Research & Publications

The ACLU’s 2020 Annual Report provides highlights of the organization’s litigation and advocacy work as it responded rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic across civil liberties issues, demanded justice for Black lives in the wake of an epidemic of police violence, and fought tirelessly to safeguard access to the ballot in the critical 2020 elections. The report also includes a reflection on the ACLU’s first century as it celebrates its centennial year, alongside a tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who founded the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project in 1972.

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Anticipating the unprecedented surge in absentee ballots in this election, the ACLU Analytics team generated estimates of absentee voting volume by race and candidate support by vote-method in every county in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. The team combined data gathered by a nationwide representative tracking survey conducted by YouGov with turnout modeling based on updated in-cycle ballot data to construct estimates through statistical modeling.

Our findings identify which counties potentially face the largest racial representation gap — that is, if the absentee ballot count is not completed, they will cause the biggest disenfranchisement of voters of color. What happens in these counties may well change the course and outcome of the election.

The ACLU’s Research Brief, “Is Sex Work Decriminalization the Answer? What the Research Tells Us,” reviews existing empirical research on the impacts of decriminalization — and conversely criminalization — of sex work to inform recommendations for policy and practice. The ACLU has a history of supporting the decriminalization of sex work, but as efforts for U.S. legislative reform at the local, state, and federal level grow, examining the potential impacts of proposed policies is critical. Developed in consultation with local affiliates and sex worker organizers, this Brief provides an assessment of the growing evidence base on the potential benefits and harms of the decriminalization of consensual sex work (including buyer-only criminalization and full criminalization) and concludes with specific recommendations for policymakers, law enforcement, advocates, and researchers.