U.S. Vote Foundation (“USVF”) is a voter education and outreach group that continuously builds a database of information on state voter registration rules. In 2020, more than three million Americans “were served” by U.S. Vote. ¹

USVF advocates for numerous changes to election law to expand voter access, including automatic voter registration, automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters, enhanced ballot tracking, and extended voting deadlines for overseas Americans. However, the organization opposes online voting. ² USVF has a “demonstrated leadership” role in the implementation of the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act. ³

The group is primarily funded by licensing its database to left-of-center groups like the League of Women Voters. The organization has also received grants from left-of-center groups like the Democracy Fund and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

History

In 2004, Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat founded Overseas Vote, a non-profit dedicated to educating and encouraging United States citizens living abroad to vote. According to U.S. Vote Foundation’s website, the Overseas Vote team found that the American voting system was so complex that domestic citizens needed just as much help as citizens abroad, so they restarted the organization as U.S. Vote in 2012. ⁴ Dzieduszycka-Suinat’s LinkedIn page currently lists Overseas Vote as an “initiative” of U.S. Vote, and it maintains a separate webpage. ⁵

Licensing Partners

U.S. Vote Foundation licenses its databases to other organizations to assist in voter registration. As of June 2022, its licensing partners include the Alliance for Securing Democracy, the Brennan Center for Justice, Hip Hop Caucus, the League of Women Voters, Rock the Vote, Vote.org, VoteAmerica, the United States Postal Service, and the state of Ohio. ⁶

Opposition to Online Voting

U.S. Vote Foundation opposes changes to the American voting system that incorporate online voting. Josh Greenbaum, the chief technology officer of the U.S. Vote Foundation, wrote an article criticizing blockchain-based voting as being an “imminent threat to democracy” because it is supposedly vulnerable to widespread and difficult-to-detect fraud, particularly by malicious actors with strong cyberwarfare capabilities such as China and Russia. ⁷

USVF founder and president Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat co-wrote an article with former Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (D), criticizing all forms of online voting as “a grave threat that needs to be contained before we hand the enemies of democracy another powerful tool with which to accomplish their goals.” ⁸

Finances

In 2019, the U.S. Vote Foundation reported $108,016 in revenue. About one-fifth of its revenue came from donations, while the rest came from licensing fees and other services. ⁹

U.S. Vote Foundation has received grants from the Democracy Fund, the Federal Voting Assistance Program, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the JEHT Foundation. ¹⁰

Leadership

U.S. Vote Foundation founder and president Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat worked as a software marketing director for twenty years. Though initially based in Santa Cruz, California, Dzieduszycka-Suinat worked abroad in France and Germany for years. While in Germany, she led a team of American expatriates in forming Overseas Vote, the precursor to the U.S. Vote Foundation. ¹¹ She is a member of the Election Verification Network. ¹²

Michael Steele, a pundit at MSNBC, is the U.S. Vote Foundation chairman. Steele is best known as the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2009-2011 until he lost reelection after a series of spending scandals. Previously, Steele served as lieutenant governor of Maryland for one term and unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2006. ¹³

Board member Marcia Johnson-Blanco is co-director of the Lawyers’ Committee’s Voting Rights Project under the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. ¹⁴

Board member Kevin Kennedy served as director and general counsel for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board for nearly a decade until its dissolution in 2016. He also previously served as chief election official of Wisconsin, is a member of the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) and  the Election Center, and served as co-chair of the National Task Force on Election Reform. ¹⁵

Board member Clarissa Martinez-De-Castro is deputy vice president of UnidosUS, formerly known as the National Council of La Raza. ¹⁶

Board member Christopher Thomas worked for the Michigan department of state for forty years, including as director of elections since 1981. He previously worked for the U.S. Federal Election Commission. He is a founding member of NASED and served as its president in 1997 and 2013. He was chair of the board of advisors to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from 2006 through 2008, and was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration from 2013 through 2014. ¹⁷

1. “Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanovf/.
2. Ritchie, Mark; Dzieduszycka-Suinat, Susan. “Sabotaging democracy: The perils of online voting.” The Fulcrum. January 27, 2022. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://thefulcrum.us/Elections/Voting/online-voting-2656484936.
3. “Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanovf/.
4. “Our Story.” U.S. Vote. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/USVote-Origin-Story.
5. “Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanovf/.
6. “Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanovf/.
7.  Greenbaum, Josh. “Blockchain Voting: an imminent threat to democracy.” U.S. Vote. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/blockchain-threat-to-democracy.
8. Ritchie, Mark; Dzieduszycka-Suinat, Susan. “Sabotaging democracy: The perils of online voting.” The Fulcrum. January 27, 2022. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://thefulcrum.us/Elections/Voting/online-voting-2656484936.
9.  U.S. Vote Foundation, Return of an Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/980448497/03_2021_prefixes_94-99%2F980448497_201912_990_2021030217781557.
10. “Who We Are.” U.S. Vote Foundation. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/who-we-are-board.
11. “Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanovf/.
12. “Who We Are.” U.S. Vote Foundation. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/who-we-are-board.
13. “Michael Steele.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 8, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-steele-116b0436/details/experience/.
14. “Who We Are.” U.S. Vote Foundation. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/who-we-are-board
15. “Who We Are.” U.S. Vote Foundation. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/who-we-are-board.
16. “Who We Are.” U.S. Vote Foundation. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/who-we-are-board.
17. “Who We Are.” U.S. Vote Foundation. Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.usvotefoundation.org/who-we-are-board.