Lawrence Norden is vice president of the Elections and Government Program, where he leads the Brennan Center’s efforts to bring balance to campaign funding, break down barriers keeping Americans from participating in politics, ensure that U.S. election infrastructure is secure and accessible to every voter, and protect elections from disinformation and foreign interference.
Norden is a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s board of advisors. In 2009, he served as chair of the Ohio secretary of state’s bipartisan Election Summit and Conference, authoring a report to the state of Ohio on improving its election laws. The bipartisan Ohio Association of Election Officials and The Columbus Dispatch praised the report for “following an independent path.”
Norden’s work has been featured in national media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He has testified before Congress and several state legislatures on numerous occasions. He is the lead author of The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World (Academy Chicago Press, 2006) and is a contributor alongside his Brennan Center colleague Ian Vandewalker to Defending Democracies: Combating Foreign Interference in a Digital Age (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Norden is a recipient of the Usability Professionals Association’s Usability in Civic Life Award (2009) for his “pioneering work to improve elections” and the Election Verification Network’s John Gideon Memorial Award (2022) for his “effective advocacy . . . to encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy.” He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and NYU School of Law.
Articles & Commentary
U.S. Elections Are Still Not Safe From Attack, Foreign Affairs, July 23, 2019
Mueller’s Latest Indictment Suggests Russia’s Infiltration of U.S. Election Systems Could Get Worse, Slate, July 16th, 2018
The Secret Power Behind Local Elections, New York Times, June 25, 2016