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VoteSafe

VoteSafe is a cross-partisan coalition of election administrators and organizations that endorse the simple principle that every American has the right to vote safely amidst the pandemic. VoteSafe is committed to ensuring voters have options: expanded access to absentee ballots as well as safe, sanitary, and accessible in-person voting locations. Nonpartisan research shows that mail-in ballots are secure, and that they do not advantage one party over the other. VoteSafe does not support or oppose politicians or parties. Our goal is to ensure the safety of all voters as they exercise their constitutional right. Doing so is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue. We are committed to ensuring that the right to vote safely transcends politics and partisanship.

https://twitter.com/VoteSafe/

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Private-sector coalitions are providing masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and other supplies to ensure safety in voting locations.

Business gifts to help run the vote expand, along with objections on left and right

Conservatives hoping to prevent private money from helping Americans vote have so far taken direct aim at just a couple of billionaires: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who on Tuesday announced another $100 million in donations to help local governments conduct comprehensive and safe balloting in three weeks.

The donation follows their previous gift of $300 million, which has prompted lawsuits from the right in eight battleground states arguing that such benevolence should not be permitted to cover election administration costs.

But the Facebook philanthropists are among hundreds of business leaders who have stepped forward to help cash-strapped election officials scrambling to put enough poll workers, protective gear and infrastructure in place to avert chaos on Election Day. From the four dozen stadiums that sports leagues have opened as polling sites to the millions worth of face shields, masks and safety supplies donated to election workers by major corporations — the private sector's investment in this election is without precedent.

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Learning More About the Voters You Serve: Celebrating Voter Education Week

Organizer: Nonprofit VOTE

National Voter Education Week is a new initiative supported by Nonprofit VOTE, Campus Vote Project, Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, Democracy Works, and others that helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this week of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more.

To celebrate, we're bringing in our partners from the Right Question Institute to help you learn more about the voters you serve - what are the issues they care about? What are their questions about voting? Learn about strategies and tools you can use to facilitate meaningful dialogues about voting within and around your organization. Plus, Kathryn Quintin from Students Learn Students Vote will be on hand to share updates and resources from National Voter Education Week.

Location: Webinar

An Unprecedented Election: Protecting Democracy for November 3 and Beyond

Organizer: Campaign Legal Center

Join us virtually for a panel discussion about protecting democracy for Nov. 3 and beyond. The Campaign Legal Center and special guests from the League of Women Voters and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice will discuss successful and active legal fights around some of the most important voting issues this year.

In addition to discussing voting rights legal battles, the panel will also review possible election results scenarios to help us all prepare for an unprecedented Election Day – starting with the possibility of not having the results of the election on election night.

Location: Webinar

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Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg gave the Center for Tech and Civic Life $250 million to distribute through grants.

Debate, and more suits, sparked by spurt of private funds for election costs

This is the latest illustration of how far the discord over the presidential election has gone:

Faced with a once-in-a-century pandemic that's claimed more than 200,000 lives, and created unprecedented health risks and other complications for voting, Congress and the Trump administration deadlocked after allocating just 10 percent of the $4 billion both red and blue states are begging for to assure the nation's central democratic exercise is safe, comprehensive and trustworthy during the pandemic.

But once wealthy benefactors started stepping in to help — led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who pledged $300 million a month ago for such anodyne uses as buying disinfectant and hiring poll workers — their effort almost immediately got embroiled in the most litigated election in American history.

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