The Free Election Fund (FEF), formerly called the Democracy Docket Legal Fund (DDLF), is a left-of-center advocacy group associated with election lawyer Marc Elias that raises money for lawsuits to expand voting access, with “a focus on laws and practices that will have the greatest impact on BIPOC and young voters.” ¹ The DDLF is the sister organization of Democracy Docket LLC, a media platform that reports on electoral news, and the Democracy Docket Action Fund (DDAF). DDLF is a project of the Hopewell Fund, a fiscall nonprofit group managed by consulting firm Arabella Advisors. ²

There is little public information on the FEF’s activity, though it has received large donations from numerous major left-of-center foundations and is supposedly tracking 350 pieces of election administration legislation in 47 states. ³

Founding

The Free Election Fund (FEF) was originally founded in 2020 as the Democracy Docket Legal Fund (FFLD) by election-law attorney Marc Elias of the Elias Law Group. FEF is a fiscally sponsored project of the Hopewell Fund, a left-of-center grantmaking foundation managed by consulting firm Arabella Advisors. Also in 2020, Elias founded Democracy Docket LLC as an independent for-profit media company and the Democracy Docket Action Fund (DDAF), though not through the Hopewell Fund. Rather, DDAF is under the umbrella of the North Fund, another managed by Arabella Advisors, which in 2019 received $9.3 million (100% of its revenue) from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which is also run by Arabella Advisors. ^{4 2}

Funding

The Free Election Fund (FEF) has previously received funding from left-of-center grantmaking foundations through the Hopewell Fund in 2020. The Sandler Foundation, after committing to donate $200 million to “racial justice groups” after the police-custody death of George Floyd, ⁵ gave $1.5 million. ⁶ The Sherwood Foundation, the charitable grantmaking foundation of Susan A. Buffet, gave $500,000. ⁷ The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation gave $800,000, by far its largest donation to the Hopewell Fund. ¹ The Omidyar Network, the grantmaking foundation of eBay-founder Pierre Omidyar, gave $1.5 million. ⁴

In April 2021, Bad Robot, the film production company run by J.J. Abrams, along with the Katie McGrath and J.J. Abrams Foundation, donated $1 million to the organization. ^{4 3}

In 2023, the Hopewell Fund received a grant of $10 million from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), a private grantmaking group created and funded by philanthropist George Soros, intended, “to support the nonpartisan Free Election Fund.” ⁸

1. “Hopewell Fund.” MacArthur Foundation. Accessed December 2, 2021. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/hopewell-fund-10114459/.
2. “Hopewell Fund: Grants.” The MacArthur Fund, Accessed September 16, 2024. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/hopewell-fund-10114459/
3. “Bad Robot.” Twitter. April 8, 2021. Accessed December 2, 2021. https://twitter.com/bad_robot/status/1380296416849850374.
4. Schoffstall, Joe. “Dark money network gives top Dem lawyer ‘nearly unlimited funding’ for voting rights lawsuits, watchdog says.” Fox News. September 15, 2021. Accessed December 2, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dark-money-network-gives-dem-lawyer-nearly-unlimited-funding-for-voting-rights-lawsuits-watchdog-says.
5. Herndon, Astead W. “Progressive Donor Susan Sandler to Give $200 Million to Racial Justice Groups.” New York Times. September 14, 2020. Accessed December 2, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/politics/Susan-Sandler-donation-racial-justice.html.
6. “Sandler Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed December 2, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943147856/202141329349304039/IRS990ScheduleI.
7. “Sherwood Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed December 2, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/470824755/202141349349102619/full.
8. “Awarded Grants: Hopewell Fund.” Open Society Foundations, Accessed September 16, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=free+election+fund&grant_id=OR2023-91374