Bill Gates serves as the Executive Director of the ASU Mechanics of Democracy Laboratory (“MODL”) and is a Professor of Practice of the ASU Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. ASU formed MODL in 2024 to serve as a catalyst to professionalize elections administration by furnishing “how to instruction” on bolstering elections administration, providing transparency and accountability, and combating misinformation. In addition to training the next generation of voters and elections officials at MODL, Bill also convenes experts in elections administration and current and former elected officials for discussions of how our democracy works and how we can improve and fortify it against attacks and misinformation.
Bill was elected to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020. In 2019, as Chairman of the Board, Bill negotiated a re-organization of the Maricopa County Elections Department with then-Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes. During the November 2022 General Election, Bill participated in 16 press conferences as the eyes of the world were on the Maricopa County Elections Department as numerous statewide races with razor thin margins were counted over a 13-day period. Bill served as the main spokesperson for the Maricopa County Elections Department under the Board of Supervisors during the 2024 election as well. Prior to joining the Board of Supervisors, Bill served on the Phoenix City Council from 2009-2016, including a stint as Vice Mayor in 2013.
Bill has been a lifelong Republican. He founded the Teenage Republican Club at his high school, was an officer in the Iowa Federation of College Republicans and served as a Republican legislative district chair and the Secretary of the Maricopa County Republican Committee in the early 2000s. Bill also led the Arizona Republican Party’s election integrity efforts in 2006 and 2008 organizing a cadre of poll watchers and attorneys to ensure that every eligible vote was counted.
Bill has been featured in many publications regarding his work at ASU and as a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors particularly as it relates to the operation of elections including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, der Spiegel, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and Reuters. He has frequently served as an on-air contributor to CNN and has appeared on the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes, Showtime’s The Circus, ABC’s This Week, Fox News, PBS, MSNBC, BBC, Bloomberg Radio and has been featured in documentaries on the 2020 and 2022 elections produced by HBO and The New Yorker.
Bill has practiced law in Phoenix, Arizona for over 25 years and serves on numerous non-profit boards. Bill holds a B.S. from Drake University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Bill has been married for 28 years and has three daughters ages 23, 21 and 21.