John,

We want to start off with some super exciting news: We’ve launched a new podcast!

“Democracy Fix,” hosted by our Director of Election Protection Dr. Carah Ong Whaley, will dive into topics like protecting our elections, reigning in Big Tech, modernizing Congress, and so much more! Through conversations with innovative leaders from across the political spectrum, listeners will get their fix of news, insightful analysis, and maybe even ideas that will inspire them to join the broader movement to fix democracy. Listen and subscribe to “Democracy Fix” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website to learn more about the show.

Election Protection

• Nearly 50 bipartisan election officials, former members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, and national security leaders from our National Council on Election Integrity (NCEI) and Faces of Democracy campaign called on Congress to make critical and significant investments in our elections and provide adequate, regular, and stable funding for local and state election officials. The effort was covered by Roll Call.
• Our research team published a new analysis that showed how election deniers profit from a nonprofit founded by conspiracy theorists Patrick Byrne and Michael Flynn. The analysis was cited in Politico’s Influence newsletter and HuffPost.
• We’ve been featuring election workers from across the country to highlight the work they do on behalf of our democracy. Check out the latest installment of our Meet the Faces of Democracy Q&A series — a conversation with Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes! Bonus: Our first podcast episode is a conversation with Sec. Fontes.
• Issue One Founder and CEO Nick Penniman issued a statement following the Supreme Court’s decision in Murthy v. Missouri, a landmark case addressing the role that government officials can play in communicating with social media companies.
• NCEI Co-chairs Tim Roemer (D-IN) and Zach Wamp (R-TN) joined C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to discuss election security and threats to democracy. Watch the segment.
• NCEI members Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, published an op-ed in The Hill arguing that it’s possible to have robust debates and disagreements with one another without resorting to personal attacks or degrading our entire democratic process.
• Issue One Director of Election Protection Carah Ong Whaley wrote an opinion piece about the critical work election officials do — and how they can be supported by more people becoming poll workers.

Other Key Updates

• Earlier this month, we released “The Road to Fair Pay” — a report that showed the salaries of the lowest-paid staffers on Capitol Hill have been improving in recent years. The report found that the share of D.C.-based staff assistants making less than a living wage was cut in half between 2021 and 2023. There’s still more work to do on this front, and as our Legislative Associate Joshua Bonet said, “For our democracy to succeed, diverse perspectives and backgrounds must be reflected in the institutions that shape the nation’s laws. Fair salaries are a critical step in ensuring that Congress can be a place where staffers are as diverse as the country itself.”
• “The Road to Fair Pay” was first covered by Roll Call, and also cited in the Washington Post.
• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently proposed the idea of placing warning labels on social media. Council for Responsible Social Media Director Alix Fraser was quoted in a piece in Politico following the proposal.

To stay in the loop all month long, make sure you check out IssueOne.org and our Substack, as well as follow us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook!

Thanks for your support,

The Issue One Team