Voting Rights Lab is a voter advocacy group working at the state level to change voting laws and reducing restrictions. The group is a former project of the nonprofit group New Venture Fund. Started in 2018, the Voting Rights Lab works to support left-of-center policies concerning vote-by-mail and restoration of voting rights to former convicted felons. ^{1 2} The Voting Rights Lab is also a virtual organization and its employees work from home. ³

The Voting Rights Lab brands itself as a “campaign hub” designed to “supercharge the fight against voter suppression,” and to “transform our voting systems.” It partners with organizations across the country to build state legislative and ballot initiative campaigns aimed at advancing left-of-center electoral policy changes. ⁴ According to the Washington D.C. corporate registry, “Voting Rights Lab” is a registered trade name of the New Venture Fund. ⁵

Democracy Donors, a liberal donor group, has listed the Voting Rights Lab as a top organization to fund. ⁶ Voting Rights Lab is also a partner of Unite America, a left-leaning voting policy group.

In June 2022, New Venture Fund cut ties with Voting Rights Lab. As of July 2023, Voting Rights Lab is a project of the SD Foundation, a charity started in August 2022 by Voting Rights Lab co-founder and executive director Megan Lewis. According to IRS tax exemption forms, the SD Foundation was started through a $4.8 million donation from the New Venture Fund in 2022. ⁷

Leadership

Megan Lewis is a co-founder and the executive director of the Voting Rights Lab. Lewis previously worked as the executive vice president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a lobbying group founded by former New York Mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg that advocates for gun control measures. ⁸

Sam Tarazi is a co-founder and chief program officer of the Voting Rights Lab. Tarazi previously worked as chief engagement officer of Everytown for Gun Safety. ⁹

Brina Milikowsky is a co-founder of the Voting Rights Lab. Milikowsky currently sits as the chair of the board of directors for NARAL Pro-Choice America, an organization in that engages in political action and advocacy efforts to oppose restrictions on abortion and expand access to abortion. Milikowsky is also on the board of Reboot, a nonprofit that works to reinvent Jewish thought and tradition. ¹⁰ Milikowsky previously served as the chief strategy officer of Everytown for Gun Safety. ¹¹

According to the Daily Caller, a number of Everytown for Gun Safety staff loyal to Megan Lewis had followed her in departing the organization in 2017 after a leadership dispute. ¹²

Additionally, Christian LoBue is the director of campaigns and partnerships of the Voting Rights Lab. LoBue previously worked as associate director of campaigns and constituencies for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. ¹³

Research

The premier outward-facing project of the Voting Rights Lab is their State Voting Rights Tracker which consists of detailed analyses of voting laws and voting accessibility in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and provides real time legislative tracking. ¹⁴

For the 2020 election, the Voting Rights Lab has focused their work on fighting opposing voter ID laws, removals of inactive registrants from voter rolls, and early voting cuts. ¹⁵

The Voting Rights Lab has conducted polling research for Vote At Home, a nonprofit organization that pushes for a national vote-from-home electoral system, on how voters felt about vote-by-mail electoral system when asked and what specific verbiage helped to increase support. ¹⁶

Advocacy

The Voting Rights Lab fought against anti-election fraud legislation in Texas that would have increased the penalties for making a false statement on a voter registration application and tightened laws around mail-in ballots. ¹⁷ Christian LoBue of the Voting Rights Lab spoke at a panel titled “Combatting Voter Suppression — A Case Study on TX SB9” in January 2020 at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change Conference, and discussed how Voting Rights Lab worked to defeat the bill. ¹⁸

During the 2020 election cycle, the Voting Rights lab created social media memes encouraging that all cast votes be counted out of fears that Republicans would do something to tamper with the election results. ¹⁹

Controversy

Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination and Unethical Advocacy Practices

On October 28, 2022, Sarah Walker, former executive director and vice president of advocacy for Secure Democracy, a group that allegedly works closely with the Voting Rights Lab, filed a lawsuit against Secure Democracy, Secure Democracy USA, and the New Venture Fund, the Voting Rights Lab’s fiscal sponsor at the time, seeking damages for alleged discrimination, civil rights violations, and wrongful termination.^{20 21} According to the lawsuit, Secure Democracy was established in 2018 . . . in order to work with Republicans on voting rights issues and to maintain a distance from the Democratic Party–affiliated work of VRL [Voting Rights Lab].” Walker claimed that Secure Democracy had long worked as the 501(c)(4) wing of the Voting Rights Lab, which is a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, and that both Secure Democracy and the Voting Rights Lab had discriminated against female employees of color by paying them less than their white counterparts, denying them equal opportunity for advancement, and denying them equal access to benefits.” According to the lawsuit, Secure Democracy and Voting Rights lab leadership “constantly reminded [Walker] of her racial identity,” were obsessed with  “race and racial dynamics.”²²

The lawsuit also alleged that Secure Democracy and the Voting Rights Lab had engaged in unethical advocacy practices that “jeopardiz[ed] their tax exempt status” and “intentional tax violations” by “unlawfully subsidizing”  Secure Democracy’s 501(c)(4) operations with funds from the 501(c)(3) Voting Rights Lab and the New Venture Fund. After Walker brought concerns about the inappropriate use of funds and discrimination to her employer, the New Venture Fund and Secure Democracy allegedly retaliated against her by placing her on administrative leave until she was ultimately fired. In her lawsuit, Walker claimed that Secure Democracy and the Voting Rights Lab were “simply unconcerned about following the law.”²³

According to two former staffers, the lawsuit by Walker indirectly led to New Venture Fund cutting ties with Voting Rights Lab, with one other source commenting, “It was because of the Sarah matter…It didn’t make any sense to keep them under their umbrella.” ²⁴ As of July 2023, the group is a project of the SD Foundation, a charity group started by Voting Rights Lab co-founder and Executive Director Megan Lewis in August 2022. According to IRS tax exemption forms, the SD Foundation was started through a $4.8 million donation from the New Venture Fund in 2022. ²⁵

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