Voting Rights Lab shares DC address of Arabella Advisors and its "Dark Money" funds
Newest venture to use dark money "to interrupt the impact of disinformation on our democracy and protect against the looming threat of election subversion"
Updated Related Section on July 19, 2023.
On Wednesday the Voting Rights Lab released “A Review of 2021-22 and a First Look at 2023: The State of State Election Law” report. Download the 16-page PDF here.
The first page was a letter from their Executive Director Megan Lewis, but the PDF report is not dated. Neither the web page or PDF shows contact information.
The web page for Voting Rights Lab does not give an address nor explain it exists as a “trade name” of the New Venture Fund, which is managed by the Arabella Advisors.
A year ago The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced a $505,000 two-year grant to the New Venture Fund “for support of The Voting Rights Lab.” Their overview of the grant revealed “Operation Primrose,” which is the Voting Rights Lab’s newest venture that “aims to interrupt the impact of disinformation on our democracy and protect against the looming threat of election subversion.”
How can an organization like the New Venture Fund, which is perhaps the largest “dark money” political fund in the country use its trade name Voting Rights Lab to help with election integrity without complete transparency of what it is doing?
Aren’t the billions of “dark money” in elections the biggest threat to democracy and election integrity?
Past Activities of Voting Rights Lab
Cure Process for Absentee Ballots in Green Bay
Would anyone feel more comfortable about the Voting Rights Lab knowing they wanted to help Green Bay, Wisconsin “cure” ballots in the Nov. 2020 general election?
See this on p. 172 in a PDF of emails, which was part of an investigation of what happened in the Wisconsin 2020 election.
$100,000 received via Capitol Hill UPS Store?
Tides Advocacy in its 2020 IRS 990 revealed a $100,000 contribution to “Voting Rights Lab.”
The IRS 990s for Secure Democracy in 2018 and 2019 confirm this 611 Pennsylvania, Suite 143 address, is a mail box at the UPS Store Capitol Hill. Its unclear how this organization might be related to the New Venture Fund and Voting Rights Lab.
DC government business records say Secure Democracy started in 2017 but is now “dissolved.” Their last report to DC government was in April 2020.
A new Secure Democracy USA started in Nov. 2021 with Megan Lewis as the only governor according to DC business records. This group has a different box/unit/number but the same address: Pennsylvania, Suite 201, Washington, DC 20003. Megan Lewis is the Executive Director of Voting Rights Lab.
The IRS 990s for the North Fund, the “fifth” Arabella Advisors’ “dark fund”, in both 2020 and 2021 show separate $1,000,000 contributions to Secure Democracy at 611 Pennsylvania Ave SE in DC. The 2020 IRS 990 says 611 Pennsylvania Ave SE #143, but the 2021 IRS 990 mentions no number. It’s unclear how much of this money might have ended up with Voting Rights Lab.
Oddly, in their 2020 IRS 990 the North Fund sent $6,736,650 to Future Forward USA Action also at 611 Pennsylvania Ave SE Suite 143 — the same as Voting Rights Lab!
DC Business Document
The DC government’s business entity search shows Voting Rights Lab is a “trade name” of the New Venture Fund. Voting Rights Lab has no separate accounting to document what it does.
Specific information about Voting Rights Lab can sometimes be gleaned from comments in the IRS 990s filed by contributors to the New Venture Fund.
Related
Top Democratic Operatives Were Quietly Pulling the Strings at a Voting Rights Group. Lawyers Say They May Have Broken the Law, Washington Free Beacon, July 10, 2023.
Arabella-Aligned Groups Sued for Racial Discrimination, Violating Civil Rights Laws, Hayden Ludwig, Capital Research Center, Nov. 3, 2022. Voting Rights Lab is a key part of this lawsuit. Read the lawsuit.
What is the North Fund, Anyway?, Hayden Ludwig, Capital Research Center, Nov. 11, 2022.
