From the Associated Press — Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has named Jonathan Brater to be the next director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections following the retirement of current director Sally Williams. Brater, who will take over January 2, has worked alongside Williams for the past 11 months while he focused on elections while serving as the Department of State’s Legal Policy Director. He previously served as counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, a non-partisan nonprofit, where his work focused on modernizing elections in partnership with secretaries of state around the country. Benson says in a statement, “Throughout his career Jonathan has demonstrated his commitment to secure, non-partisan election administration.” Brater, an Ann Arbor native, was selected after an open application process that began shortly after Williams announced her retirement earlier this month.
