Fair Elections Center

Fair Elections Center is funded by left-of-center grantmaking institutions, including the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Democracy Fund, the Joyce Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Tides Foundation, and has received funding from George Soros’s Open Society Institute. ^{7 8}

Background

Fair Elections Center originated as the “Fair Elections Legal Network,” which was formed in 2006 following a meeting of more than 60 left-of-center voting-access and voter-mobilization organizations and pro bono election lawyers who had convened to create a national network of attorneys supporting state and local election policy changes. The group provides legal analysis, training, and technical assistance to state-based civic engagement coalitions and voter mobilization organizations, and litigates voting rights cases in state and federal courts. ¹

The organization initially operated under the fiscal sponsorship of the left-of-center New Venture Fund, a pass-through nonprofit which, until 2025, was administered by the for-profit consultancy Arabella Advisors, that also operated dozens of left-of-center advocacy and activist groups. Fair Elections Center was established as an independent organization in 2017. Robert Brandon, a former Washington director of Citizen Action, a defunct left-of-center litigation and advocacy group, led the organization from its founding until July 2025. ^{6 9 3 4}

Activities

Voting Policy Litigation

Fair Elections Center litigates against state election laws it characterizes as barriers to voting, targeting voter identification requirements, voter registration procedures, and election administration practices. As of 2026, the group reported active or completed litigation in states including Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Florida. ²

In June 2024, the group represented the Pennsylvania chapter of the union-backed group Alliance for Retired Americans in a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania state court related to mail-in ballot tabulation, and it has joined the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin in litigation alleging that Wisconsin’s absentee ballot curing rules violated state law. ²

Felon Voting Rights Litigation

Felon re-enfranchisement is a core focus of the group’s litigation. In March 2017, the Fair Elections Legal Network and the law firm Cohen Milstein filed a class action lawsuit seeking to automatically restore Florida felons’ voting rights upon completion of their sentences. ¹⁰

In December 2018, Fair Elections Center and the Kentucky Equal Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of eight former felons challenging Kentucky’s process requiring felons to petition the governor for voting rights restoration. A federal district court dismissed the Kentucky case as moot after Governor Andy Beshear (D) issued a 2019 executive order automatically restoring voting rights to an estimated 140,000 Kentuckians, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit unanimously reversed the dismissal in October 2021 and remanded the case. The group criticized Beshear’s order for excluding people convicted of federal offenses, out-of-state felonies, and certain Kentucky crimes. ^{10 11 12}

In April 2023, Fair Elections Center sued then-Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and then-Secretary of the Commonwealth Kay Coles James, challenging Youngkin’s return to a discretionary system for restoring felons’ voting rights. In August 2025, a Fourth Circuit panel rejected the group’s First Amendment argument that Virginia’s gubernatorial restoration system constituted an unconstitutional licensing scheme, ruling in favor of Youngkin. Fair Elections Center senior counsel Jon Sherman represented plaintiff George Hawkins, who had been convicted of attempted murder as a minor. The group petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari in December 2025. ^{10 11 10 13}

Campus Vote Project

Campus Vote Project (CVP), launched by the Fair Elections Center in 2012, partners with college administrations to build student voter registration, education, and mobilization programs, and operates a “Voter Friendly Campus” designation program. The Carnegie Corporation of New York has funded CVP through grants supporting the group’s efforts to expand voting access for young people. ¹⁴

Poll Worker Recruitment

Fair Elections Center operates Work Elections, a website compiling poll worker requirements in all 50 states. In June 2020, the group co-launched “Power to the Polls,” a poll worker recruitment campaign, alongside MTV, Comedy Central, Uber, Levi Strauss, Patagonia, and other corporate and nonprofit partners. ^{15 16}

Policy Advocacy

Fair Elections Center has advocated for federal left-of-center election legislation. In July 2025, president and CEO Rebekah Caruthers appeared at a U.S. Senate press conference supporting the reintroduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the group has criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, claiming it left the Voting Rights Act “functionally non-existent.” ¹⁷

Leadership

Rebekah Caruthers became president and CEO of Fair Elections Center in 2025 and continued to hold the role as of 2026. She previously worked as the group’s vice president and executive vice president for four years. Caruthers previously worked for left-of-center organizations, including MoveOn.org, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the National Democratic Training Committee, and worked on the Affordable Care Act in the office of U.S. Representative John Dingell (D-MI). ^{18 3}