Grants

The Election Trust Initiative makes grants to a range of nonpartisan organizations to strengthen election administration policies and practices and support election administrators. The initiative does not make grants to government election offices.

Please note that we accept grant proposals by invitation only.

Active grants

Grants are grouped under the initiative’s focus areas.

Engage diverse stakeholders to bolster adequate, reliable public funding for election operations.

• Auburn University will bring together election officials, policymakers, and public finance experts to consider novel approaches for funding U.S. elections.
• The Edward M. Kennedy Institute and the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics will work together to advance solutions to election administration funding challenges. The organizations will sponsor research on current sources of election funding and highlight promising models that can be employed across the country.
• The Institute for Responsive Government will work with local partners across several states to educate stakeholders and implement best practices for modernizing election administration, including advocating for public funding to support such efforts.
• The NC Budget & Tax Center will work with a diverse group of stakeholders to boost public understanding of how budgets impact election administration and build support for robust public funding for elections at the county and local level.

Engage diverse stakeholders to mobilize support for evidence-based policy on impartial election administration.

• Keep Our Republic will partner with local leaders across several states to help educate voters about election administration processes and bolster trust in elections.
• The R Street Institute and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University will work to engage community leaders in events that develop state-level, nonpartisan plans to improve election administration and foster confidence in their states’ election systems.
• Sutherland Institute will use a three-year grant to publish research and convene election administrators, policy leaders, academic experts, and other stakeholders in Utah and nationally to develop evidence-based practices to improve election security.
• RightCount will work with local leaders across several states to foster trust in election systems and outcomes among voters.

Build a field of scholarship that generates actionable, trusted, empirical evidence for the election policy and practice community.

• Arkansas State University will examine how election administration policy and practices can be improved in rural communities, as well as explore how election administration varies across the urban-rural spectrum.
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL) is engaging in multiple initiatives, including leading a national consultation on pressing and emergent election administration research needs; translating existing research on election administration into digestible field resources for implementation of evidence-based practice and policy solutions; and synthesizing research questions to fill major knowledge gaps and execute related research programs at MIT and in collaboration with practitioners and other universities. MEDSL also is continuing the Survey of the Performance of American Elections.
• Rutgers University, in collaboration with the Center for Civic Design and the National Disability Rights Network, will explore policies and practices that can help people with disabilities overcome barriers to voting.
• The University of California San Diego will create the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections, which will study and scale election transparency initiatives in partnership with election officials, policymakers, nonprofits, and other practitioners, and study how such initiatives can build confidence in elections among Americans. 
• The University of Maryland will launch the Election Resilience Lab as a hub for practitioner-led research on workforce issues and broader election administration challenges, empowering policymakers and local election officials with the evidence they need to strengthen the capacity of election agencies.
• The University of Missouri-St. Louis will conduct research on implementation and performance of vote centers, which jurisdictions are increasingly using as alternatives to local polling places and that allow residents to vote at any location. 
• The University of Wisconsin-Madison will conduct convenings on research questions and priorities in state-specific election practices, including election administration conducted at the municipal level, same-day voter registration, and statewide leadership by an elections board, as well as studies of cross-cutting national issues like poll worker attitudes and voter wait times.

Grow programs and expertise to help states attract, develop, and retain well-trained election officials.

• The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) will use a two-year grant to advance efforts to address workforce challenges in 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 a bipartisan 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 Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) will conduct, publish, and promote its Local Election Official Survey in 2024.
• The University of Minnesota will develop a strategic plan to scale up its Certificate in Election Administration program and help prepare students to enter the workforce.
• The Leadership in Election Administration Project (LEAP) at the University of Kentucky will bring together early- to mid-career local election officials for networking and professional development initiatives to better understand how such opportunities can support career growth in the election administration field.

Strengthen networks that bring together election officials, policymakers, and researchers to share knowledge and resources that inform policy and practice.

• The Brennan Center for Justice will support efforts by the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections to strengthen relationships between election officials and law enforcement leaders and create guides, workshops, and other resources to help these leaders prepare for and respond to election security risks.
• 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 and nonpartisan state association leaders with best practices and technical assistance to help their organizations grow and collaborate.
• The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) will use a three-year grant to regularly update its public state elections legislation database and other resources. NCSL will also develop nonpartisan programs on election policy and practice for legislators and legislative staff and build connections between policymakers and election administrators.
• The Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions (PLEJ) will work to strengthen its communications capacity to better support members in navigating complexities and challenges associated with organizing and executing large-scale elections. PLEJ will also partner with the University of Rhode Island’s Engineering for Democracy Institute to develop practical, nonpartisan solutions that enhance the operational efficiency and accessibility of electoral processes nationwide.
• The National Association of Counties Research Foundation will undertake multiple initiatives in support of county officials over an 18-month period. Activities will include curating research and programming on innovation in election administration; advancing understanding of key election issues, challenges, and solutions; and exploring networking opportunities for county elections professionals.

Support the use of evidence-based, nonpartisan methods to verify the integrity of the election process from start to finish.

• The Carter Center will use a two-year grant to support nonpartisan election observation programs in up to three states and report findings and recommendations based on data collected by trained nonpartisan observers.
• The Convergence Center for Policy Resolution will bring together state and national leaders to build consensus on voter registration modernization, including list maintenance and data sharing.
• The Election Law Program will use a five-year grant for a full-time position to assist in the production of election law resources for judges.
• The Elections Group will share best practices and recommendations for a variety of election auditing methods through webinars, conference presentations, and implementation guides.
• Verified Voting will use a two-year grant to increase its capacity to help election offices implement evidence-based election security, accuracy, and transparency practices. The grant will also support improvements to The Verifier, the organization’s free, public repository of information about voting equipment and election administration tools used by each jurisdiction in the U.S.
• VerifiedVoting.org will work across states to strengthen postelection audit policies to help bolster voter trust and confidence in elections.

Information about grants that have concluded is available here.