Help Us Secure American Elections
The United States is a democratic republic,
not a fascist theocracy
The National Election Defense Coalition stands in unwavering opposition to the far-right extremism that was galvanized by Donald Trump, and is now driving the Republican party and the Supreme Court to launch coordinated attacks that threaten women, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, people of color, and democracy itself.
As the Republican party leadership continues to defend the January 6th insurrectionists and promote Donald Trump’s Big Lie that his election was stolen, voter suppression is rising and democracy in America is hanging by a thread.
The NEDC has worked for years alongside conservatives Republicans to advance bipartisan legislation to protect elections and provide transparency in the vote count. We know that many Republicans do not approve of the extreme and dangerous direction their party has taken, but far too few are speaking out.
This situation is becoming critical. We ask all people to take a stand in defense of liberal democracy, to reject false conspiracy theories, to reject extremism, to reaffirm the core values our nation upholds, and to protect the gains in human and civil rights our people have fought for, during this unique and fragile 244 year experiment in progress.
The United States must maintain a separation of church and state, freedom from religious oppression, freedom from tyrants and dictators, and equal rights for all, including the right to vote without interference or suppression, and have your vote counted honestly and transparently.
Read the Brennan Center’s recent series in collaboration with Ms Magazine: Abortion Rights are Essential to Democracy.
LETTER FROM LEADING CONSERVATIVES TO CONGRESS OFFERS STRONG SUPPORT FOR FEDERAL ELECTION SECURITY MEASURES THAT PROTECT DEMOCRACY
There is now strong and urgent bipartisan support for new federal grants and oversight to safeguard vulnerable state voting infrastructure and promote voter verified paper ballots and non-partisan audits
The letter from Republicans is notable as federal election standards and funding has traditionally been a Democratic issue
Unfortunately, the battle for political advantage in coming elections have delayed these truly non-partisan issues and sidelined debate on balanced legislative proposals in the US Senate
As the US House and Senate consider various legislation to address issues of election integrity and security, prominent conservative leaders have sent a letter to Congressional leaders calling for new and consistent federal funding to help states manage threats to elections. The letter was sent by Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, along with a coalition of conservative grassroots organizations, including R-Street, FreedomWorks, The James Madison Institute, the Open Competition Center, and others.
“Just as the defense against other cybersecurity threats requires continuous investment,” they write, “Congress should plan long-term assistance to state and local governments. At a time when threats are growing, systems are aging, and public confidence in the voting process is falling to record lows, it’s only reasonable that lawmakers should act on this issue.”
Can Businesses Play a Positive Role in PROTECTING American Elections FROM DISINFORMATION?
Watch highlights from our October 29th webinar featuring leaders in business, cybersecurity, communications, and democracy.
NEDC supports The Freedom To Vote Act
The election integrity provisions of the Freedom to Vote Act include measures to promote confidence in elections, stop partisan election subversion, and protect against election interference, both foreign and domestic.
These are the key provisions for election security in the Bill:
Preventing State Election Subversion: Establishes federal protections to insulate nonpartisan state and local officials who administer federal elections from undue partisan interference or control.
Protection of Election Records, Election Infrastructure, and Ballot Tabulation: Strengthens protections for federal election records and election infrastructure in order to protect the integrity and security of ballots and voting systems.
Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, Reliable Audits, and Voting System Upgrades: Requires states to use voting systems that use paper ballots that can be verified by voters and to implement reliable post-election audits. Also provides grants for states to purchase new and more secure voting systems and make cybersecurity improvements.
Non-Partisan Election Official Recruitment and Training: Tasks the Election Assistance Commission with developing model training programs to recruit a new generation of election workers and provides dedicated grants for training and recruitment.
Comprehensive Voting System Security Protections: Puts in place election vendor cybersecurity standards, including standards for manufacturing and assembling voting machines, among other key security measures.
Establishing Duty to Report Foreign Election Interference: Creates a reporting requirement for federal campaigns to disclose certain foreign contacts.
To read the full bill, click here
Major Corporations join the battle for voting rights
The National Election Defense Coalition applauds the work of Business for America and other NGO groups in recruiting these businesses, and thanks Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, for his generous support of our efforts through a joint grant to BFA and NEDC from Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
A letter to Congress in support of voting rights was signed by a diverse group of over 150 major corporations including Apple, Amazon, Airbnb, Ben & Jerry's, ECOS, HP, Google, Intel, Levi's, PayPal, Target, Lyft, Microsoft , Tesla and Zoom.
"While each of our companies is unique, we are united in the belief that every American deserves a voice in our democracy. It is our government’s role to ensure voting is accessible to all. We urge Congress to add to the legacy of Representative Lewis by passing Voting Rights Act legislation that assures that every voice is heard."
NEDC Statement on the “BIG LIE” of 2020
The National Election Defense Coalition is committed to non-partisan support of democracy, our nation’s electoral systems and institutions. We are appalled by the cynical use of election integrity to manipulate and distort public opinion for partisan gains or acts of violence.
While we have long been among the most vocal critics of the privatized system of electronic vote counting, we see no evidence of the “Big Lie” that Donald Trump lost due to widespread voter fraud and electronic fraud by Dominion voting systems; a QAnon-driven conspiracy theory that led to the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
We base this statement on the vast majority of pre-election polls that predicted a Trump loss by significant margins, and the unprecedented robust post-election audits in vulnerable states where NEDC and other election security advocates have been working for months and years leading up to the 2020 election.
NEDC rejects phony, partisan “Audits”
Since 2013, the NEDC has been advocating for robust, manual audits of paper ballots to verify the results of electronic voting systems. We continue to assert that Risk Limiting Audits or even full hand recounts are necessary for democratic security and transparency.
Unfortunately, the Trump-led assault on democracy post 2020 has included phony, hyper partisan audits that not only fail to meet basic procedural standards but threaten to undermine the legitimacy of audits entirely.
The States United Democracy Center released an independent report detailing why the Maricopa County, Arizona election 'audit' is a partisan and amateurish endeavor that 'should not be trusted.’
ELECTION 2020
The election of 2020 was an enormous challenge for all Americans. Voters turned out in record numbers, during a pandemic, braving bad weather and unacceptably long lines. Elections officials and poll volunteers risked their health and safety to ensure citizen’s voices were heard. The NEDC worked with allies around the country to help secure voting systems and protect voter safety.
We want to thank everyone who helped with these efforts.
OPERATION VOTE SAFE
The NEDC gave our heartfelt support and partnership to Business for America’s project: Operation Vote Safe. We estimate that well over two million dollars in value was donated to dozens of state voting jurisdictions for poll workers, and to NGOs in over 30 cities and First Nations reservations. We wish to gratefully acknowledge the socially responsible business community for their tremendous contribution of over 240,000 masks, 30,000 face guards, and tens of thousands of gloves, disinfectant, sneeze shields, ballot drop boxes, water and power bars, and more.
We very much appreciate the support given the project by the Leadership Conference, the Urban League, Native Votes, The Transformative Justice Coalition, NAACP local chapters, and dozens of churches and local GOTV groups. We are incredibly grateful to Craig Newmark for his generous support for this endeavor and for his participation.
THE CREATIVE ARTS COUNCIL
An A-list team of celebrities, artists, influencers helped the NEDC raise public awareness of urgent election security and health issues.
We want to thank Glenn Close, Alec Baldwin, Sterling Brown, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alan Cumming, Deborah Messing, and many more who created video social media content to help us protect the 2020 election.
GET THE FACTS ON ELECTION SECURITY & VOTING RIGHTS