John,

We hope you’re having a great summer so far! It’s been a productive month at Issue One, filled with exciting updates and memorable moments.

Here are some highlights from July:

Holding Big Tech Accountable

• HUGE NEWS: After what’s felt like a long time coming, the Kids Online Safety Act – now called the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) – has been voted out of the Senate! This is a critical step in the bill’s journey and a historic moment for Big Tech accountability. Next up? We’ll be calling on the House to also put kids before Big Tech profits.
• Check out our new analysis of recently filed federal lobbying reports by Meta, ByteDance, and other big tech companies which underscored how social media companies show no signs of slowing down their influence operations. Several companies have invested record-breaking amounts of money into their lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill during the first half of 2024.

Election Protection

• In new episodes of our “Democracy Fix” podcast, we sat down with New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, as well as the Montana Election Observation Initiative. Listen, rate, and subscribe to “Democracy Fix” on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you pod.
• In response to the news that President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, members of Issue One’s Faces of Democracy campaign issued a statement reassuring voters that they are working hard to ensure that our elections remain secure, and fair, and that every eligible ballot will be counted accurately.
• We added three new members to our bipartisan National Council on Election Integrity (NCEI) – former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, and former Registrar of Voters for Orange County, CA, Neal Kelley. Welcome!
• 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 Isaac Cramer, executive director of the Charleston County (SC) Board of Voter Registration and Elections!
• Issue One Director of Election Protection Dr. Carah Ong Whaley issued a statement in response to the historic Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity.
• Tomorrow is Poll Worker Recruitment Day! In anticipation, we released a new analysis highlighting eight creative ways election officials across the country are recruiting a new generation of poll workers!
• We released a new analysis of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grant funds, highlighting how local and state election officials have utilized their HAVA election security grant funds to date.
• We released a piece on our Substack that analyzed the most pressing aspects states need to address to implement the Electoral Count Reform Act.

Other Key Updates

• Recently, Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduced the bipartisan ETHICS Act, a framework that would ban members of Congress, the president, and vice president from holding, buying, or selling stocks. In reaction to a key markup, ReFormers Caucus Co-chairs Amb. Tim Roemer (D-IN) and Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) released a statement praising the advancement of this bipartisan proposal to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.
• Following the news that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was found guilty of bribery, extortion, and wire fraud, ReFormers Caucus Co-chairs Amb. Tim Roemer (D-IN) and Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) said that Sen. Menendez should step down. A few days later, Sen. Menendez tendered his resignation. Read what Amb. Roemer and Rep. Wamp had to say in response.

To stay in the loop all month long, make sure you listen and subscribe to Democracy Fix on Apple or Spotify, 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