Every Vote Counts: Combating Election Sabotage and Safeguarding Our Democracy

American elections have long been a model of freedom, fairness and choice for democracies across the world, with a comprehensive system of checks and balances to ensure all votes are counted and election results are honored. Unfortunately, self-interested politicians across the country have intentionally sown distrust in our elections as they seek to manipulate or change the results for their own personal gain. 

Since 2020, Campaign Legal Center has been at the forefront of the movement to fight back against election sabotage. We’ve worked continuously with state and federal lawmakers to prevent future manipulation attempts, including: 

• Updating the Electoral Count Act (ECA), the 1887 law that governed the procedures for counting Electoral College votes by Congress. The new Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 (ECRA) marks a major achievement in our collective effort to strengthen the guardrails surrounding the Electoral College process and prevent a repeat of the chaos we saw following the 2020 Presidential election. CLC is now working with state leaders to ensure that state laws and election procedures are in full compliance with the new requirements and deadlines created by the ECRA. 
• Supporting legislation that protects the everyday Americans who help to keep our elections running fairly and smoothly. Election officials and volunteers deserve a safe and secure working environment that is free from threats of violence and harassment, and voters deserve an election system free from the influence of unlawful intimidation.
• Encouraging states that do not currently permit election officials to process absentee or mail ballots prior to Election Day, which allows states to report election results more quickly and reduces potential uncertainty and opportunity for misinformation caused by delays in reporting results.

By working together to shore up protections in state and federal law, we can take a significant step toward making our democracy safer and more secure so that no matter who wins an election, voters can feel confident that their vote counts, and the process is fair.