic.
“It is important for me this Veterans Day to recognize what was asked of Guardsmen and women…some of those folks worked in Louisville during the protests, turned around and ran COVID-19 hospitals, turned around and guarded D.C.,” he said, pointing to the Guard members who were deployed for most of 2020 and 2021.
He said Veterans Day is a special day to honor service members. America calls them heroes. Lansdale calls them friends.
“I do try on Veterans Day to visit my grandfather’s grave, only because he is the one I look up to so much,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to honor my friends who are still doing it. Several of the people I care most about in the world are still in it.”
Lansdale said his time in the Kentucky Army National Guard, along with becoming a husband and father, were the most rewarding experiences of his life.
“The thing I am most proud of is the soldiers that I trained and led who are now very successful officers or noncommissioned officers who are still doing really great things in the Kentucky Army National Guard,” Lansdale said.