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Mobile Voting Project

Website:

mobilevoting.org/
Type:

Advocacy initiative
Fiscal Sponsor:

Tusk Philanthropies
Formation:

2017
Founder:

Bradley Tusk

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The Mobile Voting Project supports efforts to make voting by mobile phone an optional method in U.S. elections. 1 Tusk Philanthropies, founded by Bradley Tusk, established the Mobile Voting Project in late 2017. 2 Tusk has said he spent $20 million of his own money to build a secure technology for voting that is similar to banking, health care and other matters people use online. 3 He set up a series of pilot projects around the country testing smartphone-based voting. 4

Tusk previously worked as a political strategist for former New York Mayor and Democratic presidential primary candidate Michael Bloomberg and for U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 5 Sheila Nix, the CEO of the Mobile Voting Project, was the former chief of staff for former Vice President Kamala Harris‘s 2024 presidential campaign. 1

Background

The Mobile Voting Project advocates that cities and states allow voters to use mobile phones as an option for voting. 6 2

Venture capitalist Bradley Tusk founded the Mobile Voting Project in 2017 as a project of Tusk Philanthropies. 1 2 Tusk wrote a book, Vote with Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy. Tusk Philanthropies committed $20 million to the Mobile Voting Project. 7

The project supports pilot projects in several states, including West Virginia, Colorado and Washington, that are focused on overseas and disabled voters. The project is also active in Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Vermont, advocating that lawmakers consider legislation for mobile voting in local elections. 1

Tusk Network

Bradley Tusk is a former political strategist who became wealthy through an early investment in Uber. 4

Tusk Holdings, a for-profit company, is based in Manhattan, and is the umbrella organization that includes Tusk Venture Partners that invests in early-stage technology companies, and Tusk Strategies, which engages in political-strategy work. Tusk Philanthropies also works under Tusk Holdings, and is focused on mobile voting and solving hunger. 7

Tusk Philanthropies founded the Mobile Voting Project in 2017. 2  Tusk funded similar projects with state and local election officials in Delaware, Utah, Washington state and West Virginia. 4

At first, Tusk Philanthropies worked with companies that created their own mobile voting platforms for voters with disabilities or in the military. Election officials said pilots couldn’t be expanded to more voters unless new technology was developed. When these companies couldn’t provide the technology, Tusk committed $10 million to develop a new platform. 7

Tusk and the Mobile Voting Project contend that because gerrymandering makes most districts safe for either party, the only competitive elections are in primaries with extremely low turnout that are controlled by the far right or far left. The argument is that a if most Americans can vote from a handheld device, it will increase voter participation and lead to more compromise. 5

Dispute Over Security

In 2025, the Mobile Voting Project released a software development kit called VoteSecure. The group contends VoteSecure incorporates verifiability, encryption and voter-verifiable paper records to allow independent auditing. The organization also made the project open-source to allow outside researchers to test and validate its security . 1

The organization says voters must complete multi-factor authentication to confirm they are who they say they are before voting, while election jurisdictions can require voters confirm their identity through biometric facial recognition on their phone. 8

CBS News reported that a test app required a secure sign-in, a two-factor authorization, selecting “begin voting,” a “mark my ballot” option, then a slate of candidates, then concluding with “confirm votes.” After that, the voter would have to sign a digital affidavit. 3

In February 2026, 20 computer scientists signed a rebuke of the Mobile Voting Project and VoteSecure, asserting claims that it was secure are “untrue and dangerous.” The review claimed, “VoteSecure isn’t a complete, usable product, it’s just a ‘cryptographic core’ that someone might someday incorporate into a usable product.” 9

The lead author, Andrew Appel, professor emeritus of computer science at Princeton University, said in a statement: “For the last 20 years, it is a well established scientific consensus that internet voting is too insecure for public elections, unless some miraculous new technology is invented. People have been working for 30+ years on such technologies, and no such breakthrough has arrived, or is likely to arrive any time soon. … Mr. Tusk should not use VoteSecure as a pretext to promote unsafe internet voting.” 9

