Election SOS is a fiscally sponsored project of the American Press Institute that provides training and resources to journalists to cover American elections. The organization is managed by Hearken, a technology consulting firm, and Trusting News. Most of Election SOS’s funding comes from the Democracy Fund and the Trusted Elections Project Fund. ¹ The Election Integrity Fund has also donated to Election SOS. ²

Election SOS was founded during the run-up to the 2020 election and has expanded its programs since. ³

Founding

The establishment of Election SOS was spearheaded by Hearken. In June 2019, Hearken co-founder Jennifer Brandel and New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen co-wrote a Medium essay titled “A Call for Radically Different Campaign Coverage.” The article condemned the media’s coverage of the 2016 election for failing to accurately predict results, displaying a lack of understanding of election procedures, and eroding trust in the media. The two authors laid out a “citizens agenda” for how the press should cover elections, including an emphasis on forums and community feedback, that eventually became Election SOS. ^{4 5}

By August 2020, 106 journalists had participated in Election SOS’s training program. ⁶

Activities

Trusted Elections Expert Network

Election SOS has created the Trusted Elections Expert Network which collected the contact information of 270 election officials and experts, including all 50 secretaries of state, as provided by the National Association of Secretaries of State. ⁷

Rapid Response Fund

In 2020, Election SOS established the Rapid Response Fund to distribute grants to “newsrooms and freelancers” in immediate need of financial support. The fund distributed $200,000 across 38 grants in 13 states. ⁸

2020 Fellowship Program

Election SOS ran a fellowship program before the 2020 election that placed journalists (mostly recent college graduates) in newsrooms across the country to provide more manpower for covering the election. The program placed 39 fellows in 20 newsrooms. ⁹

Engaged Elections

During the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections, Election SOS offered Engaged Elections cohort training to journalists and newsroom personnel to help them cover elections. Funding for the program was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Democracy Fund. ³

Extremism Coverage Prep

Election SOS provides the Extremism Coverage Prep program to news agencies to assist in “assessing risks, digital safety, and editorial policies before covering extremists.” The program requires a vetting process before permitting entry due to the “topic’s sensitive nature.” ¹⁰

Reaching Republican Voters

Election SOS has hosted a “Reaching Republican Voters” seminar advising news organizations on how to provide voter education to Republicans. The webinar recommends using “depolarizing conversations,” the looping technique of acknowledging points, and aiming for common values to bridge ideological gaps. ¹¹

Leadership

Jennifer Brandel co-wrote the founding article of Election SOS and has been described as its lead strategist. Brandel is the co-founder and CEO of Harken. She also co-founded and remains a board member of Zebras Unite, a venture capital fund that “calls for a more ethical and inclusive movement to counter existing start-up and venture capital culture.” ^{12 4 13}

Jay Rosen, the co-author of Election SOS’s founding document, is a journalism professor at New York University. Rosen has expressed that journalists should combat alleged disinformation by explicitly calling out lies made by public figures and refusing to platform people who “supply disinformation,” even public figures. He has written that disinformation is rampant in right-wing media where it is “absolutely believed and promoted” by sources like Fox News. Rosen alleged that the Republican Party is “turning anti-democratic” and has suggested that journalists should be ideologically committed to “pro-democracy” views. ¹⁴

1. “The Election SOS team & partners.” Elections SOS. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://electionsos.com/.
2. “The Election Integrity Fund.” Charitable Commitment. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://charitablecommitment.org/election-integrity-fund/.
3. Brandel, Jennifer.” Medium. May 13, 2022. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://medium.com/we-are-hearken/announcing-election-sos-2022-5d97905bbefc.
4. Brandel, Jennifer; Rosen, Jay. “A Call for Radically Different Campaign Coverage.” Medium. June 12, 2019. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://medium.com/we-are-hearken/a-call-for-radically-different-campaign-coverage-85e62401d0c6.
5. “About Us.” Elections SOS. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://electionsos.com/about-us/.
6. Thoreson, Bridget. “How 20+ newsrooms are turning to the public to focus 2020 election reporting.” Poynter. August 19, 2020. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/how-20-newsrooms-are-turning-to-the-public-to-focus-2020-election-reporting/.
7. “Secretaries of State.” Election SOS. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://electionsos.com/secretaries-of-state/.
8. “Rapid Response Fund.” Election SOS. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://electionsos.com/rapidresponsefundesos/.
9. “Fellowships.” Election SOS. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://electionsos.com/fellowship-programs/.
10.  “Extremism Coverage Prep.” Election SOS. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://electionsos.com/extremism-coverage-prep/.
11. “Reaching Republican Voters.” Election SOS. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://electionsos.com/resource/reaching-republican-voters/.
12. “Democracy Day 2023.” Collaborative Journalism. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://collaborativejournalism.org/democracyday/about/.
13. “Jennifer Brandel.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 15, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennbrandel/.
14. Borchardt, Alexandra. Jay Rosen: “Journalists Have To Become More Explicitly Pro-Democracy”.” Alexandra Borchardt. June 24, 2022. Accessed April 16, 2023. https://alexandraborchardt.com/jay-rosen-journalists-have-to-become-more-explicitely-pro-democracy/.