Protecting Voting Rights for All Civil rights lawyer Myrna Pérez made the case, in a Thursday night talk for Bowdoin, that the protection and enhancement of voting rights must be the bedrock for all other political projects. Myrna Pérez is the director of the Brennan Center for Justice's Voting Rights and Election Program and a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School. With a large portion of her audience in mind, Pérez made several appeals to students to get involved in bolstering our democracy by ensuring every vote is counted and everyone has equal and unhindered access to the polls.