The Voter Registration Project is a voter mobilization group which targets African-American, Latino, Native American, low-income, and other voter groups likely to lean left-of-center. The organization claims to be non-partisan, but is run by individuals with long-standing connections to left-of-center non-profits, including the AFL-CIO labor union federation, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, and the State Voices network of liberal state-level advocacy groups. [1] It also works to promote voting within blocs that tend to support the Democratic Party by giving grants to numerous left-of-center nonprofit groups.
The organization began as Voting for America in 1986 but reformed as the Voter Registration Project in 2008.
Methods
The Voter Registration Project lists the following priorities:
- Register voters in under-represented communities
- Re-register voters who have moved to a new address
- Inform voters in under-represented communities of current voting laws in their state
- Inform and sign up applicable voters to vote by mail, vote absentee, or vote during an early voting period
- Inform voters about upcoming local, state, and national elections[2]
The Project channels funds to state-based nonprofit voter advocacy and community mobilization groups throughout the country. In particular, it has focused funding on North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Colorado. [3]
The Project also claims it collects data on newly registered voters to improve its mobilization methods. [4]
Leadership
The Voter Registration Project is led by individuals with histories of working for left-of-center advocacy groups.
Jeff Malachowsky
President Jeff Malachowsky has worked for numerous left-of-center nonprofits for over twenty years. [5][6] He was the co-founder of Oregon Voice, a member of the State Voices Network, a left-of-center community activism organization which rallies grass-root organizations for progressive causes. [7] Malachowski also co-founded the Western States Center, a left-of-center group focused on community organizing to support progressive political goals. [8] Additionally he sat on the board of the Oregon Bus Project Foundation (now called Next Up), a Portland-based left-of-center voter advocacy group. [9]
For over seven years until 2018, Malachowsky’s primary job was as a program director at the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund,[10] a secretive left-of-center grantmaking foundation created by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum and C. Frederick Taylor. [11]
Along with being the president of the Voter Registration Project, Malachowsky works with other left-of-center nonprofits. [12] He sits on the Board of Directors of the Penny Family Fund, a grantmaking foundation which supports left-wing environmentalist causes. Malachowsky also was a founding co-director of and continues to sit on the board of directors for the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finance in state-level campaigns that is funded by numerous major left-of-center nonprofits, including the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. [13]
Lauren Groh-Wargo
Lauren Groh-Wargo was Voter Registration Project’s treasurer until 2017, when she was hired by now-former Georgia State Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta) to run Abrams’s Georgia gubernatorial campaign. After Abrams lost to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), Groh-Wargo became CEO of Fair Fight Action, a left-of-center voter rights advocacy group founded by Abrams. [14]
Bill Vandenberg
Secretary Bill Vandenberg has over 20 years of experience working for left-of-center political advocacy organizations. [15]
In 1996, Vandenberg co-founded the Colorado Progressive Coalition, a state-based left-of-center advocacy group which supports expanded government healthcare provisions and anti-discrimination laws. [16] Vandenberg was an “award-winning state-based advocate, anti-racism activist, coalition builder, ballot initiative strategist, political organizer,”[17] as he was co-director of the organization until 2008.
Vandenberg left the Colorado Progressive Coalition to serve numerous roles at the Open Society Foundations, the George Soros-backed network of more than 20 nonprofits dedicated to supporting left-of-center causes. Vandenberg works as the director of Special Initiatives and Partnerships at OSF. [18]
Vandenberg also serves on the Advisory Boards for numerous left-of-center voter advocacy groups: the Youth Engagement Fund, Youth Engagement Action Fund,[19] and the State Engagement Initiative. [20]
Katherine Peck
Board Member Katherine Peck is the Senior Vice President of the left-of-center Civic Participation Action Fund. [21]
Peck also sits on the boards of numerous left-of-center voter advocacy groups. She is the Chairman of the Board of State Voices. Peck is a Board Member of the Advancement Project,[22] and is on the Advisory Boards of the Latino Engagement Fund and the Latino Action Engagement Fund. [23]
Steve Rosenthal
Board Member Steve Rosenthal is an experienced political consultant who works with labor unions, Democratic candidates, and left-of-center organizations. Rosenthal was the Political Director of the AFL-CIO from 1995-2002, the largest federation of American unions. In 2003, he received $142 million from George Soros to launch a massive voter mobilization campaign against George W. Bush’s presidential reelection efforts through the America Coming Together PAC. Since 2004, Rosenthal has worked for the left-of-center voter mobilization nonprofits, Working for Us Pac and the Atlas Project. [24]
In 2015, Rosenthal founded his own for-profit consulting group, The Organizing Group, which leverages his connections with left-wing donors and organizations to mobilize voting for Democratic campaigns. [25]
Kimberly Rogers
Campaign director Kimberly Rogers is the Program Director of the left-of-center voter mobilization nonprofit, Register America. She is also the only known employee of the Voter Engagement Fund, a nominal voter advocacy group formed by the New Venture Fund to bolster left-of-center political causes. [26]
Grant Recipients
The Voter Registration Project gives grants to left-of-center organizations seeking to mobilize voters to support Democratic candidates. [27]
New Virginia Majority Education Fund, the education-wing of the far-left associated voter mobilization group New Virginia Majority, received $820,000. New Florida Majority, a far-left associated voter mobilization group, received $148,204. [28] Both New Virginia Majority and New Florida Majority are members of the State Power Caucus, a radical-left-influenced network of state-level left-progressive organizing groups. [29]
State Voices Network, another left-of-center community activism organization which rallies state-level organizations for progressive causes, received $653,295. ProGeorgia State Table, a member of the State Voices Network, received $234,810. [30]
A number of North Carolina organizations received Voter Registration Project grants. Blueprint NC, a network of 41 nonprofits advocating for left-progressive policy,[31] received $145,255; North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute, a “constituency group” of the AFL-CIO, received $128,946; [32] Action Institute North Carolina, a community organizing group dedicated to increasing government benefits for low-income communities,[33] received $70,221; People’s Alliance Fund, a grantmaking fund which supports higher minimum wage laws and left-progressive voter outreach in North Carolina, received $61,575; and North Carolina Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, the education-wing of the NCPIRG Citizen Lobby, the North Carolina branch of Ralph Nader’s network of advocacy groups, received $20,360. [34]
Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, the education-wing of Mi Familia Vota, a Hispanic voter mobilization group, received $262,190. [35] Hispanic Federation, an advocacy group that supports more government benefits for Hispanic Americans, received $58,580. [36] One Arizona, a voter mobilization group that targets ethnic and racial minorities,[37] received $342,031. [38] GALEO Latino Community Development Fund, a Latino community group which registers Latino voters,[39] received $8,100. [40]
New Georgia Group, another voter-advocacy group founded by Stacey Abrams,[41] received $86,426. [42] Georgia Standup, an education organization that promotes housing subsidies, labor unions, and government benefits,[43] received $48,204. [44] 9 to 5 Georgia, a women’s advocacy group which supports labor regulations that favor women,[45] received $43,123. [46] Georgia Coalition for People’s Agenda, a voting rights advocacy group,[47] received $34,375. [48]
Organize Florida Education Fund, an activist-training organization, received $61,842. [49] Engage Miami Civic Fund, a voter mobilization group,[50] received $19,619. [51]
Alliance for Youth Organizing, a voter mobilization group based in the western United States, received $48,239. [52] New Era Colorado Fund, a voter mobilization fund, received $46,198. [53] Voter Participation Center, a voter mobilization group with ties to moveon.org, received $11,418. [54] Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a coalition of thirty groups supporting progressive politics, received $10,600. [55]