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Non-profit

All Voting is Local

Parent Organization: Leadership Conference Education Fund
Website:

allvotingislocal.org
Location:

Washington, DC
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Formation:

2018
Type:

Left-of-center get out the vote project
National Campaign Director:

Hannah Fried

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All Voting is Local (AVL) is a project of the left-of-center Leadership Conference Education Fund that is focused on reducing barriers to voting and increasing voter turnout, specifically among left-leaning demographic groups in battleground states. AVL works to reduce voter wait times, promote mail-in voting, and increase the number of polling and ballot drop-off locations. The group also reaches out to voters who have been removed from voter registration rolls due to registration roll maintenance. 1

Hannah Fried, a Democratic political operative who worked on the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, is the national campaign director of All Voting is Local.2

Founding and History

All Voting is Local was founded in 2018 as a project of left-of-center organizations including the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Constitution Society, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The group claimed that over one million people who desired to vote in 2016 were unable to do so due to poll wait times, registration issues, and voter identification laws. AVL claims that it works to make voting more accessible to everyone, although it does this by promoting controversial methods, including resisting the purging of voter rolls, arguing against voter identification laws, and promoting mail-in voting. 3

Policies and Metrics

All Voting is Local’s policy priorities are aimed at increasing the accessibility of voting while maximizing voter turnout. AVL has argued that there should be a mandated, 30-minute maximum wait time for in-person voting. 4 AVL has supported controversial policies on voting, arguing that convicted felons should be permitted to vote while in jail . 5

AVL maintains that voting should be made as easy as possible and has condemned election security measures, such as voter roll maintenance that removes ineligible or inactive voters. 6 AVL has also argued that the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby v. Holder “gutted” the Voting Rights Act by allowing local and state jurisdictions that had previously been subject to federal oversight to have control over their voting rules and regulations. 7

During the 2020 election, AVL worked to encourage African-American voters to vote by mail, convincing them that the system was safe and could be trusted. 8 AVL was very active in 2020, claiming that its work led to 71 early voting sites being added and 875 additional ballot-drop boxes being deployed across the country. The group also held 176 voter education events and reached out to 4.6 million people to encourage voting. Of this 4.6 million, AVL claimed that 1.9 million had been affected by voter registration roll maintenance. 9

State-Specific Priorities for 2020 Election

While All Voting is Local claims to be concerned about access to voting in general, during the 2020 election cycle, the organization focused in efforts in eight potential battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. 10

Arizona

In Arizona, AVL focused on increasing early voting opportunities and expanding the number of polling places in locations with populations that are less likely to vote by mail. It also advocated for the state to increase the number of Arizona prisoners able to vote from jail. 11 AVL estimates that through its efforts, over 400,000 people gained access to online voter registration, and 50,000 Native American voters were encouraged to vote early. 12

Georgia

In Georgia, AVL targeted voter roll maintenance, claiming that voters were being wrongfully removed from voter rolls. The organization contacted Georgians who had been removed from the registration rolls, working to  reduce the amount of mail-in and provisional ballots that would be rejected on election day. 13 AVL also advocated for increased numbers of ballot drop boxes, and the state added 160 boxes, including 26 in the primarily left-leaning counties it had targeted. 14

Nevada

2020 was the first year that people with felony convictions were allowed to vote in Nevada, and AVL worked to mobilize former felons to vote and to make bilingual voting materials available to voters. 15 AVL and its local partners secured legislation that led to 1.8 million voters receiving mail-in ballot information in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. Working with the Nevada Native Vote Project, AVL secured four additional voting locations to promote voter turnout among Native Americans. 16

Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, AVL fought against changes in polling locations and demanded that election officials provide more information to voters, while also assisting incarcerated felons in voting. 17 The state of Pennsylvania added 81 additional ballot drop boxes and 28 new early voting locations in five of AVL’s priority counties. 18

Florida

In Florida, AVL promoted increased early voting among students and people of color, aimed to make ballots and voting material available in foreign languages, and worked to reduce wait times on election day. 19 The state added 60 new ballot drop boxes and 25 new early voting sites in AVL’s 13 target counties. 20

Michigan

In Michigan, AVL worked to ensure that left-of-center election policies, including same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting, were enacted. 21 In Michigan, AVL noted that 466 ballot drop boxes were added between the August primary and the general election in November. 22

Ohio

AVL argued that thousands of voters were wrongfully purged from Ohio voter registration rolls, contacting nearly 500,000 inactive voters to inform them that they were scheduled to be removed from the rolls and advocating that the state implement automatic voter registration procedures. AVL also focused on promoting voter registration at historically black colleges and universities to reduce the number of provisional ballots cast by African-American voters. 23 AVL further worked to encourage incarcerated prisoners to vote, reporting that nine times as many prisoners in the Franklin County jail voted in 2020 as compared to 2016. The group also reported that its advertisements recruited 2,745 poll workers. 24

Wisconsin

AVL argued that Wisconsin’s voter identification laws were too stringent, and that election officials did not do enough to educate low-income and ethnic-minority voters on the requirements. AVL also argued against Wisconsin’s policy of not allowing former felons to vote until they have completed parole, probation, or extended supervision, claiming that the policy made  almost one in nine African Americans ineligible to vote. 25 AVL reported that state DMV locations were open for an additional 268.5 hours, and that one temporary DMV location and 10 partial locations were opened to provide photo identification cards required for voting following its work in the state. 26

Partners

All Voting is Local works extensively with state-level organizations, but it does not publicly list these partners. AVL contributed over 20 data projects to or in conjunction with its state partners and made $1,008,450 in subgrants to state and national partners, of which 76.7% were allocated to state partners. 27

Leadership

Hannah Fried is the national campaign director of All Voting is Local. She is an experienced Democratic operative who worked as the voter protection director on the Obama presidential reelection campaign and as the deputy general counsel for voter protection on the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. She previously worked at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 28

References

  1. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  2. “Staff – Hannah Fried.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/our-team/hannah-fried/.
  3. “About.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/about/.
  4. “Issues – Combating Long Lines.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 11, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/combating-long-lines/.
  5. “Issues – Jail Voting.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 11, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/jail-voting/.
  6. “Issues – Fair Rules for Registering and Voting.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 11, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/fair-rules-for-registering-and-voting/.
  7. “Issues – Federal Protections.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 11, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/federal-protections/.
  8. Ball, Molly. “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election.” Time, February 4, 2021. Accessed February 11, 2021. https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/.
  9. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  10. “All Voting Is Local.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/.
  11. “Arizona.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/arizona/.
  12. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  13. “Georgia.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/georgia/.
  14. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  15. “Nevada.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/nevada/.
  16. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  17. “Pennsylvania.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/pennsylvania/.
  18. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  19. “Florida.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/florida/.
  20. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  21. “Michigan.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/michigan/.
  22. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  23. “Ohio.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/ohio/.
  24. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  25. “Wisconsin.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/state/wisconsin/.
  26. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  27. “All Power to the Voters.” All Voting is Local. Accessed February 10, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Voting-is-Local-2020-Quick-Hits-Brochure.pdf.
  28. “Staff – Hannah Fried.” AllVotingIsLocal.org. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://allvotingislocal.org/our-team/hannah-fried/.
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All Voting is Local

1620 L ST NW STE 1100
Washington, DC 20036-5695