FEC elects Steven Walther as Chairman for 2017; Caroline Hunter to serve as Vice Chair

WASHINGTON – At its open meeting today, the Federal Election Commission elected Steven T. Walther as Chairman and Caroline C. Hunter as Vice Chairman for 2017. Mr. Walther has served previously as both Chairman and Vice Chairman, as has Ms. Hunter.

Before joining the FEC as a Commissioner in 2006, Mr. Walther practiced law in the Reno, Nevada, firm he co-founded, Walther, Key, Maupin, Oats, Cox & LeGoy, now known as Maupin, Cox & LeGoy.

Mr. Walther is a co-founder and past chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights and currently serves as the Special Advisor. He is a former president of the State Bar of Nevada, the Western States Bar Conference, and the National Caucus of State Bar Associations. He has served as past chair of the 6,000-member Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, the legal research arm of the ABA. From 1971 until his FEC appointment, Mr. Walther served as a member of the Nevada State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Mr. Walther also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Judicial College.

Mr. Walther has lectured extensively, both domestically and internationally, on rule of law, human rights and international law issues, and has served as an official election observer in several countries. He served on the Board of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI), which oversees the ABA’s democracy-building programs in over 60 countries.

Mr. Walther graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, and received his bachelor of arts degree, with a major in Russian, from the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Prior to joining the Commission in 2008, Ms. Hunter served as the Vice Chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. She served previously as deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, and as Executive Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.

From 2001 to 2005, Ms. Hunter was Associate Counsel and then Deputy Counsel at the Republican National Committee, where she provided guidance on election law and the implementation of the Help America Vote Act.

Ms. Hunter graduated cum laude from the University of Memphis School of Law and received her bachelor of arts degree from The Pennsylvania State University.