John,

Happy New Year! We hope you’ve had a joyous holiday season.

Before we kick off another busy year, we’re taking a look back at some of the accomplishments we’re most proud of from 2023. Accomplishments that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Issue One community.

Here are some of the highlights from 2023:

Protecting Our Elections

• Issue One hosted its second fly-in during which two dozen current and former election officials from our Faces of Democracy program came to Washington, D.C., and met with the White House, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and nearly 60 Republican and Democratic members of Congress to help secure our country’s critical election infrastructure and protect election workers in advance of the 2024 election and beyond.
• We released a deep-dive investigation into the exodus of local election officials since 2020 called “The High Cost of High Turnover,” which garnered national attention from outlets such as NPR, The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and MSNBC.
• We launched a Q&A series called “Meet the Faces of Democracy,” which features conversations with election workers from across the country to highlight the work they do on behalf of our democracy. Check out the latest installment with Faces of Democracy member and Clerk of Ingham County, Michigan, Barb Byrum!
• Faces of Democracy members Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt testified before the Senate Rules Committee in a hearing focused on the ongoing threats to election administration. Additionally, throughout the year, other Faces members have testified before Congress or submitted written testimony about strengthening and protecting our elections.
• After reviewing state campaign finance filings, Issue One released a report called “Who Profited from Election Deniers?” that highlighted nine of the most notable companies and political consultants that converted election denialism into profit during the 2022 midterm elections.

Holding Big Tech Accountable

• Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media (CRSM) made an impact on Capitol Hill and elevated the social media reform conversation among policymakers. For instance, the CRSM worked closely with the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on protecting our children online. The hearing featured three members of the CRSM — Emma Lembke, Kristin Bride, and Josh Golin — who highlighted the ways that social media platforms are designed to addict and monetize minors.
• We released a comprehensive report that examined how social media companies are hurting our children, national security, and democracy — and what we can do about it. Read the report.
• The CRSM and Fairplay teamed up to release a poll that found overwhelming public support for bipartisan legislation to protect kids from online harms.
• Along with Project Liberty and the 5Rights Foundation, Issue One and our CRSM helped launch the Safe Tech, Safe Kids campaign to push for a world in which young people and those who care about them have the tools, transparency, and agency they need to stay safe online.
• The CRSM hosted numerous virtual events that included conversations about deepfakes and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on our democracy, conspiracy theories, and the national security implications of social media.

Other Important Accomplishments

• We led efforts to create the Subcommittee on the Modernization of Congress within the House Administration Committee to continue the important work of the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, which had more than 100 of its bipartisan recommendations either fully or partially implemented.
• We organized more than a dozen organizations from across the political spectrum to call on presidential candidates to disclose their campaign bundlers.
• Issue One submitted a public comment to the Federal Election Commission urging the agency to clarify regulatory rules to prevent the use of deceptive generative AI in political campaign ads.
• We reviewed new federal tax filings and found that PhRMA, the deep-pocketed trade association for drugmakers, has contributed more than $34.5 million since 2010 to the American Action Network, a dark money group aligned with House Republicans, including a record $7.5 million last year. Read our findings, which were covered by Politico and Ars Technica.
• We hosted numerous events on important topics such as threats to our elections, AI and democracy, and conspiracies on social media that featured some of the leading voices on these issues. Take a look at our events page to read recaps and our YouTube to watch recordings of past events.

While we couldn’t highlight all the work we did in 2023 as we push to fix our broken political system and build a democracy that works for everyone, you can always visit our website to see the latest of what we’re up to.

And, to stay in the loop all year long, make sure you check out IssueOne.org and follow us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook!

Thanks for your support,
The Issue One Team