iVote

iVote is an American voting rights organization. The New York Times described iVote's efforts as "the first major push to counter the Republican moves with a legislative strategy to expand voter rights."[1] In 2022, Axios called iVote "one of the biggest winners of election night."[2]

History

The group was founded in 2014 by former aides to Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.[3] Ellen Kurz, who has been called "a one-person Paul Revere, warning of the dangers of vote-suppression efforts,"[4] is the president of iVote.[5]

iVote led the campaign[6] to pass automatic voter registration in Nevada, and has run additional electoral and legislative campaigns[1] in 11 states to pass automatic voter registration.[7]

In 2018, iVote raised over $14 million to run successful campaigns in U.S. swing states, including Michigan (Jocelyn Benson),[8] Arizona (Katie Hobbs),[9] Colorado (Jena Griswold),[10] and Nevada (Automatic Voter Registration ballot initiative).[6]

In Arizona, iVote's investment led to pro-Hobbs' efforts outspending the Republican opponent "two-to-one on television."[9] In Michigan, iVote's "spending amounted to more than the Republican candidate, Mary Treder Lange of Gross Pointe Farms, raised for her campaign."[8] In Nevada, iVote led the more than $10 million campaign[6] to pass an automatic voter registration ballot initiative with 59.57% of the vote.[6]

In 2020, iVote raised $18 million for a voter education effort in swing states that reached more than 15 million voters.[7]

Then in 2022, iVote "invested $15 million in secretary of state races that typically fly under the radar."[11] The organization ran ads targeting four states with Republican nominees "who didn't accept the validity of the 2020 election outcome," and all four were defeated: Kim Crockett (Minnesota), Mark Finchem (Arizona), Kristina Karamo (Michigan), and Jim Marchant (Nevada).[12] iVote's investment in Arizona was an historic[13] amount of money spent on a secretary of state's race.

References
  1. Shear, Michael D. (2015-11-09). "Democratic Group Called iVote Pushes Automatic Voter Registration". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  2. "⚡ Extreme defeat". Axios. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  3. "The exciting war to make secretaries of state more boring". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  4. "Voter-Suppression Tricks Are on the Ballot, Too". Bloomberg.com. 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  5. Panetta, Grace. "The Trump-inspired battles over new voting laws will shape the 2022 governors' races". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  6. "Nevada Question 5, Automatic Voter Registration via DMV Initiative (2018)".
  7. "ELLEN KURZ (she/her) - NYU Alumni Changemaker of the Year (GAL '80". New York University). Archived from the original on 2022-04-01.
  8. "National Voting Rights Group Spent Nearly $1 Million on Michigan's 2018 Race for Secretary of State". 11 March 2019.
  9. Gardiner, Dustin. "Behind Katie Hobbs' win: How Democrats flipped Arizona's 2nd-highest office". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  10. "Tale of two campaigns for Secretary of State: Dem is backed by advocacy group, GOP incumbent lets record speak". 22 October 2018.
  11. "⚡ Extreme defeat". Axios. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  12. "⚡ Extreme defeat". Axios. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  13. "iVote to spend $5 million in Arizona Secretary of State race". NBC News. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
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