top of page

THe people of rigged

Karen Wilson-McKoy

NC Purged Voter

Karen-Wilson-McKoy.png

Karen Wilson-McKoy is a resident of Cumberland County, North Carolina, who was unable to vote in the 2016 election due to the Voter Integrity Project’s voter roll purge. Her voter status was listed as inactive, making her eligible for a challenge, but the challenge letter never reached her. As a result, she did not know she needed to appear at the Board of Elections hearing, and was not on the rolls when she went to go vote in early voting. Due to a legal challenge to the purge brought forth by the NC NAACP, her status was restored ahead of the 2016 election, but her work that day went long, and she was unable to make it to the polls on election day.

Kristen Clarke

President & Executive Director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Kristen-Clarke.png

Kristen Clarke is the president and executive director of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, in particular targeting injustices facing African-Americans and other minority groups. In the past she served as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York State Attorney General’s office, as well as working at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc, and in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mike Hyers

Volunteer, Voter Integrity Project

Mike-Hyers.png

 

Mike Hyers is a retired Air Force veteran living in Fayatteville, North Carolina. He has become committed to the cause of cleaning up the voter rolls, and volunteers with Jay DeLancy’s Voter Integrity Project. He orchestrated challenges to thousands of voter registrations, sending letters to people listed as “Inactive” in the county voter records, people that he believed were either dead or had moved out of the county.

Jay DeLancy

Founder, Voter Integrity Project

Jay-DeLancy.png

Jay DeLancy is an Air Force veteran, and founder of the North-Carolina-based Voter Integrity Project. He believes widespread voter fraud is an existential threat to US Democracy, and used his organization to send challenges to thousands of voters in multiple North Carolina counties in the run-up to the 2016 election. He also led a group of volunteers on election day to scout out the polls and record the license plates of voters, in an attempt to find out if anyone was travelling between multiple voting locations – which he believed would be evidence of people voting multiple times.

Mark McKinnon

Former Republican Strategist for President George W. Bush

Mark-McKinnon.png

Mark McKinnon is a longtime political advisor and strategist who gained national prominence as the George W. Bush campaign’s chief media advisor in both the 2000 and 2004 elections. In 2007 he took on the role of principal media advisor for John McCain’s campaign, but decided to leave the role when it became clear McCain’s opponent would be Barack Obama. Currently, McKinnon is the co-creator, co-executive producer, and co-host of the Showtime political documentary series, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.

William Frey

Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

William-Frey.png

 

William Frey is a demographer and sociologist specializing in U.S. demographics. Frey has authored over 200 publications and several books on the subject, his latest being Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America. He spent almost three decades at the University of Michigan, as part of the University’s Institute for Social Research and Population Studies Center, and he is currently a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Steve Bell

Senior Director, Bipartisan Policy Center's Economic Policy Project

Steve-Bell.png

 

Steve Bell is the Senior Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Project, and before that served on the staff of U.S. Senator Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) from 1974 to 1986, and from 1996 to 2009. He was nominated by President Reagan to be a member of the Federal Thrift Savings Plan Board, and served in that capacity for four years. He was also a weekly legislative and political analyst at CNN for ten years.

Dale Ho

Director, ACLU Voting Rights Project

Dale-Ho.png

Dale Ho is the Director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, and supervises the ACLU’s voting rights litigation and advocacy work nationwide. He has worked on a number of historic voting rights cases, including defending the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, and arguing against strict proof-of-citizenship requirements for Kansas voter registration in Fish v. Kobach. Before joining the ACLU, Dale was Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, and a judicial law clerk.

Myrna Pérez

Deputy Director, Brennan Center’s Democracy Program

Myrna-Perez.png

 

Myrna Pérez is Deputy Director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, and leader of the Center’s Voting Rights and Elections project. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Ms. Pérez was the Civil Rights Fellow at Relman, Dane & Colfax, a civil rights law firm in Washington, D.C. She has testified before several state legislatures on a wide range of voting rights related issues, and has had her work featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, and more.

