News & Commentary written by Sonia Gill

Sonia Gill serves as a senior legislative counsel in the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, where she leads the organization’s federal advocacy work in voting and elections. She brings a multidisciplinary background to the ACLU as a litigator, public policy expert, and advocate.

Gill previously served as a senior policy counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and a staff attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where she investigated and litigated voting rights cases in federal and state court. Gill has also worked on criminal justice reform initiatives, investigating and developing cases to challenge debtors’ prisons and denial of the right to counsel and has worked to advance policing reform around the country.

Previously, Gill was committee counsel to Sen. Charles E. Schumer, advising on election law and voting rights. During her time with Sen. Schumer, Gill led the development and drafting of major voting legislation to protect military voting rights as the lead staff author of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2009 with 60 bipartisan co-sponsors. The legislation introduced broad reforms to protect military and overseas voters, including new obligations for states, the Department of Defense, and the State Department to improve their processes for military voters.