Leadership

Bradley Tusk is the founder of the Mobile Voting Project and the CEO of Tusk Holdings. He also founded Tusk Strategies and Tusk Ventures. His for-profit firms helped companies such as Lemonade, Ro, FanDuel, Coinbase, Circle, Latch, and Bird navigate regulatory challenges. Under Tusk Philanthropies, he founded Solving Hunger and the Mobile Voting Project. He was Uber’s first political adviser. 10

Tusk helped run successful early 2010s campaign that legalized the rideshare platform in most cities in the United States. Tusk was the campaign manager for then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I, later D) successful 2009 re-election campaign. He was previously the communications director for U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 7

Sheila Nix is the CEO of the Mobile Voting Project. She was the chief of staff to Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign. Before that, she was chief of staff to Jill Biden, wife of then-Vice President Joe Biden, during the Obama administration. She was also deputy assistant to President Barack Obama. She was previously the chief of staff to former U.S. Sens. Bob Kerrey (D-NE) and Bill Nelson (D-NE). She was also formerly the U.S. executive director of Bono’s ONE Campaign. 11

Michelle Feldman is the political director for The Mobile Voting Project. Previously, she was the director of advocacy and campaigns at Everytown for Gun Safety. She was also the director of state campaigns at the Innocence Project. She was the legislative and communications director for New York City Council Member Jessica Lappin (D-Manhattan). 11

Bryce Bennett is the grassroots director of the Mobile Voting Project. Bennett previously worked for Forward Montana and MontPIRG (Montana Public Interest Research Group). In 2010, he was elected to the Montana House of Representatives at age 25, and was the first openly gay man elected to the Montana Legislature. He was later elected to Montanna’s state Senate. He ran unsuccessfully for Montana Secretary of State in 2020. 11

References

  1. Sabin, Sam. “Exclusive: Ex-Harris aide named CEO of Mobile Voting Project.” Axios. February 19, 2026. Accessed March 13, 2026. https://www.axios.com/2026/02/19/mobile-voting-project-ceo-sheila-nix
  2. “Mobile Voting.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 13, 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/company/mobilevoting/
  3.  Moore, Jessica. “Voting by smartphone? New York entrepreneur bets millions on future of U.S. elections.” CBS News. October 27, 2025. Accessed March 14, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/voting-app-smartphone-ballots-future-elections/
  4. Freed, Benjamin. “Mobile voting effort comes to D.C.” December 3, 2021. Accessed March 14, 2026. https://statescoop.com/mobile-voting-effort-comes-to-d-c/
  5. Lannaman, Mark. “Mobile voting from our phones: Dream of a distant future or the next step in our elections?” Saporta Report. October 1, 2024. Accessed March 14, 2026. https://saportareport.com/mobile-voting-from-our-phones-dream-of-a-distant-future-or-the-next-step-in-our-elections/columnists/mark-lannaman/mark-lannaman/
  6. Mobile Voting Project. Accessed March 13, 2026. https://www.mobilevoting.org/
  7.  Adeniji, Ade. “Meet a Philanthropist Who Wants to Fix Voting — and Tackle Hunger.” Inside Philanthropy. October 3, 2024. Accessed March 13, 2026. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/meet-a-philanthropist-who-wants-to-fix-voting-and-upend-hunger-funding
  8.  “How Mobile Voting Works.” Mobile Voting Project. Accessed March 13, 2026. https://www.mobilevoting.org/the-tech
  9. Press Release. “Computer security experts clap back at Mobile Voting’s Bradley Tusk claims he can provide secure mobile voting via the VoteSecure software kit.” Free Speech for People. March 5, 2026. Accessed March 14, 2026. https://freespeechforpeople.org/computer-security-experts-clap-back-at-mobile-votings-bradley-tusk-claims-he-can-provide-secure-mobile-voting-via-the-votesecure-software-kit/
  10.  “Team.” Mobile Voting Project. Accessed March 13, 2026. https://www.mobilevoting.org/team
  11. [1] “Team.” Mobile Voting Project. Accessed March 13, 2026. https://www.mobilevoting.org/team
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