Chris Jankowski

Republican Strategist

Chris-Jankowski.png

Chris Jankowski is a prominent Republican strategist with a focus on state elections and state government. He is best known for his work as the Executive Director of Project REDMAP at the Republican State Leadership Committee, a successful 2010 plan to strategically target donor funding towards state legislative races in an effort to win Republican majorities across multiple state legislatures. Jankowski went on to serve as president of the RSLC for three years, and in 2014, he returned to Richmond, Virginia, where he runs a political consulting firm.

Jane Mayer

Investigative Journalist, New Yorker

Jane-Mayer.png

 

Jane Mayer is an investigative journalist, specializing in money in politics and national security. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1995, and is the author of the 2016 book Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. The book focused on the network of right-wing political donors spearheaded by the Koch brothers, and how their money has influenced our politics for decades.

Chris Kromm

Executive Director, Institute for Southern Studies

Chris-Kromm.png

 

Chris Kromm is the Executive Director of the Institute for Southern Studies, and publisher of the Institute's online magazine, Facing South. He has contributed to a variety of TV and radio shows, including NPR’s All Things Considered, and MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, providing insights into the dynamics of Southern politics.

Margaret Dickson

Former NC State Senator (D)

Margaret-Dickson.png

 

Margaret Dickson is a former Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly. After serving in the North Carolina House for four terms, she was selected to replace Tony Rand in the State Senate. She was defeated in 2010, after being subjected to her opponent’s demeaning attack ads that were funded in part by Project REDMAP. She has a history as a broadcaster, and currently writes for WRAL, a local North Carolina news outlet.

Gerald Hebert

Voting Rights Attorney

Gerald-Hebert.png

Gerald Hebert is a voting rights lawyer, and currently the Senior Director of Voting Rights and Redistricting at the Campaign Legal Center. He worked in the Department of Justice from 1973 to 1994, where he served as the lead attorney on a number of voting rights and redistricting cases. After leaving the DOJ, Hebert opened a private law practice specializing in election law, and taught courses at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., as an Adjunct Law Professor.

Matt Angle

Democratic Strategist

Matt-Angle.png

 

Matt Angle is a Democratic political strategist based in Texas, as well as the founder and director of the Lone Star Project PAC. The Lone Star Project’s stated goal is to provide individuals and the press with fact-based counterarguments to state and national Republicans’ misinformation campaigns. Angle has been a campaign consultant for a number of Texas Democrats, including state Senator Wendy Davis.

Ron Klain

Democratic Strategist

Ron-Klain.png

 

Ron Klain is a Democratic political strategist and lawyer, and was Chief of Staff to two U.S. Vice Presidents – Al Gore and Joe Biden. He was also selected to be the United States Ebola response coordinator during the height of the outbreak in 2014 and 2015. He served as the top lawyer on the Gore-Lieberman Recount Committee after the 2000 election, and has been an advisor in seven presidential campaigns, including Hillary Clinton’s in 2016.

Todd Allbaugh

Former Wisconsin Legislative Staffer (R)

Todd-Allbaugh.png

 

Todd Allbaugh gained national attention as a whistleblower, after publicly resigning his position as a Wisconsin State Legislative staffer, and leaving the party altogether. He announced his decision in a viral Facebook post that described state Republicans’ blatant enthusiasm for the vote-suppressing ramifications of their new Voter ID law. Born to Republican parents, Allbaugh has left politics entirely, and ran a coffee shop in Madison, WI, before it closed in 2017.

Sherrilyn Ifill

President & Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Sherrilyn-Ifill.png

Sherrilyn Ifill is President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and has litigated a number of historic civil rights cases, including Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, and Fisher v. University of Texas Austin in 2016. In 1993, Ifill accepted a faculty position as professor of law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, focusing on civil procedure and constitutional law. She is also the author of the book, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century.

