Democracy is
at a crossroads

For the people, by the people. That’s the goal of American democracy. Meeting that goal depends on fair, secure, transparent elections. But recent years have shown cracks in the system: voter suppression, foreign interference, and a disillusioned and disengaged electorate that lacks trusts in institutions.


Democracy is being put to the test, and as the 2020 elections loom, the stakes have never been higher.













Voter turnout in the United States trails most democracies.








In national elections, nearly 40% of eligible voters do not participate.







In midterm elections, nearly 60% of eligible voters do not participate.






Elections offices are
under resourced and overwhelmed

Elections offices are
under resourced and overwhelmed

The American election system is a behemoth, with thousands of county and municipal offices administering elections across the U.S., each doing things differently. Each has different hours and different rules. Ballots range from paper and punch cards to touchscreens. Nearly one third of county election offices post no information on their official government website about how, where, and when to vote. Meanwhile, election officials struggle with outdated technology, overwhelmed with a growing list of responsibilities, and receive little support.


Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) is a team of civic technologists, trainers, researchers, and election administration and data experts working to foster a more informed and engaged democracy fit for the 21st century. It works hand-in-hand with election offices to make voting more inclusive and secure, increase public confidence in the electoral process, and to ensure that voters are better informed.








The U.S. is dotted with nearly 8,000 independent county and municipal election offices.









Roughly a third of them post limited or no election information on their websites.










Tiana, Whitney, and Donny launched the Center for Tech and Civic Life to make American elections work for the people, by the people.

“Voting is a fundamental way of engaging with your community and having a stake in your future,” said Bridges. “We want to make sure that everybody who can vote, does vote, and has the information that they need.”

They also want to simplify the entire experience to encourage more people to cast a ballot. “We’re working to make sure that when you show up to vote, that your process is easy and seamless,” said Epps-Johnson.



CTCL achieves this in two ways: publishing data and training election officials. They work with each election office—phone calls, faxes, whatever it takes—to gather up location-specific election information and open-source publish it all.

Secondly, they train and resource local election officials to make sure the process is accessible to all voters. In fact, CTCL has trained state and local elections official who serve over half of eligible U.S. voters.

“We work to ensure every election department has the skills to run secure, trustworthy, inclusive elections,” said Epps-Johnson. “We’re listening to the challenges that they're experiencing and giving them the information they need—whether it’s training hundreds of election departments across the country on cybersecurity best practices, or how to use data so you don't see hours-long lines at the polls.”


CTCL’s non-partisan work gets at the roots of civic engagement and supports a flourishing, representative democracy

CTCL’s non-partisan work gets at the roots of civic engagement and supports a flourishing, representative democracy

CTCL works in deeply red places and deeply blue places—from San Francisco to rural Kansas—to ensure fair and secure elections. “Most of the action happens locally with elections—the national government can only get you so far,” said Jim Fruchterman, Founder and CEO of Tech Matters. “CTCL is working on an essential part of local, civic life—voting—and if this part of the system falls apart, bad things can happen to our democracy."


In the wake of the cybersecurity impacts on the 2016 election, CTCL partnered with Center for Democracy and Technology to develop and deliver a curriculum to train local election officials on data security, how to manage cyber threats, and how to communicate with the public about cybersecurity.

Partnerships with tech platforms reach voters where they are

Partnerships with tech platforms reach voters where they are

If you were a Facebook user in 2016, CTCL’s work reached you, even if you were unaware. Every U.S. Facebook user was prompted at the top of their news feed to make a vote plan. Enter an address and you could immediately see targeted information on your local candidates and ballot referenda. A shareable feature led users to encourage friends and family to become informed and vote come November.


CTCL also shares their data with Google so anyone doing an election-related search gets accurate, localized information. These kinds of partnerships make election information accessible for millions of Americans. “In 2016, surveys estimated that between a third and a half of all people who voted in the United States interacted with our data,” said Bridges.

A catalyst for election offices across the country

In 2019 alone, CTCL trained more than 600 election officials in over 25 states, who collectively serve about 85 million voting-age adults. These election officials improved their communication and technology skills, helping them inform their community, increase civic participation, and conduct more trustworthy, inclusive elections.


Election officials are like stage hands, says Sarah Mohan, Social Media and Outreach Coordinator at the Harford County Board of Elections in Maryland. “They’re behind the scenes doing everything and you don't see them, but you couldn't put on a play without them,” she said. From social media outreach and voter registration campaigns, to designing the ballots and counting every vote, the election officials hold the whole.

“CTCL’s training was very hands-on and helpful,” said Mohan. “They provided us with the way to get information out so that it’s clear and easy for people to understand, and it’s attention-getting. They’re like a catalyst—if there's an election office that’s trying to figure something out, they most likely have the answer.”



Looking far beyond the November 2020 election



Looking far beyond the November 2020 election

"You can opt out of voting, but you can't opt out of the outcome," says Epps-Johnson. Center for Tech and Civic Life works to shore up the basic habits of democracy, to turn a disengaged segment of the electorate into informed, life-long voters, and to ensure that the electoral infrastructure eliminates barriers to a thriving democracy.

Each vote is a building block in a democracy more reflective of its citizens, more responsive to community needs, and more equitable in its distribution of resources. It's time to bring our democracy into the 21st century.


Learn more about CTCL by watching this video: