Derek Paulhus is a Research and Program Associate in the Democracy Program where he focuses on voting rights and elections. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Paulhus taught English for Miami-Dade County Public Schools through Teach for America, and co-founded an organizing group working on educational equity and the digital divide. He also interned with Amnesty International USA, the Center for International Policy, and the Law Office of the Public Defender for Broward County.
Paulhus graduated from Harvard University with honors in 2019, receiving his B.A. in Government and Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights. While at Harvard, Paulhus co-founded the Harvard Votes Challenge, the university’s first campus-wide voter initiative, and served as the chair of the Community Action Committee. His honors thesis focused on the voting trends and political and social perceptions of people in the Midwest to understand why voters in the region swung from voting Democrat to Republican between the elections of 2008 and 2016.