Kathryn Boockvar (, born October 23, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who served as the

secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania The secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (or "secretary of state") administers the Pennsylvania Department of State of the U.S. state (officially, " commonwealth") of Pennsylvania. The secretary is appointed by the governor subject to co ...

from January 5, 2019 to February 5, 2021. She was appointed to the position by Governor

Tom Wolf Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett in the 2014 guber ...

. Boockvar has previously served as Senior Advisor to the Governor on Election Modernization, beginning in March 2018. In August 2019, she was named co-chair of the Elections Committee of the

National Association of Secretaries of State The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), founded in 1904, is the oldest non-partisan professional organization of public officials in the United States, composed of the secretaries of state of U.S. states and territories. Currentl ...

. Boockvar previously served as chief counsel at the

Pennsylvania auditor general The Pennsylvania auditor general is the chief fiscal officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1850. The current auditor general of Pennsylvania is Republican Timothy DeFoor. History The office of the auditor g ...

, on the board of commissioners of the

Delaware River Port Authority The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), officially the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a bi-state agency instrumentality created by a congressionally approved interstate compact between the governments of Penn ...

, and as executive director of Lifecycle WomanCare, a birth center in suburban Philadelphia. She has worked as a poll worker and voting-rights attorney in Pennsylvania.

Early life and education

Born on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, Boockvar was raised in

Hewlett Neck, New York Hewlett Neck is a village in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 445 at the time of the 2010 census. The Incorporated Village of Hewlett Neck is included in the Five Towns, which ...

, where she attended Hewlett High School. Boockvar earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1990 and graduated as a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleyto ...

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

in 1993.

Professional Career

After completing both the New York and Pennsylvania bar exams, Boockvar began her career at Northern Pennsylvania Legal Services, an organization that provides legal services for people with low incomes and domestic violence survivors. After four years with the organization, she began work as an attorney for Lehigh Valley Legal Services representing low-income clients in cases of unemployment compensation, family law, disability, protection from abuse, bankruptcy, elder law and other issues. In 1997, she was Managing Partner of Boockvar & Yeager along with her husband and litigated cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. District Courts as well as Pennsylvania courts related to employment, social security, pensions and insurance. From 2008 to 2011, Boockvar worked for

Advancement Project The Advancement Project is a politically liberal American nonprofit organization that focuses on racial justice issues. The organization has a national office in Washington, D.C., as well as a California-specific office based in Los Angeles. Org ...

, a non-profit organization focused on voting rights in Pennsylvania. During her tenure, she worked on voter rights education campaigns across the state.

Political Career

Boockvar ran unsuccessfully for the

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania is one of Pennsylvania's two intermediate appellate courts. The Commonwealth Court's headquarters is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with jurisdiction over administrative and civil public law. The Superior ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for the 8th congressional district in the 2012 election for the U.S. House, losing to incumbent Michael G. Fitzpatrick. In March 2018, Boockvar was named Senior Adviser to the Governor on Election Modernization in the

Pennsylvania Department of State The Pennsylvania Department of State is a cabinet-level state agency in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The department is headed by the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Responsibilities *Campaign finance reporting *Charities *Cor ...

by Governor

Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

She was appointed acting secretary of the Commonwealth on January 5, 2019 and confirmed by the Senate on November 19, 2019. In August 2019, she was named co-chair of the Elections Committee of the

Resignation

On February 5, 2021, Boockvar resigned from her position after a departmental oversight occurred in which the

did not properly advertise the proposal of a constitutional amendment to voters. The process was begun to restore proper course of action, and the

will resume the process of publicizing the proposed amendment to be eligible for the ballot in 2023. All other amendments passed during the 2019–20 legislative session were properly advertised. Boockvar took responsibility for the department's oversight, sharing her opinion that accountability is a cornerstone of public service. Veronica Degraffenreid succeeded her as acting Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Electoral history

Personal life

Boockvar resides with her husband, Judge Jordan Yeager, in

Doylestown, Pennsylvania Doylestown is a borough and the county seat of Bucks County in Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Trenton, north of Center City, Philadelphia, southeast of Allentown, and southwest of New York City. As of the 2020 cen ...

. Her brother, John Boockvar, is a neurosurgeon who was featured in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

documentary series ''

Lenox Hill Lenox Hill () is a neighborhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It forms the lower section of the Upper East Side—east of Park Avenue in the 60s and 70s. A significant portion of the neighborhood lies within the Upper East Side Historic Dist ...

''.

References

External links

*
Pennsylvania Secretary of State profile
*
Kathy Boockvar
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boockvar, Kathy 1968 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians George W. Hewlett High School alumni Living people Pennsylvania Democrats People from The Five Towns, New York Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania alumni Washington College of Law alumni Women in Pennsylvania politics