Election Policy in the Second Trump Administration

Jonathan Brater is the Director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections, appointed in January 2020 by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. As Michigan’s chief election officer, he oversees the administration of all statewide elections, working closely with local election officials to ensure secure, transparent, and accessible elections. He has led the implementation of major election reforms in Michigan, including automatic and online voter registration, expanded absentee voting, and post-election audits. 

Before joining the Bureau, Brater served as Legal Policy Director for the Michigan Department of State, where he coordinated the work of the Secretary’s Election Modernization Advisory Committee and Election Security Advisory Commission. He previously worked as counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program, where he partnered with election officials nationwide to modernize voter registration systems. A nationally recognized expert on voter registration law and policy, Brater earned his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was executive editor of the Michigan Law Review.

Karen Brinson Bell served as Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections from 2019 to 2025, leading the agency responsible for administering elections, overseeing 100 county boards of elections, and ensuring campaign finance compliance in a state with more than 7 million registered voters. During her tenure, she oversaw more than 10 statewide elections, including the 2020 presidential election—the largest in North Carolina’s history—conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She also managed special and primary elections impacted by natural disasters and public health emergencies, coordinating closely with state and federal partners to safeguard election security and voter confidence.

Brinson Bell has more than two decades of experience in election administration, including service as director of the Transylvania County Board of Elections and as a district elections technician for the State Board supporting counties across western North Carolina. Before her appointment as executive director, she was deputy director of the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center, where she worked nationally to assist election administrators with implementing ranked choice voting.

Judd Choate is the Colorado Elections Director and the Advisory Board Chair and Faculty for the Humphrey School of Public Affairs' Certificate in Election Administration program. Judd was the president of the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) in 2017 and served on the Executive Committee of the Government Coordinating Council (GCC) created by the Department of Homeland Security when elections were designated critical infrastructure. Judd was formerly a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska and author of a book and several peer-reviewed articles on political behavior.

Amy Cohen is the Executive Director of the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), where she works with election officials from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories, as well as with federal partners including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). She has testified before the U.S. Senate on multiple occasions, including a 2022 Judiciary Committee hearing on threats to election officials and a 2018 Intelligence Committee hearing on election security.

Cohen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Matt Crane is the Executive Director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, representing the state’s 63 elected county clerks and recorders. In this role, he oversees the association’s operations, legislative advocacy, member support, and professional development. He also serves as an election security consultant with the Lafayette Group, supporting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Election Security Initiative by strengthening partnerships among election officials, technology providers, and political organizations, and by developing tools to address election security risks.

Crane has more than 20 years of experience in election administration, including 19 years as an election official at the state and county levels. From 2013 to 2018, he served as Clerk and Recorder of Arapahoe County, Colorado, where he emphasized election security, transparency, and public trust, and helped expand access to voting. He is a nationally Certified Elections/Registration Administrator (CERA) through the Election Center and Auburn University, and also a Colorado Certified Election Administrator.

Bo Dul is an attorney with extensive experience in election, political, and public law, shaped by nearly two decades across government, private practice, and nonprofit organizations. She most recently served as General Counsel to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, where she led the governor’s legal team, managed high-profile litigation, and advised on judicial appointments, executive orders, and state agency matters. Previously, she held senior roles in the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, including General Counsel and State Elections Director, overseeing statewide election systems, shaping policy, and defending election procedures in state and federal courts.

In private practice, Dul represents government entities, officials, candidates, nonprofit organizations, and others on matters involving election administration, constitutional law, voting rights, campaign finance, and related litigation. She also has experience in complex commercial litigation, compliance, and internal investigations. Recognized for her civic leadership and public service, she collaborates on local and national initiatives to strengthen democracy and civil rights. Dul is trilingual in English, Spanish, and Khmer.

Larry Jacobs is the McKnight Presidential Chair, the Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair for Political Studies, and the founder and director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Dr. Jacobs has published 17 books and edited volumes and more than 100 articles on elections and public opinion, legislative and presidential politics, and health policy. He has also published in mainstream outlets including New York Times, Washington Post, Star Tribune, and more. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Neal Kelley is the retired Registrar of Voters for Orange County, California, the fifth-largest voting jurisdiction in the United States, where he served from 2005 to 2022 overseeing elections for more than 1.9 million registered voters. During his tenure, he led the county through its largest election cycles, managed voter registration and petition verification, and earned numerous state and national awards for election administration, including recognition as “Public Official of the Year” by iGO and multiple appearances on the Orange County Register’s “100 Most Influential” list.

Kelley has played a significant role in shaping national election policy, serving as a founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Election Security Task Force, chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Board of Advisors, and a member of the National Academies’ Committee on the Future of Voting. He has testified before Congress, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and multiple state legislatures. Since retiring, Kelley has continued to support election administration as statewide project manager for Hawaii’s 2024 elections, an instructor in election management at the University of Minnesota, and Chair Emeritus of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections. He holds a B.S. in Business and Management from the University of Redlands and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.

