Legal Fellow
Maya Efrati focuses on exploring different innovations and reforms which could revitalize the American voting system, in effective advocacy and implementation form. She has studied and worked on issues related to government accountability and democracy, including campaign finance, criminal justice reform, and other civil rights issues.
Maya graduated with a B.A. in Government, with a focus on Security Studies, from The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya (Israel) in June 2011. She earned a J.D. and an M.P.P. from The University of Michigan Law School and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, respectively, in May 2016. Maya previously worked at the Peres Center for Peace in Israel, on a large Congressional campaign in the Los Angeles, California area doing local political outreach and campaign field work, with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME Council 36), with the Michigan Innocence Clinic, assisting in the post-conviction defense of clients who were actually innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted, and at the Center for American Progress, serving as a law clerk to the Legal Progress team and focusing largely on campaign finance, criminal justice reform, and the judicial vacancy and nominations process. While at Michigan, Maya was an editor for the Michigan Journal of Public Affairs, and completed her final (Capstone) project on the impact of campaign finance reform through Small Donor Match initiatives.
The Ferguson-Florissant school board has appealed the judge's order finding that it violated the Voting Rights Act and ordering that the school board use cumulative voting going forward.
After a successful case brought under the Voting Rights Act, the Ferguson-Florissant School Board now joins the more than 200 jurisdictions in the United States which elect their officers using fair representation voting. By giving voters cumulative voting rights, the families of the Ferguson-Florissant School District will have a stronger voice in the education system for their community.
The recent Presidential election has ignited an enormous amount of discussion regarding both the way that votes for the presidential election are cast, as well as the possibility of fraud in that election system. President-Elect Donald J. Trump claimed that millions voted illegally, but no evidence of this exists.
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