Protected tens of thousands of voters from disfranchisement, intimidation, suppression, and election manipulation, and secured new precedents around the Ku Klux Klan Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Protecting Free & Fair Elections
Our Work
Without free, fair, and secure elections, voters have no voice, little control over the direction of the country, and few ways to correct course when things go awry.
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Elections are the linchpin of our democracy. Holding elections, and ensuring that power changes hands in accordance with their outcomes, is the essence of democratic self-government. By defending them, we also protect our rights and our system of government.
This takes two steps. First, we defend the process of holding elections. We do so by making sure that election officials are allowed to do their work without interference, that election systems are secure, and that politicians are unable to dictate the outcome or manipulate election rules.
Second, we protect voters’ ability to participate meaningfully in the process, free from intimidation and harassment.
By ensuring that elections remain free, fair, and secure, we maintain our collective ability to shape the future of the country — or, when needed, to change course. In that, we protect voters’ trust in the results, even when their preferred candidates lose.
- Build secure, accessible, and accurate election systems and processes that are free from interference from foreign adversaries or domestic political actors.
- Create guardrails that ensure voters and candidates abide by the outcomes of every election.
- Foster public confidence in the fact that elections are free, fair, and secure.
Helped defend the 2020 and 2022 elections from attempts to manipulate and subvert a free and fair result, and assisted in the passage of reforms to the Electoral Count Act that will better protect the will of the voters and the transfer of presidential power.
SPOTLIGHT: The Shortlist Seven Ways Platforms Can Prepare for the U.S. 2024 Election SPOTLIGHT: The Shortlist
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Unraveling the Rise of Mass Voter Challenges
How voter challenge laws are being abused to disrupt the election process.
June 17, 2024
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Election certification, explained
Election certification is the process through which the canvass – the process of counting and aggregating ballots, and ensuring that every ballot is accounted for – is concluded.
July 24, 2024
![Pennsylvania Election Ballot](https://protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/shutterstock_2164653823-800x450.jpg)
Assessing Pennsylvania voter list maintenance
How do we know if Pennsylvania voter rolls are “clean"? A first step is to monitor the public voter file and analyze the data over time, which is exactly what VoteShield does.
June 28, 2024
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Why is voter registration data public?
Public voter registration data is critical to democracy in the United States.
June 26, 2024
![Delegates celebrating at the 1996 Democratic National Convention.](https://protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Clinton-DNC-Nomination-800x450.jpg)
What happens if a presidential candidate dies or steps down?
In an explainer from the National Task Force on Election Crisis, a team of election experts outlines exactly what happens when a candidate dies before the election.
June 21, 2024
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The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, explained
The Ku Klux Klan Act used nearly all of Congress’s constitutional powers to respond to the Klan’s coordinated political violence and intimidation.
December 5, 2023
![Chris Crawford's title page at the Parliament of World Religions.](https://protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/chris-crawford-title-page-scaled-e1693327348395-800x450.jpg)
“It Takes All of Us”: A Playbook for Protecting the 2024 Election
Chris Crawford addresses The Parliament of the World’s Religions, outlining the role Americans of different political and religious beliefs can play in protecting democracy.
August 29, 2023
![A cartoon of what happens if no candidate gets 270 electoral votes - a contingent election](https://protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/John-Quincy-Adams-Election-of-1824-scaled-e1624386585675-550x352-1-800x450.jpg)
A contingent election, explained
A contingent election is what happens if no one wins 270 electoral votes. The House selects a president & the Senate selects a vice president
August 22, 2023
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What is the Big Lie?
The Big Lie is the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and that the Republicans who affirmed Biden’s victory were part of a conspiracy to defeat their own party’s president
August 15, 2023
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What is election subversion?
Election subversion is any effort to change the rules to prevent the true election winner from taking office. It includes disinformation, voter intimidation & suppression, and election denialism.
August 14, 2023
![PA Supreme Court interior](https://protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PA-Supreme-Court-800x450.jpg)
All eyes on Pennsylvania: Upcoming court elections will impact the 2024 election and beyond
This November, Pennsylvania voters will weigh in on statewide judicial vacancies of critical importance for future elections.
August 8, 2023