This week the Democracy Fund is excited to welcome Tammy Patrick as a new Senior Advisor for the Elections program. A widely-respected leader in the election administration space, Tammy brings with her a strong background in using data, best practices, and practical approaches to make voting easier. In this new role, Tammy will help lead the Democracy Fund’s efforts to foster a voter-centric elections system and work to provide election officials across the country with the tools and knowledge they need to best serve their voters.
Tammy joins us from the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), where she worked to promote the recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA). BPC has had major successes working in states across the country to advance the PCEA’s recommendations, as identified in our recent progress report, available here. Tammy is also a former Commissioner of the PCEA, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013. As a Commissioner, Tammy was an active contributor to the work that lead to a series of unanimous, bipartisan recommendations on how to improve elections in the United States.
Tammy spent 11 years working to infuse data and innovation in local election practices as a federal compliance officer for the Maricopa County Elections Department in Arizona, where she served over 1.9 million registered voters in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Her long list of accomplishments also includes the U.S. Postal Service’s Mailer’s Technical Advisory Committee, where she works on important issues related to the role the United States Postal Service place in our elections.
In addition to her work with the Democracy Fund, Tammy serves on the steering committee for National Voter Registration Day as well as the board of advisors for the Center for Technology in Civic Life and the MIT Election Data Science Lab. She also teaches Data Analysis for Election Administration for the Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota, which provides a certificate in public administration for election officials.
“We are thrilled to welcome Tammy to our team,” said Adam Ambrogi, Director of the Democracy Fund’s Elections Program. “With her unrivaled expertise on the challenges and nuances of elections administration in the United States and a proven ability to develop relationships with election officials, policy experts, academics, advocates from across the political spectrum, Tammy will be a tremendous asset in helping the Democracy Fund seek new ways to support election officials and improve the voting experience for all voters.”
To learn more about our staff, please visit www.democracyfund.org/who-we-are. We will keep you updated as we continue recruit for several open positions at the Democracy Fund.