California Voter Foundation (CVF) is an election policy and voter mobilization group. While CVF claims to be non-partisan for tax reasons, its leadership has associations with the Democratic Party, and it has taken funding from left-of-center foundations and organizations. ¹

CVF was founded in 1989 by former California State Assembly member and Secretary of State March Fong Eu (D-CA). In 1994, the organization was “re-founded” by Kim Alexander, a former campaign staffer for California State Assembly member Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara) and member of the Secretary of State exploratory committee for then-California State Assembly member Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo). ²³ Alexander has run the organization ever since, with much of its budget going toward her salary. ⁴

Election Official Harassment Report

In June 2021, California Voter Foundation released a report entitled, “Documenting and Addressing Harassment of Election Officials.” The report alleged that officials who oversaw the 2020 election faced widespread harassment, including death threats to themselves and family members, protests outside their homes, verbal harassment, and being followed. Some officials state they were traumatized by these events and sought assistance from law enforcement for their safety. ⁵

However, the CVF report was based on interviews with only eleven election officials, out of the 8,000 election jurisdictions in the United States, and eight “election experts,” none of whom were identified. Ten of the eleven officials reported harassment, but “several” acknowledged that “a certain amount of harassment happens during every election cycle” and their treatment in 2020 was “not out of the norm.” Some officials also did not consider the offending events to qualify as “harassment.” ⁶

The report concludes with recommendations from the researchers to combat “mis- and disinformation,” strengthen law enforcement responses to harassment, and expand government funding for elections. ⁷

Vote-by-Mail Report

In mid-2020, due to the increased reliance on vote-by-mail in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, California Voter Foundation conducted a study examining the efficacy of vote-by-mail in California. The study found that 1.7% of California vote-by-mail ballots had been rejected since 2010, usually for lateness. CVF claimed that recent legislative reforms would reduce the rate of rejection for the 2020 election. ⁸

Advocacy

California Voter Foundation regularly writes letters and testifies before the California legislature and governor. ⁹

After the 2020 election, CVF founder and president Kim Alexander expressed support for California Assemblymember Marc Berman’s (D-Menlo Park) plan to mail ballots to all registered voters every election year, thereby extending a measure intended to temporarily mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on voting. ¹⁰

On August 5, 2020, CVF signed a letter with the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Disability Rights California, the League of Women Voters, and the William J. Brennan Center for Justice to recommend a list of regulations on draft ballot signature verifications. ¹¹

On June 2, 2020, CVF and Verified Voting submitted a Letter of Concern to the California legislature about the cybersecurity of the California voting system. ¹²

Funding

California Voter Foundation has received funding from numerous left-of-center nonprofits, including the Arkay Foundation, California Calls, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Gerbode Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Piper Fund, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the San Fransisco Foundation, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. ¹³

CFV has been funded by the County of Sacramento. ¹⁴

In July 2021, CFV announced it had been given a $157,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to develop a “support network” for election officials. ¹⁵ According to publicly available tax data, CFV’s total revenue only surpassed $157,000 once from 2011-2018. ¹⁶ In July 2020, CFV received a $25,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to encourage voter participation in the 2020 election. ¹⁷

1. “Supporters.” California Voter Foundation. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/content/supporters.
2. “Him Alexander.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-alexander-17527717/.
3. “CVF History, Achievements and Awards.” California Voter Foundation. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/content/cvf-history-achievements-and-awards.
4. “California Voter Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/680190132.
5. “Documenting and Addressing Harassment of Election Officials.” California Voter Foundation. June 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/sites/default/files/cvf_addressing_harassment_of_election_officials_report.pdf.
6. “Documenting and Addressing Harassment of Election Officials.” California Voter Foundation. June 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/sites/default/files/cvf_addressing_harassment_of_election_officials_report.pdf.
7. “Documenting and Addressing Harassment of Election Officials.” California Voter Foundation. June 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/sites/default/files/cvf_addressing_harassment_of_election_officials_report.pdf.
8. Alexander, Kim. “Rejected ballots – a preview of CVF’s study findings and recent news coverage.” California Voter Foundation. July 27, 2020. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://calvoter.org/content/rejected-ballots-preview-cvfs-study-findings-and-recent-news-coverage.
9. “Advocacy and Testimony.” California Voter Foundation. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/issues/advocacy-and-testimony.
10. Griswold, Lewis. “How California reached historic voter turnout despite pandemic, distrust.” Cal Matters. November 24, 2020. Updated December 3, 2020. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://calmatters.org/politics/votebeat/2020/11/california-historic-voter-turnout-despite-pandemic-distrust/.
11. “Re: Proposed Regulations.” California Voter Foundation. August 5, 2020. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/sites/default/files/draft_regulations_letter_8-5-20.pdf.
12. Re: Assembly Bill 860 – Letter of Concern.” California Voter Foundation. June 2, 2020. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/sites/default/files/cvfvvf_ab_860_letter-of-concern.pdf.
13. “Supporters.” California Voter Foundation. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/content/supporters.
14. “Supporters.” California Voter Foundation. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/content/supporters.
15. “California Voter Foundation Receives $157,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to Establish a U.S. Election Officials’ Support Network.” California Voter Network. July 27, 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/content/california-voter-foundation-receives-157000-grant-craig-newmark-philanthropies-establish-%EF%BB%BFus.
16. “California Voter Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/680190132.
17. “CVF receives $25,000 gift from Craig Neumark Philanthropies.” California Voter Foundation. July 10, 2020. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.calvoter.org/content/cvf-receives-25000-gift-craig-newmark-philanthropies.