Voting Rights Lab is an advocacy organization that works at the state level to change voting laws fraud. 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]
Democracy Donors, a liberal donor group, has listed the Voting Rights Lab as a top organization to fund. [5] Voting Rights Lab is also a partner of Unite America, a left-leaning voting policy group.
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. [6]
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. [7]
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. [8] Milikowsky previously served as the chief strategy officer of Everytown for Gun Safety. [9]
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. [10]
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. [11]
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. [12]
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. [13]
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. [14]
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. [15] 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. [16]
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. [17]