Register America

A clause in one of Register America’s tax returns stated that Register America does not directly compensate its staff members. Instead, they are paid by and are technically employed by the Voter Registration Project (VRP), which Register America claimed is officially “un-related for form 990 reporting purposes.” Register America cited its “longstanding business practice” with the VRP, stating that it shares operating resources, including staff and administrative services with the group. ²

Activities

Register America is a Washington, D.C.-based voter mobilization group for Democratic candidates and causes. Its primary goals are to help people register to vote and to advocate for policies that make voter registration easier and more widespread. However, it does not run such voter registration programs itself, but rather aims to support such programs run by other organizations by supplying “research and analysis” of previous registration efforts, in order to detail what are the “most effective practices.” It reportedly spent $7.8 million on said research efforts in 2024; however, most of this sum was donated to a similar organization, namely the Voter Registration Project. ^{1 3 4}

Funding

According to tax filings, Register America’s major donors have included America Votes, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and the New Venture Fund, indicating that Register America has a relationship to major left-of-center fundraising networks. ⁵

Grantmaking

In 2024, Register America gave $6,590,000 to the Voter Registration Project for general support. The Voter Registration Project targets identity groups assumed to lean left-of-center and its leadership has had long-standing affiliations with major left-of-center institutions such as the AFL-CIO labor union federation, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, and the State Voices network of left-of-center state-level advocacy groups. ^{4 6}

Leadership

A clause in one of Register America’s tax returns stated that Register America does not directly compensate its staff members. Instead, they are paid by and are technically employed by the Voter Registration Project (VRP), which Register America claimed is officially “unrelated” to Register America “for form 990 reporting purposes.” Register America cited its “longstanding business practice” with the VRP, stating that it shares operating resources, including staff and administrative services with the group. ²

In 2024, Register America was chaired by Kyru Crymes. At that time, Crymes was working as the national civic engagement director and Black civic engagement director of the SEIU, positions he continued to hold as of 2026. ^{7 8}

As of 2024, Nellie Sires was Register America’s executive director and president. She was also CEO of the Everybody Votes Campaign, otherwise known as the Voter Registration Project, a position she continued to hold as of 2026. From 2015 to 2016, she worked as the Great Lakes regional field director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC); from 2017 to 2019, she worked as the vice president of the Management Center; from 2020 to 2021, she worked as the executive director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. ^{7 9}