Michael Waldman

President, Brennan Center for Justice

Michael-Waldman.png

Michael Waldman is President of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan institute that focuses on voting rights, money in politics, criminal justice reform and constitutional law. Prior to the Brennan Center, Waldman worked for President Bill Clinton, as a special assistant from 1993 to 1995, and as Director of Speechwriting from 1995 to 1999. He has written multiple books, including A Return to Common Sense: Seven Bold Ways to Revitalize Democracy.

Molly McGrath

Former National Campaign Coordinator, VoteRiders

Molly-McGrath.png

 

In 2016, Molly McGrath was the National Campaign Coordinator at VoteRiders, a nonprofit organization that worked to help citizens understand voter ID laws and get them registered to vote. Prior to her work at VoteRiders, McGrath was crowned Miss Wisconsin in 2004, and used her platform to promote voting in schools across the state. Since her appearance in Rigged, McGrath has become a voting rights attorney, currently working for the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.

Zach Moore

Wisconsin Citizen

Zach-Moore.png

In 2016, Zach Moore gained national attention after recordings of his attempts to get a voter ID made headlines. Aided by Molly McGrath and VoteRiders, Moore went to the DMV to get his photo ID, but was told he could not receive one without a birth certificate, which he did not have access to. According to Wisconsin law, he should have been able to get temporary voting credentials within six days even without his birth certificate, but the DMV workers gave him incorrect information, making it much harder for him to cast a vote.

Elijah Cummings

US Representative MD (D)

Elijah-Cummings.png

Elijah Cummings is the U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 7th congressional district, currently in his 13th term in the House. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and is also a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Cummings graduated from law school at the University of Maryland School of Law in 1976, and served for 14 years in the Maryland House of Delegates prior to his election to the U.S. House.

William J. Barber II

Former President, NC NAACP

William-Barber.png

Reverend William Barber II is an American Protestant minister and political activist, who served as President of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, before stepping down in 2017 to found a new Poor People’s Campaign, modeled after the work Martin Luther King Jr. had started just before his death. Barber has been hugely influential in North Carolina politics and activism, leading a protest movement called Moral Mondays, centered around marches and sit-ins at the North Carolina General Assembly. The protests focused on a wide range of issues, including voting rights and healthcare reform.

Rosanell Eaton

Voting Rights Activist

Rosanell-Eaton.png

Rosanell Eaton was a lifelong voting rights activist and advocate, and was a lead plaintiff in the successful lawsuit challenging the strict voter legislation passed in North Carolina after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. She participated in civil rights protests and activism spanning from her days marching with Martin Luther King Jr. through to being arrested during Reverend Barber’s Moral Monday sit-ins at the North Carolina General Assembly. She passed away in 2018.

Armenta Eaton

Voting Rights Activist & Rosanell’s Daughter

Armenta-Eaton.png

 

 

Armenta Eaton is a voting rights activist, and daughter of Rosanell Eaton. She was a lead plaintiff in the successful lawsuit against the restrictive 2013 North Carolina voting legislation, along with her mother.

Rick Hasen

Professor of Law, UC Irvine

Rick-Hasen.png

 

Rick Hasen is a Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Prior to teaching, he served as law clerk to Judge David R. Thompson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, before joining the law firm Horvitz & Levy LLP. He is the author of Election Law Blog, a highly regarded blog focusing on voting rights, campaign finance, redistricting, and other political law topics.

Kris Kobach

Former Kansas Secretary of State (R)

Kris-Kobach.png

 

Kris Kobach is the former Kansas Secretary of State, who lost his campaign for governor of Kansas in 2018. As Secretary of State, he made preventing widespread voter fraud his principal issue, and instituted strict proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration, which failed to hold up in court. In 2017, he served as vice-chairman of President Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity, until the Commission was disbanded in 2018.