Howard Knapp was appointed Executive Director of the South Carolina State Election Commission in January 2022 and confirmed by the State Senate in March 2023. As South Carolina’s Chief Election Official, he oversees the conduct of all primary, general, and special elections, supervises county election boards, and serves as the agency’s liaison to the General Assembly. He also manages the state’s voter registration and voting systems, post-election audits, and training and certification programs for county election officials.

Previously, Knapp served as Interim Executive Director and Director of Voter Services, where he led initiatives in election technology, cybersecurity, ballot coding, and election audits. He has more than a decade of experience in South Carolina’s legislative and executive branches and serves on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Standards Board, the Board of Directors for the Electronic Registration Information Center, and the National Association of State Election Directors. He is a Certified Election and Registration Administrator, a graduate of South Carolina’s Certified Public Manager program and Leadership Columbia, and holds an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard Kennedy School. Knapp earned his J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law and his B.A. from The Citadel.

Justin Levitt is a leading scholar of election law and democratic governance. He served as the White House’s first Senior Policy Advisor for Democracy and Voting Rights from 2021 to 2022, where he focused on ensuring secure, equitable access to voting, reinforcing representation at all government levels, rebuilding public trust in democratic institutions, and expanding civic participation. Prior to that, he was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, where he led efforts on voting rights enforcement and protections against workplace discrimination.

Earlier in his government service, Levitt served as National Voter Protection Counsel during the 2008 presidential campaign, helping ensure that tens of millions of citizens were able to vote and have their votes counted. These roles build on his deep engagement in election policy, redistricting, and voter access—key areas at the intersection of law and democracy.

Nick Lima has served as Registrar and Director of Elections for Cranston, Rhode Island, since 2017, overseeing eight statewide elections in the state’s second-largest city. He has led initiatives to secure increased grant funding for election administration, strengthen municipal-level cybersecurity, and coordinate major efforts such as Cranston’s 2020 Census Complete Count Committee and the city’s 2021–22 redistricting process.

Lima is active in election policy and security at the state and national levels. He serves on the Election Assistance Commission’s Local Leadership Council and Standards Board, is a member of the Election Verification Network, and participates in the MS/EI-ISAC. In Rhode Island, he has contributed to numerous statewide task forces on election security, HAVA implementation, COVID-19 planning, and risk-limiting audits. A U.S. Army veteran, Lima holds a B.A. in Communications from Rhode Island College and lives in Coventry, where he serves on the local fire district board.

Ryan Macias is an election technology and cybersecurity expert and the former Acting Director of the Testing and Certification Program at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. He also spent a decade as an election technology analyst with the California Secretary of State.

Macias is the founder of RSM Election Solutions, where he advises on election technology and cybersecurity. He also works with the Lafayette Group on infrastructure security, helping develop strategies for governments and private sector partners to mitigate risks to critical infrastructure. In addition, he has served as an observer in election audits and recounts and is a member of the National Task Force on Election Crises, which provides nonpartisan guidance to protect the integrity of elections during periods of stress.

Jennifer Morrell is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Elections Group, where she creates professional resources for elections officials and consults on election administration, security and auditing. A nationally recognized expert on election audits – specifically, Risk-Limiting Audits (RLA) – Morrell has successfully overseen RLA pilot programs in several states and authored a series on election audits, titled “Knowing It’s Right.” She serves as a subject matter expert and advisory board member for a number of national organizations. Morrell is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and was an elections official in Utah and Colorado. She completed a Master of Arts in Management at Webster University.

Rachel Orey is the director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Elections Project, where they lead the organization’s work on election administration policy and professionalization. Their research emphasizes evidence-based, data-driven reforms to ensure elections are secure, accessible, and trustworthy. Orey frequently serves as an expert source for outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and Votebeat, and regularly represents BPC at state and national conferences. 

Before joining BPC, Orey supported research at the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies program on congressional oversight, election administration, and the Federal Reserve, and previously served as a legislative intern for then–U.S. Senator Kamala Harris. They hold a Master of Public Policy and Certificate in Data Science from George Washington University and are an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law.

Gowri Ramachandran is the Director of Elections and Security in the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program, where she focuses on election security, election administration, and combating disinformation. Previously, she was a professor of law at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, teaching constitutional law, employment discrimination, and critical race theory, and directing the Ninth Circuit Appellate Litigation Clinic. She also served on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Fairness Committee.

Her scholarship has appeared in the Election Law Journal, North Carolina Law Review, and Yale Law Journal Online, among others. Ramachandran holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Yale College, an M.A. in Statistics from Harvard University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. She clerked for Judge Sidney R. Thomas on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Justin Riemer has nearly 15 years of experience in election law and administration, advising public officials and political organizations on voting rights and election policy. He served as Deputy Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, where he oversaw implementation of the state’s 2011 redistricting process, the 2012 presidential election, and the 2013 gubernatorial election. During his tenure, he helped draft and implement election reforms, including Virginia’s photo ID requirement and online voter registration.

Riemer later served as Chief Counsel of the Republican National Committee (2018–2022) and as counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. He has testified before Congress and state legislatures, written extensively on election law, and is a Senate-appointed member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Board of Advisors. He holds a B.A. from Gettysburg College and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law.