The National Vote At Home Coalition is the lobbying arm of the National Vote at Home Institute; together, the organizations are known as Vote at Home. The National Vote at Home Coalition works to lobby for the nationwide adoption of a mail-balloting system through the regulatory and legislative processes. ¹

In its 2019 annual report, Vote at Home outlined its 2020 plans, which included “flooding the zone” efforts in key states to expand the use and acceptance of vote-from-home policies. ² While its claims that vote-by-mail policies are non-partisan,³ Vote at Home is a partner of a number of progressive and left-of-center organizations, including Democracy Fund, Common Cause, Nonprofit VOTE, and Rock the Vote. ⁴ Vote at Home is a partner of Unite America. ⁵

Activism

2020 Election

During the 2020 election, National Vote At Home founder Amber McReynolds provided consulting to various state- and county-level governments on implementing mail-in ballots.

In a report sent to the Board of Commissioners in DeKalb County, Georgia, in May 2020, McReynolds called for “purchas[ing] and install[ing] a modern, updated security system with badge access, control logs, and remotely accessed cameras” and “adding cameras to all work areas that can be accessed by appropriate management staff.” ⁶

McReynolds also urged California to implement similar measures. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla praised McReynolds and her colleagues, saying that “their expertise will be invaluable as we work together to meet this moment and keep elections running smoothly during this challenging time.” ⁷

Time magazine reported that McReynolds maintained regular correspondence with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office during the 2020 election. ⁸ The state of Georgia has since adopted several of Vote at Home’s key recommendations, including “a new online portal for voters to request absentee ballots, expanded absentee ballot drop boxes, ballot tracking so that voters can follow their ballot’s progress and, crucially, a rule change that allowed county election workers to begin processing absentee ballots 15 days before Election Day.” ⁸

Leadership

Amber McReynolds is the chief executive officer of both the National Vote At Home Institute and the National Vote At Home Coalition. ⁴ McReynolds previously served as the Director of Elections for Denver, Colorado where she helped write legislation that created same-day election registration and a statewide vote-by-mail system. ⁹ McReynolds serves on the board of RepresentWomen, a left-leaning organization that advocates for increased female representation in elected office. ¹⁰

Philip Keisling serves as chair and director of both the Vote At Home Institute¹¹ and the National Vote At Home Coalition. ¹ Keisling, a Democrat, previously served as Oregon Secretary of State and in the Oregon House of Representatives. ¹² During his time as Secretary of State, Keisling oversaw state elections and helped to usher in the first vote-by-mail system in the United States. ¹³ In addition to supporting vote-from-home,¹⁴Keisling also supports ranked-choice voting and state-run, taxpayer funded primary elections. ¹⁵

Stephen Silberstien, a member of the liberal mega-donor group Democracy Alliance, sits on the board of Vote at Home. ⁴ Silberstein was a top-20 donor to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s super PAC, Priorities USA Action,¹⁶ and also sits on the board of National Popular Vote, a group which aims to implement a national plurality-at-large election of the President of the United States. ¹⁷

Funding

National Vote at Home Coalition has taken funding from the National Association of Letter Carriers and other labor unions¹⁸ as well as liberal eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar‘s Democracy Fund Voice. ¹⁹

1. Internal Revenue Service. Form 990, National Vote At Home Coalition. 2018. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2018/822/944/2018-822944257-1137577e-9O.pdf
2. “2019 Annual Report.” Vote At Home. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/VAH-Annual-report-2019-v-1.0.pdf
3. “Winter 2019/Winter 2020.” Vote At Home. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/VAH-intro-flyer.pdf

4. “About Us.” Vote At Home. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.voteathome.org/about/
5. “Vote By Mail.” Unite America. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.uniteamerica.org/strategy/vote-by-mail
6. Amber McReynolds, Jennifer Morrell, Noah Praetz. “Recommendations: DeKalb County Voter Registration & Elections.” DeKalb County Board of County Commissioners. May 29, 2020. Accessed July 6, 2021. https://www.dekalbcountyga.gov/sites/default/files/Election%20Group%20DeKalb%20Final%20Report-April%202020.pdf
7. “Secretary of State’s Office Bringing on Expert Consultants to Help with Vote-by-Mail Expansion for General Election.” AP20:046 SOS Office Bringing on Expert Consultants to help with VBM Expansion for General Election :: California Secretary of State. Accessed June 24, 2021. https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2020-news-releases-and-advisories/ap20046-sos-office-bringing-expert-consultants-help-vote-mail-expansion-general-election.
8. Abrams, Abigail. “Amber McReynolds Is Helping the Country Vote-By-Mail in 2020.” Time. Time, October 20, 2020. https://time.com/5901694/amber-mcreynolds-vote-by-mail-2020-election/.
9. Fouriezos, Nick. “An Emerging Republican Champion for Voter Access.” Ozy. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/despite-getting-voted-out-this-colorado-republican-is-a-hope-for-voting-rights/94126/
10. “Board: Amber McReynolds.” RepresentWomen. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.representwomen.org/amber_mcreynolds
11. Internal Revenue Service. Form 990, National Vote At Home Institute. 2018. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2018/825/515/2018-825515680-10f6dc6b-9.pdf
12. “Phil Keisling.” Portland State University Hatfiled School of Government. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.pdx.edu/cps/phil-keisling
13. Jaquiss, Nigel. The New York Times Highlights Phil Keisling’s Work to Strengthen Democracy, Now Copied By Other States.” Williamette Week. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/12/24/the-new-york-times-highlights-phil-keislings-work-to-strengthen-democracy-now-copied-by-other-states/
14. Keisling, Phil. “Vote from Home, Save Your Country.” Washington Monthly. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/janfeb-2016/vote-from-home-save-your-country/
15. Keisling, Phil. “3 Keys to a Far Better Way of Choosing Presidential Nominees.” Governing Magazine. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.governing.com/columns/smart-mgmt/col-presidential-primaries-caucuses-vote-by-mail-ranked-choice-voting.html
16. Iacob, Ivona. “The Top Donors Backing Hillary Clinton’s Super PAC.” Forbes. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ivonaiacob/2016/05/27/top-donors-hillary-clinton-superpac/#75295a8c4105
17. “Our Partners.” Unite America. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.uniteamerica.org/partners
18. Data compiled from U.S. Department of Labor Office of Labor-Management Standards from annual reports filed by labor unions. Queries conducted March 27, 2020.
19. Bird, Meredith. “National Vote at Home Coalition.” Democracy Fund Voice, July 10, 2019. https://democracyfundvoice.org/national-vote-at-home-coalition/.