John,

2020 has put our democracy to the test like never before. Voters increasingly took to voting by mail in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite Donald Trump’s repeated efforts to discredit and destabilize vote-by-mail. Americans made their voices heard in record numbers in November’s election, and when Trump sought to thwart the will of the people with fraudulent claims of voter fraud and frivolous legal challenges, we continued our resistance and demanded that Trump and his enablers in government and the legal profession be held accountable.

Free Speech For People has been there every step of the way. We’ve done everything in our power to ensure that our democracy works for we, the people this year and beyond, but we couldn’t do it without you.

This Giving Tuesday, will you help Free Speech For People continue the fight for our democracy?

We have spent much of the last year focused on protecting and expanding voting rights in the wake of the coronavirus and President Trump’s reckless abuse of power. For example:

• Expanding voter registration: We filed a lawsuit to extend the voter registration deadline in Arizona, where voter registration efforts were hindered by the virus. We successfully extended the voter registration period by 10 days, resulting in 35,000 newly registered voters.
  

• Holding voting machine vendors accountable: We, in conjunction with the National Election Defense Coalition, issued a letter in January to the Election Assistance Commission that detailed evidence indicating ES&S was deceptively marketing its voting machines with wireless modems as federally certified. In August, the EAC officially censured ES&S as a result.
  

• Combatting voter intimidation: We filed a federal lawsuit in October against Tennessee-based private mercenary contractor Atlas Aegis and its chairman for illegal voter intimidation in Minnesota, arguing that the defendants’ plan to hire and deploy armed ex-soldiers to polling sites in the state constituted illegal voter intimidation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. One week later, the federal district court ruled in our favor, stopping Atlas Aegis in its tracks before Election Day.
  

• Making voting safe during the pandemic: Following the onset of COVID-19, we launched new litigation across the country to protect the health and safety of voters casting a ballot in person, and we published a safe-voting guide, with infectious disease expert and FSFP Board member Joia Mukherjee and former Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.
  

To learn more about these and other 2020 accomplishments, please see our End of Year Report.

These successes were made possible by democracy champions like you. The COVID-19 crisis laid bare the critical and urgent need we now face to repair, rebuild, and improve our democratic processes. Free Speech For People is ready to lead the fight. With your continued support, we will work every day to ensure all people have an equal voice and an equal vote in our democracy.

Your gift today – at this critical moment – will help us continue to make real, lasting change to reclaim our democracy.

Thank you for everything you do,

Ben Clements

Board Chair, Free Speech For People