Description

Position Overview
Voting Rights Lab, a national nonpartisan 501(c)(3), and its 501(c)(4) affiliate are fighting the state-level battles that will shape elections in 2026, 2028, and for decades to come. In 2025 alone, we stopped a wave of proof-of-citizenship mandates in red and purple states from Texas to Michigan, and produced the first-ever map of election law vulnerabilities — showing where losing candidates can exploit state laws to challenge legitimate results. Grounded in deep state-level relationships and cross-ideological credibility, we anticipate threats and deliver solutions where democracy is most at risk.

The Policy & Legislative Tracking Director plays a critical role in this mission by leading programmatic advocacy campaigns in key target states while also driving comprehensive legislative tracking and policy analysis across a broader state portfolio. This role requires a strategic thinker who can seamlessly transition between detailed legal analysis for our Election Policy Tracker and on-the-ground campaign management to drive real-world impact.

Voting Rights Lab is a fully remote organization, and this position can be based anywhere in the United States. Because this role involves leading state advocacy and campaign work, it will require occasional travel, accounting for about 15% of the time.

Key Responsibilities

Advocacy & Campaign Management (Campaign States)

• Drive campaign work in assigned states, collaborating with the Advocacy and Communications departments and in-state consultants.
• Manage and build relationships with in-state coalition partners, including regularly attending state coalition meetings (virtual)
• Support and maintain relationships with lobbying firms, lawmakers and their staff, election administrators, validators, consultants, media advisors, pollsters, and influencers in each campaign state.
• Draft legislation, amendments, executive actions, regulations, and guidance that merge strong policy with political reality.
• Draft and deliver written and oral testimony at state legislative hearings.
• Develop, in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, legislative sessions and multi-year plans for proactive and defensive policy priorities.
• Design state-specific implementation strategies that ensure our legislative successes translate into real-world change and impact.

Legislative Tracking (General Portfolio)

• Review all election-related legislation within an assigned broader portfolio of states, evaluating each bill for inclusion in the Election Policy Tracker based on a defined set of criteria.
• Provide a detailed summary of bill provisions that clearly conveys to a non-legal audience how the bill would change existing law.
• Categorize legislation using a comprehensive and dynamic tagging system to enable Tracker users to search for bills by topic or subtopic.
• Monitor and update information in response to changes in the law resulting from legislation, regulations, or litigation.
• Research existing laws on issues relating to voter access and election administration, presenting the information in a concise, easily digestible format.

Policy Analysis and Expertise

• Develop deep expertise in voting rights policy, including a comprehensive understanding of the impact of each policy, and how variations in the law affect that impact.
• Maintain comprehensive knowledge of the laws and legislation in your assigned states, as well as legislative trends nationwide.
• Adapt documents and policy arguments for a wide variety of audiences, including colleagues, partners, and elected officials and influencers from across the political spectrum.
• Contribute to weekly and monthly publications on election law developments.

Requirements

• Law degree (JD) or commensurate experience in policy analysis, creation, or implementation.
• Relevant experience developing policy and legislation, particularly on election policy.
• Experience in analyzing, interpreting, and drafting legislative language.
• Strong legal research, analytical, and writing skills.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• The ability to produce consistent, quality work in a fast-paced environment—managing multiple projects simultaneously and adjusting to frequently changing demands.
• Excellent relationship-building skills and ability to collaborate with the rest of the Voting Rights Lab team as well as external partners.
• Genuine comfort and experience working with diverse communities and across ideological lines — including with conservative, cross-partisan, or non-traditional democracy partners.
• Comfort with using technology as a part of daily work in a remote environment.