Kevin Johnson is the founder and executive director of the Election Reformers Network, which advocates for rule changes in U.S. elections from the perspective of global best practices. He has 19 years of experience in election-reform programming and is on the advisory boards of Fairvote, Issue One, American Promise and Voter Choice Massachusetts.
Johnson was recently named as a senior member of the Carter Center's Expert Study Team for the 2020 elections, the center's first foray into U.S. elections in its 30-plus-year history. On the board of Common Cause Massachusetts for 10 years, Johnson participated in successful reform campaigns to establish automatic voter registration, early voting and online registration.
In the 1990s, Johnson spent several years working in democracy support and election monitoring overseas with the National Democratic Institute. He also co-founded an investment advisory firm focused on venture capital and private equity in emerging markets. He has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in English literature from Yale University.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
State legislatures and Congress are ill-suited — and too partisan — for the task of weighing evidence when elections are contested. Judicial supervision of these disputes is the norm in most democracies.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
With new threats of 'faithless legislatures' ignoring the popular vote, reform is more urgent than ever. Allocating electoral votes proportionately would avoid election disasters and could have bipartisan appeal.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Secretaries of state too often have acted in partisan ways. Especially this year, we need them to show impartiality. And longer-term, we need to re-think how we choose the people who oversee voting.