Congressional Reform Project

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Jessica Harris

Type of Activity: Project
Grantee: The Congressional Institute
Amount: Updated to $400,000 in 2022

What is the Congressional Institute?

Founded in 1987, the Congressional Institute is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to helping Members of Congress better serve their constituents and helping their constituents better understand the operations of the national legislature.

The Congressional Institute’s latest project, the Congressional Reform Project, provides educational information about Congress to the general public and informs Members of Congress and staff about efforts to improve the function and management of the institution.

Why do we think this project is important?

The Congressional Institute has long been a trusted partner of Congress, providing Members and staff with conferences, training, resources, and strategic planning support. As turnover rates skyrocket across the institution, the Congressional Reform Project is a critical source of institutional and procedural knowledge and has published extensive reports about congressional reform issues. The project represents an important opportunity to restore public confidence in our governance process and support Congress in fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities as the first branch of government..

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting The Congressional Institute project?

In 2022 an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $100,000 for a total of $400,000, with an extension of the grant period through February 2023. Originally, a grant was approved in 2019 for $300,000 over two years.

Democracy Fund Voice previously approved a two-year grant to the Congressional Institute in the amount of $339,000 in 2015 to support efforts to develop recommendations on the organization of Congress, its processes and procedures, and the behavioral patterns that currently drive congressional action.

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Jessica Harris

Democracy Fund Voice has engaged in direct advocacy and made an advocacy grant related to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Each effort is described below.

Type of Activity: Direct Advocacy in 2014

What is the Election Assistance Commission?

The Election Assistance Commission was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. The Commission also accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, as well as audits the use of HAVA funds. Other responsibilities include maintaining the national mail voter registration form developed in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

Why do we think the Election Assistance Commission is important?

There are nearly 8,000 local election jurisdictions across the United States – each one responsible for supporting the administration of one of the most important civic activities in our democracy. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is an independent federal bipartisan agency that provides critical support, resources, and standards. Their efforts ensure that the local and state officials in charge of each of these jurisdictions are able to ensure that our elections will be accessible, fair, and cost effective.

Among other tasks, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission examines how elections are administered to find patterns of problems and models for solving them. The Commission creates voting systems standards and oversees the certification process to ensure machines (and any upgrades or patches) are reliable, accessible, and secure. It creates resources for local officials on how best to train poll workers, manage polling places, and design voting materials. The EAC also provides comprehensive data to election officials, advocates, and the public on how elections are administered—and allows others to assess how they might be improved.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting the success of the Election Assistance Commission?

Democracy Fund Voice staff worked with a coalition of organizations in 2014 to help encourage the United States Senate to confirm three commissioners to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The Commission had been without a quorum since 2010 – which prevented the agency from fulfilling its responsibilities. In December of 2014, the United States Senate confirmed three nominees to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. That confirmation provided the agency with a quorum and enabled it to move forward on long-delayed tasks like updating its certification standards for voting technology, pursuing solutions to the voting machine crisis, and bringing election officials, experts, and advocates together to solve challenging problems of the day.

Democracy Fund Voice continues to work with leaders in the field to support the agency and its ongoing funding, because the EAC’s guidance and support for local election offices provides resources that cannot be found in most local or state elections offices. The Commission serves to support best practices and promote cutting edge resources for its constituency of elections administrators (and the end users—the voters).

The latest:

Letter to Oppose House Resolution 634: the Election Assistance Commission Termination Act – Democracy Fund Voice urges Congress to oppose this bill, which will put an end to the indispensable work of the Election Assistance Commission. The EAC acts as a liaison between the states and the federal government, provides federal agencies, states, and the public with national election data and trends, and serves a vital role in setting voting equipment standards. We urge Congress to support the ongoing existence of this small but effective group of public servants.

Type of Activity: Advocacy Grant
Grantee: Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Amount: Up to $143,523 in 2015

What is the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights?

Founded in 1950, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition of more than 200 national civil and human rights organizations charged by its diverse membership to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, the Leadership Conference works toward a goal of a more open and just society – an America as good as its ideals. As part of its work to support the right to vote, the Leadership Conference advocates for Congress to continue to support and fully fund the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in order to ensure that it is able to fulfill its important mission.

Why is this advocacy project important?

Last year, the United States Senate confirmed three commissioners to serve on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission after several years in which the agency lacked the quorum necessary for it to act. Now that the agency has regained its governing quorum, it is essential that the EAC continue to have sufficient resources to fulfill its responsibilities. Democracy Fund Voice supported the Leadership Conference’s advocacy on behalf of a strong EAC to ensure that government officials, Members of Congress, and the public understand the important, nonpartisan role that it plays in sustaining the health of our system of elections.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights?

In 2015, Democracy Fund Voice approved a grant of up to $142,523, which includes a sub-grant of $69,300, to the NAACP’s National Voter Fund, to support advocacy for continuing federal support of the EAC’s appropriation.

Citizens’ Initiative Review

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Jessica Harris

Type of Activity: Project
Grantee: Healthy Democracy Action
Amount: $250,000 in 2015

What is a Citizens’ Initiative Review?

The State of Oregon established a Citizens’ Initiative Review Commission in 2011 to provide voters with quality, unbiased information about ballot measures to help them make good public decisions. Each election year, the Oregon Commission convenes groups of randomly selected and demographically representative voters to hear arguments for and against ballot measures. Designed to be fair and in-depth, the review process culminates with the production of a Citizens’ Statement detailing the key findings of the Citizens’ Initiative Review panel. The Citizens’ Statement is included in the statewide Voters’ Pamphlet mailed to every voter prior to an election.

A team of nationally recognized researchers funded by the National Science Foundation has concluded that the CIR Citizens’ Statements are widely used and helpful to a large percentage of voters.

Why do we think the Citizens’ Initiative Review is important?

While lawmakers have access to public hearings about proposed legislation, the initiative process asks citizens to vote with very little objective information on important, often complex topics. Most voter information comes from political campaigns and campaign ads. As a result, most voters tell pollsters that they often find ballot measures too complicated and confusing to understand, and most say that they have cast ballots on measures with which they are unfamiliar. While voters say they like the ballot initiative process, they want it to work better.

The Citizens’ Initiative Review is a bipartisan idea that responds directly to the needs of the public and reduces the ability of campaigns to deceive or manipulate the public with misinformation. External evaluations of the informative value of Citizens’ Initiative Reviews show consistently positive results. In Oregon:

65% of voters who read the statements said they helped them decide how to vote.
CIR statements were found to help voters become more informed.
CIR deliberations were found to be fair and respectful, producing statements free of gross factual errors or faulty logic.

How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting the Citizens’ Initiative Review?

In 2015, Democracy Fund Voice approved a grant of $250,000 to Healthy Democracy Action to support advocacy for the adoption of legislation that would enable the creation of Citizens’ Initiative Reviews in states outside of Oregon.