Robert Brandon, President and CEO of Fair Elections Center, Will Move to President Emeritus Senior Advisor
Rebekah Caruthers, Current Executive Vice President, to Rise to Role of President and CEO of the Organization
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 11, 2025) – TODAY, Fair Elections Center, a national nonpartisan voting rights organization, announced a leadership transition coinciding with its 20th year. Robert Brandon, Fair Elections Center’s president of two decades, announced that he will be moving into a senior advisor role within the organization on July 1st of this year. Rebekah Caruthers, who has served as Vice President for the last several years, will assume the role of president on that date, marking an exciting new chapter in the organization’s history.
Brandon will continue supporting the organization and advising the new President through the 2026 elections from a new role as Senior Advisor and President Emeritus.
“It has been my privilege to found and lead the Fair Elections Center in the effort to ensure free and fair elections. Over the past two decades, we have fought tirelessly to make voter registration and election processes accessible to all Americans, launched unique initiatives like the Campus Vote Project and Work Elections Project, and litigated groundbreaking cases via our Voting Rights Project legal team,” said Robert Brandon, President of Fair Elections Center. “As I step down, I’m proud of the work the organization has done to protect voters, support election officials and educate a new generation of voting rights advocates.
Every organization can benefit from new leadership, so I am excited to see Rebekah usher in a new era for the organization, and build upon the progress we’ve made for fair and accessible elections for all Americans. Rebekah has dedicated her career to fighting back against bad-faith actors and protecting American’s right to vote.”
“We are grateful to Bob for his commitment and service over the past two decades. His visionary leadership at the helm of the organization has been integral to protecting voting rights all around the country.” said S.David Fineman, Chair and Secretary and Lavita McMath Turner, Vice Chair at Fair Elections Center in a joint statement. “As we look to the future, we are confident that Rebekah will build upon this strong foundation and lead the organization into an exciting new chapter of impact and innovation.”
Over the last 20 years, Fair Elections Center has grown into a leading voting rights organization, helping to expand access to voting among disenfranchised, underrepresented, and marginalized communities. Brandon’s leadership and vision for the organization has been instrumental in empowering millions of Americans to engage in the democratic process, strengthening student participation in elections, recruiting poll workers, and protecting the right to vote through programs and initiatives that include.
- Campus Vote Project: In 2012, Fair Elections Center launched the Campus Vote Project to empower students with the information they need to register and vote. The program works directly with colleges and universities across the country to reduce barriers to student voting. Since the launch of the project, Campus Vote Project has expanded to over 360 campuses across the country where over 4 million students are enrolled, and recruited between 300 and 400 paid student positions to educate student voters to work with college administrators and faculty and to motivate students to cast their ballot.
- Work Elections Project: Fair Elections Center launched WorkElections.org in 2018, building on an earlier prototype of a centralized web portal for poll worker requirements and applications. In 2020, data from the Work Elections Project was used by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to inform its poll worker recruitment portal; WorkElections also used the information to co-found Power the Polls as part of a nationwide effort to dramatically expand poll worker recruitment during the COVID-19 pandemic and to this day.
- Voting Rights Project (Policy Advocacy and Litigation): For nearly two decades, Fair Elections Center’s counsel have worked in tandem with community partners in the states to support their efforts to improve election administration and fight for policies that expand rather than restrict access to the freedom to vote. They have litigated groundbreaking cases aimed at fighting improper voter purges, protecting the rights of naturalized citizens, student voters and returning citizens, discrimination, frivolous ballot disqualification and more. These efforts have been led by the organization’s Voting Rights Project, which aims to fight threats to voting rights through a combination of legal action, advocacy, policy change, education, and resources. Through its policy work, Fair Elections Center supports on-the-ground civic engagement work with its 50-state voting and voter registration drive guides, the latter of which served as a key resource for National Voter Registration Day.
Rebekah Caruthers, who has been the vice-president for over four years, will assume the role of President & CEO of Fair Elections Center having over 20 years of experience working on electoral campaigns and issues, having worked with organizations like MoveOn.org, Everytown for Gun Safety, the National Democratic Training Committee, Equal Justice Works, and the National Network for Arab American Communities. Caruthers worked on the Affordable Care Act in Congressman John Dingell’s office before becoming director of a lobby shop for an energy trade association. She studied law at the University of Nebraska College of Law and studied abroad in South Africa through Howard University School of Law.
“I’m thankful for Bob’s visionary leadership at the Fair Elections Center over the past two decades. His unwavering commitment to making voter registration and election processes accessible to all Americans has transformed voting rights access nationwide,” said Rebekah Caruthers, current Executive Vice President and incoming President of Fair Election Center. “I am excited to build on the work that we have already accomplished, and continue to empower voters and fight for equal access to the ballot box for every American.”
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Fair Elections Center is a non-partisan organization dedicated to safeguarding the future of our democracy through innovative efforts focused on voting rights and civic engagement. We use advocacy, litigation, organizing, education, and technology to protect and expand the right to vote, understanding the particular impact on disenfranchised, underrepresented, and marginalized communities. Through our unique partnerships with hundreds of campuses across the country, we are able to empower millions of new voters to participate in our democracy. Our litigation and advocacy efforts across dozens of states allows us to anticipate and counteract threats to free and fair elections. With our visionary use of technology we are able to support election administration throughout the nation.
