Validate the Vote USA is an advocacy organization which recruits volunteers to review printouts of vote count totals from voting machines at polling locations—commonly referred to as poll tapes—after elections. The organization claims that its goal is to identify mistakes and make the public increase confidence in election results. ¹

Validate the Vote has endorsed the For the People Act, proposed legislation that would increase the involvement of the federal government in election administration. The proposal has received criticism from right-of-center observers for its apparent negative effects, such as enshrining exceptional election policies which certain states implemented during the 2020 election cycle, allegedly due to the coronavirus pandemic. Other criticisms of the act have included its perceived restrictions on state-level election integrity measures and its alleged incompatibility with First Amendment political speech protections. ^{2 3}

Initiatives

Validate the Vote USA has backed Democratic Party-friendly election legislation and called for the inclusion of several specific policies, such as allowing any voter to request a paper ballot, preserving images of paper ballots in the public record, hand counting ballots, and conducting additional audits. ⁴

The organization has opposed some initiatives to expand remote voting, such as a California vote-by-fax law, citing potential security concerns, as well as the alleged threat of  Russian cyberattacks which the organization claims are more likely due to the war in Ukraine. ⁵

Validate the Vote has also called for a new United States Supreme Court code of conduct with more stringent recusal requirements for justices and more restrictions on alleged “dark money groups,” which the organization claims have enabled the recent nominations of conservative-leaning justices. ⁶ The group joined about 100 other groups in claiming that the U.S. Senate should nominate more “fair-minded” and diverse candidates to the overall federal judiciary. ⁷

Affiliations

Validate the Vote USA has signed on to several letters to elected officials, joining left-wing organizations in calling for changes to laws governing elections and guidelines for appointing public officials. These have included the Center for American Progress, a leading liberal think tank; the League of Conservation Voters, a backer of anti-conventional energy politicians; NARAL Pro-Choice America, an influential abortion promoter; and the Women’s March, a controversial feminist campaign. ⁸

Leadership

Jennifer Tanner is Validate the Vote USA’s director and the organizer of LA County Voters Action Coalition. She is a regular signer of letters to public officials under both her name and the names of the organizations with which she is affiliated. ⁹

1. Validate the Vote USA. Accessed February 19, 2023. https://validatethevoteusa.org/
2. Dale Axelrod. “Dear Senators: We…” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 19, 2023. https://www.nvrtf.org/ewExternalFiles/Senators!.pdf
3. “The Facts About H.R. 1: The ‘For the People Act of 2021.’” The Heritage Foundation. February 21, 2021. Accessed February 19, 2023. https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/the-facts-about-hr-1-the-the-people-act-2021
4. Dale Axelrod. “Dear Senators: We…” National Voting Rights Task Force. Accessed February 19, 2023. https://www.nvrtf.org/ewExternalFiles/Senators!.pdf
5. “Coalition of Good Government, Democracy Organizations, and Election Integrity Experts Oppose SB1480.” Free Speech for People. Accessed February 19, 2023. https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/coalition-of-good-government-and-democracy-organizations-opposes-sb1480-3.pdf
6. “Letter to Chairman Nadler Re: SCERT Act.” Government Accountability Project. December 8, 2022. Accessed February 19, 2023. https://whistleblower.org/letter/letter-to-chairman-nadler-re-scert-act/
7. Letter to U.S. Senators about U.S. Supreme Court ethics, December 14, 2022. Accessed February 20, 2023. https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/101-Groups-Court-Ethics-Letter.pdf
8. Letter to Chairman Nadler Re: SCERT Act.” Government Accountability Project. December 8, 2022. Accessed February 19, 2023. https://whistleblower.org/letter/letter-to-chairman-nadler-re-scert-act/
9. Coalition letter to California State Senators, “SB 1480 STRONG OPPOSE,” April 19, 2022. Accessed February 20, 2023. https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/coalition-letter-on-ca-sb-1480.docx-1.pdf