The GovLab | Smarter Crowdsourcing Countering Election Subversion

ProjectsSmarter Crowdsourcing Countering Election Subversion

Smarter Crowdsourcing Countering Election Subversion

Identified solutions that philanthropy could support in order to counter efforts to undermine or cast doubt upon the integrity of U.S. elections.

Background

In recent elections, authoritarians who prioritize political outcomes over independent processes have used unfair and often illegal tactics, including political violence and changes to policies, procedures, and election administration that aim to change the outcomes of elections. Authoritarian politicians, media figures and platforms, and political commentators have also used information and communication platforms to undermine belief in the integrity of elections leading, in turn, to declining trust in elections and democracy. There is an urgent need for strategies to prevent and mitigate the effectiveness of attempts to subvert and cast doubt on the outcomes of American elections. Democracy Fund Voice, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping America build a stronger, healthier democracy, requested expert input to inform its Resilient Elections grantmaking.

Partners

Democracy Fund Voice

Description

In 2023, The GovLab and the Burnes Center for Social Change organized three online advisory sessions to inform Democracy Fund Voice’s grantmaking in the Resilient Elections space. These conversations brought together diverse experts from a range of disciplines and fields to surface concrete and specific solutions that philanthropy could support in order to counter efforts to undermine or cast doubt upon the integrity of U.S. elections.

Results & Impact

The GovLab engaged 98 experts in three online deliberations that sourced solutions to address sabotage and denial targeting US elections. We used the outputs from these conversations to create a comprehensive funding strategy, comprised of 27 recommendations for strengthening America’s democratic institutions by bolstering the integrity of our election system.

The package of concrete funding recommendations to philanthropy and government provide a robust strategy to address the twin challenges of election denialism and election sabotage that threaten the bedrock of our democratic system.

Our recommendations include innovative ideas and strategies for how U.S. philanthropic and government organizations can address these two core challenges in the short, medium and long term. Click here to read the recommendations.