Arca Foundation Gives $85,000 Quixote Foundation Gives $21,000 Rockefeller Family Fund Gives $25,000

San Francisco, CA -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been awarded three grants totaling $131,000 for its work leading the national litigation strategy on computerized voting. The first grant of $85,000 is from the Washington, DC-based Arca Foundation the second grant of $21,000 is from the Quixote Foundation of Madison, WI and the third grant is from the Rockefeller Family Fund based in New York City.

"The reports of problems using computerized voting machines increase with every election," said Cindy Cohn, Legal Director for EFF. "These machines have been hastily developed and poorly tested. Worse, since they do not create voter-verifiable paper ballots, there is no way to do a real recount or audit of election results." EFF has joined with other organizations in a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the ways insecure voting machines threaten the democratic process. Cohn added, "We are thrilled to have the support of the Arca Foundation and the Quixote Foundation in this endeavor. Their grant-making focuses on empowering citizens to help shape public policy -- this is a great partnership."

Arca Foundation Executive Director Donna Edwards said, "This is a natural affiliation. Our Foundation is dedicated to the pursuit of social equity and justice -- if we lose the ability to have our votes verified, we give up our most basic constitutional rights. We are pleased to support EFF in this endeavor."

Lenore Hanisch of the Quixote Foundation added, "EFF is performing an essential public service, providing litigation services for computerized voting problems. We're very happy to help them be able to perform this important work."

EFF is developing a national legal and activist support network to tackle problems related to governments' use of computerized voting machines. The organization will litigate for e-voting reform and do outreach with traditional voting rights organizers before and after the November presidential election. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure accessible, secure voting on transparent, auditable systems to ensure that votes are counted as cast.

Lisa Guide, Associate Director of the Rockefeller Family Fund said, "Our purpose is to help citizens exercise the right to vote, and to make government more accountable and responsive. This grant to EFF helps fulfill our goals and the goals of this project."

Contacts:

Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cindy@eff.org