Democracy Counts is a small nonprofit technology start-up based in San Diego, California. It offers election audit software to the public. Its principal program is America Counts, which offers Actual Vote, a tool for auditing vote counts. ¹

Daniel H. Wolf, a lawyer who has worked in foreign election observation ² and for several environmental businesses, ³ is its CEO. ⁴

Background

Democracy Counts contends that existing measures are insufficient to ensure free and fair elections. It envisions an engaged public actively monitoring election results as the most promising corrective to technology-enabled election fraud and the best way to ensure the trustworthiness of the electoral process. ^{5 4}

Daniel Wolf, Democracy Counts’ CEO, was interviewed in 2020 by Democracy Chronicles. In the interview, he expressed concern that “Voter suppression and election fraud in a few swing states could very easily give President Trump an official but illegitimate victory in the Electoral College.” ⁵

Activities

Democracy Counts’ Actual Vote application claims to enable individuals to audit election results. Members of the public make a digital copy of election night poll tapes (the publicly posted vote results from voting machines). The poll tape copies are uploaded onto Democracy Counts’ website and compared to official election tallies available through a second Democracy Counts site. Discrepancies are flagged and can be used as evidence in challenges to election results. The app is offered free to the public. ^{4 6}

Funding

Democracy Counts filed IRS 990-N forms in 2019, 2020, and 2022. This filing is reserved for organizations with receipts of no more than $50,000. ⁷

People

Daniel H. Wolf is the CEO of Democracy Counts. He holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of California San Diego. He authored a country-specific manual for election monitors and was an advisor to the International Election Observation Mission to Taiwan in 2012. ² Wolf is a former CEO of the following companies: Ploughshare Technologies, Advanced Earth Technologies, Global 8 Environmental Technologies, and Xecura Investment Holdings. ³

1. “About America Counts.” America Counts, November 5, 2024. https://americacounts.us/about-america-counts/.
2. “Team.” America Counts, July 9, 2024. https://americacounts.us/team/.
3.  “Daniel H . Wolf, Esq. – Founder, CEO – Democracy Counts! Near-Real-Time Election Audits.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 2, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielhwolf/.
4. Democracy Counts Inc.  About America Counts. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://americacounts.us/about-america-counts/
5. Schneider, Steve. “Email interview with the founder of Democracy Counts.” Democracy Chronicles, January 20, 2020. Accessed February 25, 2023.  https://democracychronicles.org/email-interview-with-the-founder-of-democracy-counts/
6. Democracy Counts Inc. Actual Vote Poll Tapes. Accessed February 24, 2023.  https://av.democracycounts.org
7. Data recovered from IRS Exempt Organization Search tool for Democracy Counts Inc. (EIN 81-2822233). https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/details/