National Voting Rights Task Force is a left-of-center group that describes itself as an “election security” organization that advocates for increased mail-in voting, legislation to federalize election administration, for hand-marked paper ballots, and for stronger vote auditing and chain of custody, among other issues.

Background

National Voting Rights Task Force is a California-based nonprofit focused on federal and state election laws. While mostly a left-leaning organization that calls for expanded mail-in voting, a policy often favored by Democrats, the group also acknowledges concerns about voting fraud similar to those expressed by Republicans, and supports stricter chain of custody measures and stronger post-election auditing. ^{1 2}

The task force contends that technology disrupts election integrity, and it advocates for open-source election systems. It also says county-run elections obstruct transparency and require more oversight. ³

NVRTF Co-Chair Jim Soper, a frequent spokesperson for the organization, has warned of a “potential coup via the Electoral College.” ⁴

Policy Agenda

In 2021, the National Voting Rights Task Force supported the “For the People Act,” a bill to federalize election administration. Other signers included Move to Amend; ValidateTheVoteUSA.org; Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club; Americans United for Democracy, Integrity and Transparency in Elections (AUDIT) USA; Broward for Progress; Citizens’ Oversight Projects; Indivisible East Bay; Indivisible Sonoma County; and ElectionIntegrityCaucus.us. In the letter, the organizations called for the senators to allow voting on hand-marked paper ballots, prohibiting the use of tracking barcodes, preserving ballot images of paper ballots as public records for independent audits, and for risk-limiting audits. ⁵

The organization also supports voting by mail. The organization notes that mail-in-voting relies on paper ballots that cannot be electronically hacked and claims adopting mail balloting would save money on poll workers. ⁶

The task force advocates for hand-marked paper ballots, and contends the only way to know if an electronic vote total has been hacked is for voters to have separately recorded their intended selections on paper. The group asserts that manual audits or recounts can be corrupted if the chain of custody between election night and the audit or recount is compromised. ⁷ The task force supports the proposed SAFE Act sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) that would require hand-marked paper ballots and audits for all federal elections with ballot marking devices. ⁸

The organization argues the ballot marking devices, or BMDs, were designed for voters with disabilities that prevent them from using hand marked paper ballots. However, for-profit vendors have marketed BMDs for use by all voters, and marketed machine-marked printout from BMDs as “paper ballots.” ⁹

The task force calls for a transparent and secure chain of custody from the time a vote is cast through the counting, manual audits, recounts and beyond, asserting that “Any break in the chain will invite fraud.” ¹⁰

The task force supports “risk limiting audits,” noting that half the states in the United States do not require manual election audits after votes are counted. Manual recount laws only apply to margins of victory less than 1 percent in most states. The organization supports automatic audits to detect possible hacking and other risks. The “risk limiting audit” was invented by University of California, Berkeley Professor Philip B. Stark. ¹¹

California counties conduct a 1 percent election audit under state law to verify accuracy. However, National Voting Rights Task Force co-chair Jim Soper contends that “county registrars because have a very vested interest in covering stuff up,” and says the state should conduct the audits. ¹²

Partnerships

National Voting Rights Task Force regularly teams with other advocacy groups. It is a member organization of Scrutineers, a left-of-center election activist organization that advocates a critical race theory-influenced concept of “election justice.” Other Scrutiners member organizations include Americans United for Democracy, Integrity and Transparency in Elections (AUDIT USA); Michigan Election Reform Alliance; Democracy Labs; Transparent Elections North Carolina; Democracy Counts; Protect Our Votes; Civ.Works; and the Coalition for Good Governance. ¹³

The task force started a “Watch the Counties” initiative in 2022 that encouraged and recruited people to be nonpartisan election observers. ¹⁴ The group also teamed with Scrutineers to form the Act For Trusted Election Results Project, or the AFTER Project. The project provides free training for people who want to observe vote counts at polling places. ¹⁵

In 2020, the National Voting Rights Task Force joined a coalition of partners that included AUDIT USA, the Center for Common Ground, Citizens Audit Broward, Citizens for Voting Integrity New York, SMART Elections, Florida Fair Elections Coalition, Michigan Election Reform Alliance, Reclaim Our Vote, SeeSay2020, and Transparent Elections North Carolina. ¹⁶

The task force teamed with the National Association of Social Workers to increase voter registration and turnout, as part of the “Voting is Social Work” program. ¹⁷

National Voting Rights Task Force joined other organizations in December 2022 to support the San Francisco Elections Commission’s decision to fire longtime city Elections Director John Antz. California Clean Money Campaign and the Association of Voting Officials joined the task force in its letter of support. ¹⁸

1. “Hand-Marked Paper Ballots.” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/key-issues/paper-ballots.html
2. “Hand-Marked Paper Ballots.” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/key-issues/paper-ballots.html
3. La Plante, Mauricio. “Santa Clara County elections officials dismiss Trump’s voter fraud claims.”
   San Jose Spotlight. June 1, 2020. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-elections-officials-dismiss-trumps-voter-fraud-claims/
4. “National Voting Rights Task Force.” Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/
5. Letter led by Scrutiners and National Voting Rights Task Force to U.S. Senators. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://www.nvrtf.org/ewExternalFiles/Senators!.pdf
6. “Vote by Mail.” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/key-issues/vote-by-mail.html
7. “Hand-Marked Paper Ballots.” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/key-issues/paper-ballots.html
8. “National Voting Rights Task Force.” Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/
9. “Hand-Marked Paper Ballots.” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/key-issues/paper-ballots.html
10. “Transparent and Secure Chain of Custody.” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/key-issues/chain-of-custody.html
11. “Risk Limiting Audits.” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/key-issues/risk-limiting-audits.html
12. La Plante, Mauricio. “Santa Clara County elections officials dismiss Trump’s voter fraud claims.”
    San Jose Spotlight. June 1, 2020. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-elections-officials-dismiss-trumps-voter-fraud-claims/
13. “Member Organizations.” Scrutiners. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://scrutineers.org/our-community/member-organizations/
14. “Watch the Counties.” National Voting Rights Task Force. https://nvrtf.org/resources/ewExternalFiles/WatchTheCounties-2022!!.pdf
15. Home Page. National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://nvrtf.org/
16.  Press Release. “Groundbreaking Election Protection Initiative Uses Crowdsourcing and New Technologies to Document Poll Tape Election Results.” November 2, 2020. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/groundbreaking-election-protection-initiative-uses-crowdsourcing-and-new-technologies-to-document-poll-tape-election-results-301165231.html
17. “Increasing Voter Participation.” National Association of Social Workers. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://www.socialworkers.org/Advocacy/Social-Justice/Increasing-Voter-Participation
18. Shanks, Adam. “Why some are cheering possible switch in S.F. Elections leadership.” San Francisco Examiner. December 2, 2022. Accessed February 24, 2023. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/fair-elections-advocates-question-arntzs-history-in-sf/article_ef95593a-7276-11ed-b04c-8bd27f8b1d7e.html