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Fix the System

Website:

fixthesystem.org
Formation:

2020
Type:

Electoral reform advocacy coalition

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Fix the System is an ostensibly cross-partisan coalition of eight advocacy groups dedicated to increasing democratic participation and enacting broadly left-progressive electoral administration changes. The coalition was launched on March 24, 2020, in response to the pandemic novel coronavirus and its effect on American election administration. 1

The coalition members are: Unite America, Issue One, Leadership Now Project, RepresentUs, Stand Up Republic, Fix Us, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, and the Lugar Center.

As of April 2020, Fix the System has released one television advertisement which urged for a provision in Congressional stimulus spending to protect voters from the effects of the coronavirus on Election Day.

Michael Beckel, a research director at Issue One, is Fix the System’s spokesman. 2

Coalition Members

Fix the System has eight member organizations, most of which lean left-of-center or non-partisan. 3 The nominally right-leaning and centrist organizations tend to support left-of-center election administration policies.

Unite America is a Denver-based left-of-center PAC which advocates changes to America’s congressional redistricting process, ranked choice voting, open primaries, and expanded vote-by-mail systems. Issue One is an electoral reform advocacy nonprofit with ties to the left-of-center Democracy Alliance. Leadership Now Project, which was founded by an advisor to former U.S. Senators and Obama administration Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John Kerry (D-MA),4 is an organization of business leaders seeking electoral reform. Represent.Us is an ostensibly non-partisan anti-corruption nonprofit, but the organization is funded by numerous left-of-center nonprofits. 5

Fix Us is a branch of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan nonprofit that promotes tax increases and spending cuts to balance the federal budget and was co-founded by a pair of Democratic and Republican Congressmen. 6 The Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress is a nonpartisan Washington DC-based policy think tank primarily focused on democratic institutions. The Lugar Center is a bipartisan think tank focused on foreign affairs and national defense. 7

Stand Up Republic is the sole nominally right-of-center coalition member. The organization was founded by anti-Trump Republican presidential candidate, Evan McMullin, and his running mate, Mindy Finn, to advocate for increased government accountability. 8 Stand Up Republic is substantially funded by organizations in the philanthropic network of Pierre Omidyar, the liberal founder of eBay. 9

References

  1. “Coalition Launches New Initiative to Fix the Broken Political System.” Fix the System. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c66d9bf70468053084aeefa/t/5e7a689addb1ef32f8681896/1585080474275/Fix+the+System+Press+Release+-+March+2020.pdf.
  2. “Coalition Launches New Initiative to Fix the Broken Political System.” Fix the System. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c66d9bf70468053084aeefa/t/5e7a689addb1ef32f8681896/1585080474275/Fix+the+System+Press+Release+-+March+2020.pdf.
  3. “Coalition Launches New Initiative to Fix the Broken Political System.” Fix the System. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c66d9bf70468053084aeefa/t/5e7a689addb1ef32f8681896/1585080474275/Fix+the+System+Press+Release+-+March+2020.pdf.
  4. “Daniella Ballou-Aares.” Leadership Now. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.leadershipnowproject.org/about.
  5. “Full Donor List.” RepresentUs. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://represent.us/donor-list/.
  6. “Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.” The Fulcrum. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://thefulcrum.us/committee-for-responsible-federal-budget.
  7. “Our Work.” Lugar Center. Accessed April 4, 2020. http://www.thelugarcenter.org/.
  8. “Stand Up Republic.” The Fulcrum. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://thefulcrum.us/stand-up-republic.
  9. “Stand Up Republic.” Democracy Fund Voice. Accessed March 8, 2019. Original URL: https://democracyfundvoice.org/stand-up-republic/; Available here: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2019/03/democracy-fund-voice-2017-grant-stand-up-republic.pdf
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