Sara Frankenstein has been appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Sara is a trial lawyer at Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP Law Firm in Rapid City, South Dakota. Sara earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Dakota and her Juris Doctor from the University of South Dakota School of Law. She served as law clerk to the Honorable Richard H. Battey, U.S. District Court, District of South Dakota in 2001 and 2002.
Sara practices in the areas of election law, employment law, civil rights, trust litigation, commercial litigation, insurance defense, and governmental affairs, including county, municipal, school, and administrative law. Sara serves as city attorney and special counsel for cities and counties across South Dakota. She also advises and defends hundreds of cities and counties in litigation and prelitigation. Sara trains and advises all 64 county election administrators in the State of South Dakota through all aspects of state and federal election law and does the same for most of the towns and cities throughout the state and beyond.
Sara has twice testified before Congress on the issue of voting rights. She served as special counsel to the South Dakota House of Representatives for the impeachment of South Dakota’s former Attorney General and advises legislators on election and governmental law. She has successfully argued Voting Rights Act cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals en banc (all 11 judges), and successfully briefed a Voting Rights Act case to the United States Supreme Court on a petition for writ of certiorari.
Sara has been selected as a Super Lawyer from 2016 through 2025 in the areas of Legislative and Governmental Affairs. Sara was appointed as one of five directors to the Center for Election Confidence national board, serving along with four nationally known election lawyers across the country.
Previously, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights appointed Sara to a four-year term on the South Dakota Advisory Committee, where she was elected Vice Chair. Sara was asked to present the committee's report to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on behalf of the statewide committee.
Sara has twice served as a speaker at the Republican National Lawyers Association Election Law Conference. Sara presented at the 2020 Law Symposium for the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law on election law, among speakers from throughout the country. Sara frequently presents training to governmental officials regarding election and voting rights law and governmental employment law.
For information about the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, visit https://www.usccr.gov.
