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Free & Fair Elections

Ensuring U.S. elections are free, fair, secure, and accessible, and that most Americans trust this to be true. Learn about the related work of our National Council on Election Integrity and our Faces of Democracy campaign.

Areas of focus

With continued attacks on our system of free and fair elections across the country, it is critical that we protect and bolster our election processes and stop those who are working to undermine our democracy.

Our democracy survived one of its greatest challenges following the 2020 presidential election when a coordinated campaign to overturn the election culminated in a violent attempt to halt the counting of electoral votes in Congress on January 6, 2021. This anti-democratic campaign prompted attacks on election systems and officials, which continue to this day. It also sparked a national conversation about how our elections are administered and how we can strengthen them, including protecting elections from foreign interference.

In response, Issue One and partners worked alongside leaders on Capitol Hill to try and enact legislation to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of that day. Our advocacy helped lead to the creation of the bipartisan January 6th Select Committee that investigated and established a complete account of what happened before and after this deadly attack on democracy, and recommended steps to prevent it from happening again.

Issue One also played an important role in helping Congress pass a bipartisan update to the Electoral Count Act — the Electoral Count Reform Act — which will help ensure a peaceful transfer of power following future presidential elections.

Yet attacks on our democracy continue. Recycled false election narratives sow doubt in our elections, distracting from the nefarious tactics being used to place election administration under partisan control. Some of these tactics include the systematic harassment and intimidation of nonpartisan election officials and poll workers around the country.

Now it’s time to strengthen our elections even more and push back against those working to undermine our democracy. Issue One continues to lead a crosspartisan effort to amplify the voices of the public servants who make our elections work and defeat the threats and harmful information environment that continues to crack the foundation of our democracy.

We:

Elevate the voices of election officials and poll workers in the public debate and in the federal policy debate through our Faces of Democracy campaign.
Advocate for increased and regular federal funding for state and local election administrators.
Continue to push for bipartisan election protection and voting rights legislation in Congress.

Our impact:

Multi-year advocacy that helped lead to the passage of the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022
Drove a successful campaign which led to the creation of the January 6th Select Committee
Created the bipartisan National Council on Election Integrity, consisting of former government officials, public service luminaries, and civic leaders to fight back against false narratives, uphold the credibility of our democratic process, and advocate for free, fair, and secure elections
Ran a multi-million dollar public campaign called “Count Every Vote” to defend the legitimacy of the 2020 election
Fought for — and won — $400 million in increased funding for state and local election officials in 2020, and continue to advocate for the resources they need to do their job
Helped secure $425 million to protect our elections from cyber interference with our “Don’t Mess With US” campaign

Featured Work

Reports

The High Cost of High Turnover

When local election officials leave their positions in record numbers, the costs to institutional knowledge and running elections are significant...

Introduction In the wake of a contentious presidential election in November 2020 that led to harassment and death threats against many once-obscure election administrators, droves of local election officials have…

Press releases

Dozens of bipartisan election officials, former members of Congress, and government officials call on Congress to fund our elections

New poll also finds overwhelming bipartisan agreement that the federal government should do more to fund elections...

More than three dozen bipartisan election officials, former members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, and national security leaders have joined together to urgently call on Congress to adequately fund U.S. election…

Reports

Securing 2024: Defending US Elections through Investment and Reform

13 policy recommendations for federal and state lawmakers to meet 2024 administrative challenges...

Introduction As a result of the 2020 and 2022 federal elections, the job of administering elections has dramatically changed in the United States, and the demands on the dedicated officials…

Press releases

In new congressional testimony, Shasta County Clerk and Faces of Democracy member calls for attacks on democracy at the county-level to stop

Today, Shasta County Clerk and Faces of Democracy member Cathy Darling Allen submitted written testimony to the House Administration Elections Subcommittee, calling attention to ongoing attacks on democracy in counties…