Miles Rapoport is a left-wing activist and Democratic politician who served as Secretary of State of Connecticut and ran the left-of-center advocacy groups Demos and Common Cause. He is currently the executive director of 100% Democracy, an advocacy group for mandatory voting based on a book of the same name co-authored by Rapoport.

Education and Early Career

Miles Rapoport attended Harvard University for two years before transferring to New York University from which he graduated in 1971 with degrees in economics and political science. While in college, Rapoport protested apartheid and the Vietnam War. ^{1 2}

Rapoport started his career at Massachusetts Fair Share, a left-wing advocacy group. ³ In 1979, Rapoport became president of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, an environmentalist lobbying group founded by Ralph Nader. ⁴

Political Career

In 1984, Miles Rapoport resigned from the Connecticut Citizen Action Group to successfully run for the Connecticut House of Representatives against five-term incumbent Representative Joan Kemler (D-CT), who accused Rapoport of being on the “extreme liberal left.” Rapoport won the general election by 172 votes. In office, Rapoport led support for the establishment of a progressive income tax. ^{5 6} Rapoport also served on the boards of the National Conference of Alternative State and Local Policies and the National Association of Jewish Legislators and on the national advisory committee of Jewish Fund for Justice. ⁷

In 1994, Rapoport successfully ran for Connecticut secretary of state. ⁸

In 1998, Rapoport ran for a federal Congressional seat and lost in the Democratic primary against John Larson (D-CT). ⁹

Activism

In 2001, Miles Rapoport became the president of Demos, a prominent left-wing advocacy group and think tank. ¹⁰ He remains a trustee emeritus at the organization. ¹¹

In 2014, Rapoport became president of Common Cause, a left-wing advocacy group focused on campaign finance reform. ¹² Rapoport has written extensively on the subject advocating for stricter campaign finance laws, including in When Money Talks: The High Price of ‘Free’ Speech and the Selling of Democracy, co-authored with Derek Cressman and Thom Hartmann. ¹³

Rapoport founded and ran Democracy works (not to be confused with the more well-known Democracy Works). ¹⁴

Rapoport is a senior fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. ¹⁵

100% Democracy

In 2021, Miles Rapoport founded and became executive director of 100% Democracy, an advocacy group devoted to promoting mandatory voting. ¹⁶

In 2022, Rapoport and Brookings Institution senior fellow EJ Dionne Jr. published 100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting, which makes a case for instituting mandatory voting in the United States. Rapoport and Dionne Jr. argue that mandatory voting would end voter suppression and save money on voter outreach efforts. It points to Australia’s laws for inspiration. ¹⁷

Views on Voter Fraud and Voter Suppression

Rapoport has said the rate of voter fraud in the United States is “virtually nil.” ¹⁸

In May 2017, Miles Rapoport criticized then-President Donald Trump’s (R) Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, claiming that the commission may be biased and favor policies that critics like Rapoport consider to be forms of voter suppression. Rapoport stated the commission’s goal of examining and diminishing voter fraud is pointless because the “issue of widespread voter fraud has been examined, and universally debunked, by scholars and studies time and again,” and was only raised by the President to excuse his loss of the popular vote in the 2016 election. Rapoport particularly criticized the appointment of then-Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach (R) as vice chair as a biased choice who dramatically overestimates the prevalence of voter fraud. ¹⁹

In August 2017, Rapoport wrote that voter suppression at the state level was a major factor in President Trump’s 2016 presidential victory. ²⁰

1. “Progressive Activist Rep. Miles Rapoport Is Rebel with a Cause.” Hartford Courant. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.courant.com/1997/11/26/miles-rapoport-announces-run-for-1st-district-house-seat/.
2. “Progressive activist Rep. Miles Rapoport is rebel with a cause.” Newspapers.com. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91654526/hartford-courant/.
3. “Progressive Activist Rep. Miles Rapoport Is Rebel with a Cause.” Hartford Courant. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.courant.com/1997/11/26/miles-rapoport-announces-run-for-1st-district-house-seat/.
4. Pazniokas, Mark. “Miles Rapoport named national president of Common Cause.” CT Mirror. January 14, 2014. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://ctmirror.org/2014/01/14/miles-rapoport-named-national-president-common-cause/.
5. “Progressive activist Rep. Miles Rapoport is rebel with a cause.” Newspapers.com. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91654526/hartford-courant/.
6. Pazniokas, Mark. “Miles Rapoport named national president of Common Cause.” CT Mirror. January 14, 2014. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://ctmirror.org/2014/01/14/miles-rapoport-named-national-president-common-cause/.
7. Keating, Christopher. “Opinions differ on financing in Secretary of State race.” Newspapers.com. Accessed March 18, 2023.  https://www.newspapers.com/image/175996716/?clipping_id=91651836&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjE3NTk5NjcxNiwiaWF0IjoxNjc5MTY4ODgyLCJleHAiOjE2NzkyNTUyODJ9.vMFMDhHWYXI6D8iAnbbEWRX_H1-d58OB_y4OoMNA9Lc.
8. Pazniokas, Mark. “Miles Rapoport named national president of Common Cause.” CT Mirror. January 14, 2014. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://ctmirror.org/2014/01/14/miles-rapoport-named-national-president-common-cause/.
9. Pazniokas, Mark. “Miles Rapoport named national president of Common Cause.” CT Mirror. January 14, 2014. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://ctmirror.org/2014/01/14/miles-rapoport-named-national-president-common-cause/.
10. Pazniokas, Mark. “Miles Rapoport named national president of Common Cause.” CT Mirror. January 14, 2014. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://ctmirror.org/2014/01/14/miles-rapoport-named-national-president-common-cause/.
11. “Board of Trustees.” Demos. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.demos.org/about/board-trustees.
12. Pazniokas, Mark. “Miles Rapoport named national president of Common Cause.” CT Mirror. January 14, 2014. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://ctmirror.org/2014/01/14/miles-rapoport-named-national-president-common-cause/.
13. “When Money Talks: The High Price of “Free” Speech and the Selling of Democracy.” Scribd. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.scribd.com/book/569819055/When-Money-Talks-The-High-Price-of-Free-Speech-and-the-Selling-of-Democracy.
14. “Miles Rapoport.” Huffington Post. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.huffpost.com/author/miles-rapoport.
15. “This edition: Threats to Our Democracy with Miles Rapoport.” CUNY TV. March 28, 2017. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://tv.cuny.edu/show/opedtv/PR2006076.
16. “About.” 100% Democracy. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://100percentdemocracy.org/about.
17. Mathews, Jessica T. “100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting.” Foreign Affairs. March/April 2022. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2022-02-22/100-democracy-case-universal-voting.
18. “This edition: Threats to Our Democracy with Miles Rapoport.” CUNY TV. March 28, 2017. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://tv.cuny.edu/show/opedtv/PR2006076.
19. “Miles Rapoport on the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.” Harvard Kennedy School. May 30, 2017. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.influencewatch.org/government-agency/trump-administration/
20. Rapoport, Miles. “Voter Suppression in the Mirror and Looking Forward.” The American Prospect. August 7, 2017. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://prospect.org/civil-rights/voter-suppression-mirror-looking-forward/.