Jonathan Brater and Rebecca Ayala
Jonathan Brater serves as counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where his work focuses on voting rights and elections. In this capacity, Mr. Brater has worked on litigation to block enforcement of restrictive voting laws and policies in state and federal court. Mr. Brater has also authored and contributed to Brennan Center publications, including reports, analyses, testimony, and periodical materials.
An expert on voter registration law and policy, Mr. Brater has drafted legislation and published analysis on automatic voter registration and has testified before state and national bodies including the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. His work also focuses on registration list maintenance and the prevention of harmful voter purges, on which subject he authored a paper in 2018. His work also includes extensive analysis of state legislation affecting voting access.
Mr. Brater has contributed to numerous media outlets. The publications in which his written work has been featured include the Boston Review, New York Daily News, and Huffington Post, and he has appeared on BBC World Service, National Public Radio, C-SPAN, and elsewhere.
Mr. Brater graduated cum laude from Michigan Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Michigan Law Review. He received a B.A. from Columbia University with a major in classics. Prior to law school, Mr. Brater was a legislative analyst for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in the United States Congress.
Rebecca Ayala is a Research and Program Associate with the Democracy Program.
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