A leftist-linked organization is launching a task to train political reporters on election coverage that has policy interests that conflict with Democrats ‘ favorite issues.
The Election Overtime Project, which aims to “prepare journalists and voters for “election overtime” in battleground states, was announced in a press release from April that the Election Reformers Network ( ERN ) will collaborate with the Bridge Alliance.
The release states that” Election Reformers Network and the Bridge Alliance have collaborated to create the Election Overtime Project to assist reporters, editors, TV cables, and other people in understanding and avoiding near primaries.”
The ERN’s plan preferences, which it claims to be “favoring either the left nor the right,” include usually communist issues like abolishing the electoral college and removing the discretionary authority of vote certification boards.
The team’s Election Overtime Project claims to offer “in-depth knowledge” on items like “recounts, assessments, and other methods used to test results”, and “how courts determine vote challenges”. The promoters promise to provide” journalists with the important information about nearby and contested elections.”
ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson said participants in the project will incorporate “political writers for local, state, and federal stores” in print, broadcast, and online news, but would not show The Federalist who especially has received or will get assistance through the job.
Johnson told The Federalist the system may enable “indirectly” with “quote-unquote misinformation”, but it generally aims to guide journalists how to handle “election work” – near elections where the results may not be known for weeks after Election Day, and the outcome maybe goes to court.
” We hope that journalists will be able to sort out the flow of information that will be available through a solid understanding of how the processes of what we call this “election extra time” work,” Johnson said.
The job targets six “battleground state”, which Johnson said are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The Federalist asked major outlets based in those swing states ( The Arizona Republic, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Detroit Free Press, The Raleigh News &, Observer, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ) if they had been contacted by ERN or were working with the group, but received no answers by press time. The Federalist also asked this of major national news outlets ( The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC ), but they did not respond either.
The project will offer” state-specific policy brief on election laws, internet training”, and a “bureau of trusted critics to support election night cover and beyond”, according to the launch. When questioned about who the bureau speakers will be, Johnson stated that they will be posted on the group’s website. He also said the ERN is releasing media” toolkits” in August.
According to Johnson, the program will supply language and context for journalists.
What does the phrase” If they need background support on research – ‘” mean? Can you help me understand it better?’ Johnson said,” People on our staff might help people look into that,” but he insisted that “it’s not telling them what to say at all.”
When The Federalist asked about the materials the organization would distribute to journalists, ERN senior election reform fellow Al Vanderklipp replied in an email that the program was” under review internally and not ready to go live just yet” and that it would be “up for public viewing in August.”
Johnson stated that” we really do n’t want to be seen as supporting one side or the other,” and that ERN will “really strive for being neutral and having a team that is affiliated with both sides.”
The group, however, has smeared a number of secretaries of state who expressed concerns about election integrity after 2020, labeling them “election deniers”. Its brief questioned whether six secretaries of state , – in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming  , – could” conduct their work impartially”.
The ERN also published an article about messaging to “build trust” despite what it called a” still-thriving 2020 election denier community”.
Supporting” Reforms” Like tying the hands of county election officials
ERN is on board with the left’s attempt to make election boards ‘ responsibilities “purely ministerial”, expressing support for “provisions that take discretion away from party-appointees responsible for canvassing and certification” . ,
Johnson claimed that ERN is pushing for elected officials to act” secretarily,” simply certifying the results as they are received rather than first confirming their accuracy.
” Given the partisan origins of how they got to their position, it’s better if they just act secretarily, report what they receive, and if there are disputes, those go to the courts”, Johnson said.
Johnson said that county canvas boards in states like Michigan” should just receive the results that they’ve been given and certify and announce them, not assess their accuracy.”
Election integrity advocates worry that a move like this would force elected officials to certify troubled elections in which they have little faith.
Additionally, ERN has collaborated with the Campaign Legal Center ( CLC ), a nonprofit that fights against left-wing election interests. In states like Pennsylvania, CLC is currently pushing for legislation that would make election certification a “ministerial” task that required no matter a board member’s concerns.
Another “reform” idea from ERN is to abolish elections for positions like secretary of state. Vananderklipp claimed that the ERN believes a “nonpartisan appointment or hiring system” could be more effective than elections for officials in charge of the election process.
No other democracy has a level of political party member involvement in managing elections, according to Johnson. When The Federalist asked if Johnson could define a “democracy”, he said” I do n’t think I can give an answer on my own” and referred to third-party metrics.
As Democrats attack the electoral college, the ERN is working to reshape the electoral college to reflect” the national popular vote” “in the results”, according to Vanderklipp. Since the plan would still maintain a nominal allocation of electoral votes to the states, he referred to the group’s goals as a” compromise.”
The group’s proposal calls for a system where the three most popular candidates in a state receive a proportion of the state’s electoral votes in accordance with the proportion of the electorate who voted for them.
Questionable Ties
The ERN received funding in 2022 from Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX who was convicted last year of stealing$ 8 billion from his customers. At the time, the group called him one of its “largest organizational donors”, according to InfluenceWatch.
Fried’s foundation, Building a Stronger Future, received a grant from InfluenceWatch to assist the ERN in” continuing working with both parties to reduce the role of politics and parties in election administration.” Later that year, the group deleted the announcement with no explanation.  ,
Amber McReynolds, the group’s senior adviser on election administration, is currently the United States Postal Service’s vice chair of the board of governors. The National Vote at Home Institute, which incorporated itself into Wisconsin’s ballot-crushing process and worked with bureaucracy to change Michigan’s election policy while avoiding lawmakers, was founded in 2020 by McReynolds as CEO.
For his part, Johnson serves on the advisory board of Rank The Vote, a group that seeks to popularize ranked-choice voting, a practice favored by leftists. Additionally, he served as the head of the Massachusetts chapter of Common Cause, which supports progressive election policies and opposes Republicans, according to InfluenceWatch.
The ERN is a part of the Bridge Alliance, a group of which it is also a member, in addition to working on the Election Overtime Project. The Bridge Alliance is a coalition that pushes left-wing priorities, as InfluenceWatch reported.  ,
On a page announcing” DE I programming”, Bridge describes its” Justice, Equity, Dignity, and Inclusion” ( JEDI) fellows program, and touts that the program includes a” BIPOC majority as a representation of the future of our nation”.
Bridge has” come together” with ERN on the Election Overtime Project.
The staff writer for election integrity is Logan Washburn. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan was born and raised in rural Michigan, but he now resides in Central Oregon.
