Grants

The Election Trust Initiative has made grants to the following nonpartisan organizations to strengthen election administration policies and practices and support election administrators.

Please note that we accept grant proposals by invitation only.

• The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) will use a two-year grant to advance efforts to address workforce challenges in the field of election administration, including recruitment, retention, and training. BPC, together with The Elections Group, will publish research that examines the professional elections workforce and states’ training and certification approaches, and will convene an advisory council of election administrators, academics, election official associations, and other workforce experts to inform these efforts and develop resources based on the findings.

• The Election Center, also known as the National Association of Election Officials, will use a two-year grant to upgrade its infrastructure for member services and connect bipartisan state association leaders with best practices and technical assistance to help their organizations grow and collaborate.

• The Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), via Stanford University’s Internet Observatory and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, will identify election-related online rumors and disinformation and publish analyses in response to this discourse. The EIP will collaborate with civil society organizations and research labs engaged in social media research and share analyses and insights with stakeholders and the public. This effort will contribute to the EIP’s ongoing real-time analysis capabilities of online narratives and rumors.
• The Elections Group will establish a cohort of experts who will examine election audit systems and build materials to inform state and local officials about how to improve their audit procedures. The grant will also fund the development of a program that identifies successful election programs and practices and helps accelerate their adoption by election officials in other jurisdictions.
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL) will conduct and coordinate research looking at the effects of changes in election policies and practices during the 2022 election cycle. The grant supports MEDSL’s funding of research projects chosen through a competitive search process, its administration of the 2022 Survey on the Performance of American Elections, its examination of weaknesses in election-night reporting systems that may allow the spread of misinformation and disinformation, and the development of standards to improve reporting of election results. MEDSL will also lead an effort to assess the current state of knowledge and practice in key areas of election administration and develop recommendations for increasing the capacity for scientific analysis of election administration at U.S higher education institutions.
• The National Association for Media Literacy Education created and distributed customizable multimedia resources that election offices can use to help their constituents learn how to access reliable election information.
• The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) will expand its elections legislation database and resources and produce a new analysis of election workforce statutes and requirements in all states. NCSL will also hold a series of regional meetings on election accuracy, security, and communications.
• The R Street Institute and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University will convene ideologically diverse thought leaders to identify shared principles for nonpartisan election administration as well as leaders, institutions, and policies that instill trust in elections. The organizations will produce research to support this effort and disseminate findings and recommendations.