Advocates call for Shapiro to extend automatic voter registration to social service agencies

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Kathy Boockvar recently spoke with the Pennsylvania Capital-Star about the challenges of and decline in voter registrations through social services agencies in recent years in PA, and efforts to improve registration accessibility for vulnerable communities. Boockvar spoke about the advantages of Automatic Voter Registration (AVR), a more efficient and automated process that not only is … Read more

Athena Strategies Misinformation Roundup – April 8, 2024

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One of Athena Strategies’ core missions is to amplify understanding and civil discourse about elections in the U.S. – seeking to counter the spread of harmful mis and disinformation and working to rebuild trust in our electoral system.   Towards this end – Welcome to Misinformation Roundup, your periodic bulletin of viral rumors that never happened! … Read more

Poll Workers Are Urgently Needed Across the Country

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Calling all advocates for democracy! Over 400 election jurisdictions across 43 states are urgently seeking poll workers to support upcoming elections. Poll workers play a vital role in ensuring everyone can exercise their right to vote.  Poll workers support their local election administrators and help to ensure safe, fair, and efficient elections in their communities. … Read more

Kathy Boockvar Receives Distinguished Alumni Award from American University Washington College of Law

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We are very proud and excited to announce that Athena Strategies President Kathy Boockvar is being awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from her law school, the American University Washington College of Law! This award recognizes a member of the WCL alumni community for their exceptional professional and personal achievements, extraordinary distinction in their chosen field, and demonstrated … Read more

Are PA voter rolls clean? How Nearly 1M voters were removed two years ago

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Kathy Boockvar recently conversed with the USA Today Network about effective methods that would help ensure Pennsylvania’s voter registration rolls are as up to date and accurate as possible, as well as help combat misinformation surrounding voter registration. Boockvar discussed areas in which improvements could be made to ensure accurate and safe elections, including the … Read more

Experts war-gamed what might happen if deepfakes disrupt the 2024 election. Things went sideways fast.

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Athena Strategies President Kathy Boockvar recently spoke with NBC News about her participation in a “war-game” simulation during the 2024 presidential election cycle, organized by The Future US. The Future US is a nonprofit that works to identify, inform, and prevent disruptions from AI and other technologies by strengthening cross-sector partnerships and advancing effective policy. … Read more

Committee for Safe and Secure Elections Releases Updated Recommendations to Help Thwart Swatting

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Key resource alert: The Committee for Safe and Secure Elections (CSSE) recently released updated recommendations to help thwart swatting attempts that aim to intimidate and silence targeted individuals. Swatting, where false emergency calls are made to draw a heavily armed police response (SWAT team) to a specific location, is highly dangerous and disruptive to safety … Read more

Officials in Pa., around the U.S. race to secure elections in ‘a new era’ of unprecedented threats

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Kathy Boockvar was recently interviewed by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about challenges in the lead-up to the 2024 election, including the increase in threats against election officials since 2020. Boockvar discussed her work with the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections (CSSE) to support and strengthen protections for election officials, voters, and infrastructure. They discussed … Read more

Kathy Boockvar Speaks at American University Washington College of Law’s Administrative Law Review Symposium

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Kathy Boockvar was honored to be invited to her law school alma mater, American University Washington College of Law, to speak at their Administrative Law Review’s symposium on the Future of U.S. Elections and Democracy. Boockvar was delighted to share the stage with Marcus A.R. Childress and Sarah Brannon, and to hear their insights as well as … Read more

McClelland’s Pa. Treasurer campaign raised and spent money months before it officially existed

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Kathy Boockvar was recently interviewed by Pennsylvania Capital-Star about Pennsylvania’s Campaign Finance laws, fundraising, and reporting requirements for candidates. Boockvar spoke about the insufficient enforcement authority defined under Pennsylvania law, combined with insufficient funding allocated by the legislature.     “I think we’re dealing with laws that don’t have sufficient enforcement mechanisms combined with a lack of … Read more

Third-party candidates’ ‘extraordinarily difficult’ task to attract voters, get on ballot

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Kathy Boockvar spoke with USA Today about the challenges of the existing two-party system, including restrictions on independents voting in primaries and hurdles third-party candidates face when trying to get on the ballot. Under Pennsylvania’s laws barring independents from voting in the primary, Boockvar explained that this leads to more extreme members of the electorate … Read more

Athena Strategies Announces Inaugural Class of Tech & Public Policy Democracy Fellows

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Athena Strategies is excited to welcome our inaugural Tech & Public Policy Democracy Fellows from Georgetown University. Nazli Togrul is a Master’s student in the Communication, Culture, and Technology program at Georgetown, where she researches misinformation, content moderation, artificial intelligence and digital law and policy. She works on verifying misleading narratives circulating online and has … Read more