Lawrence Norden

Lawrence Norden is the senior director of the Elections & Government Program, where he leads the Brennan Center’s work in a variety of areas, including its effort to bring balance to campaign funding and break down barriers that keep 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. His work has been featured in media outlets across the country, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and National Public Radio. He has testified before Congress and several state legislatures on numerous occasions.

In 2009, Norden 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 that state’s election laws. The report was endorsed by the bipartisan Ohio Association of Election Officials and the Columbus Dispatch, which praised the report for “following an independent path.” He is the lead author of the book The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World (Academy Chicago Press, 2006) and with his Brennan Center colleague Ian Vandewalker, a contributor to Defending Democracies: Combatting Foreign Interference in a Digital Age (Oxford University Press, 2021). 

Norden is a recipient of the Usability Professional 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.