Friends,
For decades, ZSR has supported efforts to build a strong, vibrant and inclusive democracy, where every vote counts and people come together to shape a better future.
But a strong democracy depends on trust — trust in one another, our institutions and the integrity of our elections — and that trust is not guaranteed. It can be weakened by disinformation, leaders that prioritize partisanship over people, and, as we saw recently here in NC, efforts to undermine the will of voters.
This month, the losing candidate in the NC Supreme Court race finally conceded, ending a monthslong legal effort to discard the lawfully cast votes of more than 60,000 people, including overseas military members and their families, after the votes had been counted.
The will of the people and the rule of law prevailed. This is a testament to the strength of our democratic institutions, and to the people and organizations, including many ZSR grant partners, who showed up to defend them.
And yet, as several NC journalists have pointed out, the threat to our democracy persists. The effort to overturn this election weakened trust in our courts and our elections.
Moving forward, our collective efforts to rebuild that trust — and to protect our country's historic institutions while continuing to ensure they are effective, inclusive, responsive and transparent — may be more important than ever.
At ZSR, we’re grateful for the tireless efforts of our nonprofit partners behind this critical work. We’ll continue to do all we can to support them, believing that our state is strongest when every voice is heard and every vote counts.
All For NC,
