ACLU Launches Historic Election Safeguarding Effort Ahead of the Midterms

WASHINGTON — In 2026, the ACLU will be at the forefront of ensuring all eligible voters can cast their ballot—making its largest ever investment in election safeguarding during a midterm cycle. Bolstered by the combined power of our storied legal, policy, and advocacy expertise, affiliate presence in every state, and network of millions of volunteers and supporters, the ACLU will spend $24.5 million to protect the power to vote, the resilience of our democratic institutions, and public confidence in every stage of the electoral process; and to guarantee that every vote is counted according to the law.

Drawing on lessons and analysis of recent election cycles, the ACLU has identified potential threats across 25 scenarios to voting access, election administration, and certification, and stands ready to take swift legal, advocacy, and organizing action to protect voters and defend our democracy throughout the 2026 midterms and beyond.

Our election safeguarding work will strengthen the state and local institutions that are the backbone of free, fair, and trusted elections in the United States, ensuring they can operate independently, professionally, and free from improper interference.

Fueled by the power of the ACLU’s nationwide affiliate network, these efforts will include preparing thousands of volunteers for poll and post-election monitoring, leading Know Your Rights trainings, hosting get-out-the-vote activations, organizing mass mobilization efforts, coordinating local rapid response campaigns, and taking swift legal action in the courts when necessary to ensure that all American voters can cast their ballots and have their votes counted.

In addition to these nationwide tactics, the organization will also surge national staff into priority states, including additional organizers who have already been deployed in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, where the risk of election interference and voter disenfranchisement is high.

“In a democracy, every eligible voter has the right to vote freely and the outcome respected,” said Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU Chief Political and Advocacy Officer. “Our right to vote is facing a coordinated attack on multiple fronts. But in a democracy, people choose their politicians, not the other way around. When access to the ballot is restricted and the results of elections are not respected, the very foundation of our democracy hangs in the balance. That is why the ACLU is launching the largest ever election safeguarding program in our century-long history. Our powerful network of thousands of staff and millions of supporters will work tirelessly in states nationwide to ensure that every voter can cast their ballot without intimidation and that the results are honored. The best way to protect our freedom is to act free—the ACLU will be in communities making sure all voters can do just that."

Already this election year, the ACLU legal team and its partners have taken legal action in more than two dozen states and Washington, D.C. to protect voting rights. They are currently advancing over 80 legal actions challenging discriminatory voting laws, racial gerrymandering, attacks on mail voting and voter registration, and other efforts to undermine free and fair elections. Since the Supreme Court’s disastrous Callais decision in April, the ACLU and its partners have been hard at work to preserve and restore voting rights and representation across the country and will continue to meet these threats to our elections in court.

“Election Day is one day; the fight for the franchise is every day. We’re witnessing an onslaught of tactics by anti-democracy policymakers who want to make it harder to vote, easier to discriminate against voters of color, and stymie the will of the people,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, Director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “We’re already in the thick of litigation to champion voters’ rights around the country, and we are preparing for more fights as November approaches. Suppress votes, rig the rules, or undermine election results--and you’ll see us in court.”

Against the current landscape of unprecedented abuses of authority and concerted attempts at voter suppression — especially the attempts to silence Black voters—the ACLU’s Midterm Election Safeguarding Program stands as an ambitious, strategic, multi-state effort to ensure that voters choose their elected representatives, not the other way around. By deploying the collective power of its litigation, organizing, and advocacy tools, the ACLU is prepared to ward off attempts to subvert our democracy across the country.