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Former George Soros Employee 

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A 2019 graduate of Harvard Law School, Dana Paikowsky is currently an attorney in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Voting Section. Paikowsky has made the most of her relatively short time as an attorney to push her radical left-wing agenda.

 

Paikowsky is best known for prioritizing the ability of jail and prison inmates to vote while incarcerated, including getting some 750,000 incarcerated jail and prison inmates to flood America’s elections as new voters.

 

From her position in the DOJ’s Voting Section, Paikowsky is in a position of public trust to enforce America’s election laws, but Paikowsky’s history of activism raises questions about whether she can do so impartially.

 

Paikowsky’s LinkedIn shows that she has worked for years pushing far left political agendas. 

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For a little over a year prior to graduating Harvard law, Paikowsky worked as a policy associate for the Open Society Foundations, an organization founded by billionaire financier George Soros.

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But that isn’t Paikowsky’s only tie to the influence of Soros’ money.

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Shortly after graduating Harvard Law School, Paikowsky then went to work for the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) as a fellow for the Equal Justice Works program.

 

The CLC has received significant funding from Soros in recent years.

 

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Her work history includes a third connection to Soros funding, working as a legal intern for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

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Paikowsky’s Priority Has Been to Give Prison Inmates Access to Voting

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Paikowsky has extensively championed initiatives to get more jail or prison inmates access voting while incarcerated.

 

Her 2019 law review article published by the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review in 2019 titled "Jails as Polling Places" suggested an extensive framework on her agenda to turn “jails into polling places.”  Paikowsky began by describing numerous examples of local elections across the nation, including local district attorney races, where a small number of inmate voters could have changed the election results.

 

...After the 2016 primary election in La Plata, a survey of the La Plata County Jail showed that only two of the 144 people incarcerated there were ineligible to vote because of previous felony convictions. In a place like La Plata, 142 voters could be a powerful voting bloc, especially in local elections. Local elected officials like district attorneys, judges, and county sheriffs make decisions every day that directly impact jailed voters in La Plata. Participating in local elections would be a powerful way for these voters to hold those officials accountable for how they use or abuse their offices. Despite this population’s eligibility, only one vote has been cast from the La Plata County Jail in the last 20 years...

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But Paikowsky isn’t only advocating for more misdemeanor offenders and unconvicted felons in jails and prisons to vote. Paikowsky wrote that activists need to continue to look to the political process to “combat felony disenfranchisement,” or restoring convicted felons' ability to vote.

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...Americans are increasingly rejecting the idea that contact with the criminal justice system should strip people—primarily low-income people of color—of their right to vote. While efforts to combat felony disenfranchisement have historically met with significant resistance in courts, formerly incarcerated voters have been re-enfranchised in unprecedented numbers through policy change backed by a groundswell of popular support. Advocates have and should continue to turn to the political process to ensure these voters have access to the ballot. If the political moment seems ripe for policy change, though, why should incarcerated voters seek a forum in a courtroom as well?...

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Paikowsky’s work to convert jails into polling places was highlighted in a short video by Now This News. In the video, Paikowsky noted the impact that more jail/prison inmates had on the 2020 elections.

 

Support and Affiliations with Democrats

 

Originally from Arizona, and now living in Washington, DC, Paikowsky has a history of affiliating, voting, and contributing to Democratic candidates.

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Election records indicate she is a registered Democrat in the District of Colombia. She has also made seven political contributions to Democratic candidates and committees. 

 

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Continued Politicization of the DOJ Voting Section

 

While the Biden/Harris campaign made bipartisanship a primary issue of the 2020 presidential campaign, the administration has in practice has taken a very different route. The radical agenda of the Biden Administration can clearly be seen by filling supposedly neutral career civil service positions in the voting section by hiring employees like Dana Paikowsky.

 

With the Administration’s selection of polarizing leftwing activists such as Paikowsky, the American public should be concerned that these powerful, permanent civil service positions are being used to advance a left-wing agenda, rather than neutrally enforce America’s election laws as they exist.

 

Paikowsky’s employment record working for one of the most radical funders of left-wing initiatives, George Soros, as well as her long history of involvement with left-wing activist organizations, combined with her writings demonstrate an activist who is interested in advancing policy agendas, as opposed to neutrally serving the American people.  

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Sources: 

[1} Dana Paikowsky LinkedIn

[2] Open Society Foundations, Awarded Grants

[3] Harvard Law Review, "Jails as Polling Places," July 2019

[4] Twitter, @nowthisnews, Tweet from November 4, 2020

[5] DC Board of Elections

[6] Federal Election Commission 

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