Justin Levitt

Professor of Law, Loyola University

Justin-Levitt.png

 

Justin Levitt is a Professor of Law at Loyola University, and author of a frequently-cited study on the scarcity of provable instances of in-person voter fraud in U.S. elections. In this report, he was able to find 31 credible cases of voter impersonation fraud between 2000 and 2014, out of over a billion ballots cast. In 2015, he briefly left his work at Loyola Law School to serve as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Randy Burkhead

Challenged NC Voter

Randy-Burkhead.png

 

Randy Burkhead is a resident of North Carolina, a veteran, and currently an IT security consultant, who was one of the voters caught up in the voter challenges Mike Hyers filed in 2016. She appeared at her hearing at the Cumberland County Board of Elections to contest that challenge, and successfully defended her right to vote, ensuring she could vote in that year’s election.

Jon Harris

Candidate for Sheriff, Edwards County, TX (D)

Jon-Harris.png

 

Jon Harris is a veteran with a history in law enforcement, who ran against Pam Elliott for Edwards County Sheriff in 2016. He first became aware of Pam Elliott while studying constitutional law, and was disturbed by what he read and heard about her practices. He lost his campaign for Sheriff in 2016, but may decide to run again in the future.

Manuel Rodriguez

Charged with Voter Fraud

Manuel-Rodriguez.png

Manuel Rodriguez is a citizen of Edwards County, who was imprisoned for voter fraud in 2016. In 2014, Rodriguez was on parole, and legally not allowed to vote in the state of Texas. However, Manuel was uncertain if that was the case, and went to the polls to ask. The poll workers there mismatched Manuel Rodriguez’s name with his 99 year old grandfather, Manuel Rodriguez Sr, and allowed him to vote by mistake. Nearly two years after that incident, Sheriff Elliott tracked Manuel down and arrested him, just before the 2016 elections, and he spent the next 18 months behind bars, before pleading guilty to voter fraud and being released for time served.

Mindy Silva

Manuel Rodriguez’s Friend

Mindy-Silva.png

 

Mindy Silva is a resident of Rocksprings, Texas, and a former classmate and close friend of Manuel Rodriguez. She visited him in jail several times during his imprisonment, and believed that Sheriff Elliott had arrested Manuel to send a message to the community, in order to make people afraid and to discourage them from voting.

Darrell Volkmann

Deputy Sheriff, Edwards County, TX (R)

Darrell-Volkmann.png

 

Darrell Volkmann is the Deputy Sheriff in Edwards County, and a staunch supporter of Pam Elliott’s ideology and methods. He believes that voter fraud is a serious issue in the country and in Edwards County specifically, and that Manuel Rodriguez’s imprisonment might send a message to anyone in the area who might be thinking of voting illegally.

Justin Alferman

Former State Representative, MO (R)

Justin-Alferman.png

 

Justin Alferman is a former Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives, representing District 61. Rep. Alferman sponsored a voter ID bill in 2016, with the stated goal of ensuring election integrity in the state of Missouri. The bill passed, putting a voter ID amendment on the ballot in 2016, which ultimately passed that year. He resigned in June 2018 to become the legislative director for Gov. Mike Parson (R).

Cassandra Gould

Voting Rights Activist

Cassandra-Gould.png

Reverend Dr. Cassandra Gould is a pastor and an activist in Jefferson City, Missouri. She is the Executive Director of Missouri Faith Voices, a nonpartisan faith-based activist group, and the pastor of Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church. In 2016, she was a vehement opponent of Rep. Alferman’s voter ID legislation, giving speeches and organizing phone banks in an effort to rally an opposition vote to the amendment on the ballot. In the end, the voter ID amendment won the vote, and went into law in 2017.

Michael Wines

Reporter, New York Times

Michael-Wines.png

Michael Wines is a national correspondent for The New York Times and writes about voting and other election-related issues. He has written for the Times since 1988, and in addition to his extensive reporting on American politics, has at times served as the NYT’s Bureau Chief in China, Russia, and South Africa respectively. After the 2016 election, he called every Secretary of State’s office in the U.S., and reached every one but Kris Kobach’s in Kansas. From that reporting, Wines only found a handful of suspected instances of voter fraud, with many states reporting they had seen no voter fraud whatsoever.

bottom of page