Biography
Boockvar joins Pitt Cyber to focus on election security, disinformation, and other issues at the intersection of democracy and technology. She will bring a unique perspective to this role, having overseen Pennsylvania’s participation in the 2020 presidential election and the 6.9 million votes cast during it.
As Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boockvar managed the implementation of Act 77 - the most sweeping and bipartisan election law reforms in over 80 years - which for the first time allowed all Pennsylvanians to vote by mail. Boockvar also managed the certification and deployment of new voting systems statewide that met the highest standards of security and accessibility with voter-verifiable paper ballots.
Most recently, Boockvar served as the Vice President of Election Operations for the Center for Internet Security (CIS), where she led election security initiatives and worked closely with federal, state, and local government on election security practices. Boockvar will also be working with other organizations and institutions during her time at Pitt, including the Brennan Center for Justice and the University of Delaware Biden School of Public Policy.
Before her tenure as Secretary of the Commonwealth from January 2019 to February 2021, Boockvar served as a senior advisor on election modernization to former Governor Tom Wolf, to which she was appointed in March 2018. In August of 2019, she was named co-chair of the Elections Committee of the National Association of Secretaries of State. She received a GIAC Certification in Cybersecurity Fundamentals, her law degree from the American University, Washington College of Law, and her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Boockvar has also previously served as a poll worker and voting-rights attorney in Pennsylvania.