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Protected from the burning Arizona sun by the ice cold air conditioning of the Gila River Resorts, America’s elite political class and an array of advocates from the democracy trenches gathered last week to discuss the country’s red-hot authoritarian problem at the annual American Democracy Summit. The conference is organized by RepresentUs, whose core mission is getting money out of US politics.
The problems facing US democracy are well documented by now, and the term “constitutional crisis” may have already jumped the shark. In the midst of the complete capture of all three branches of government by an increasingly lawless Republican Party, an onslaught of unconstitutional executive orders, and an emerging disregard for judicial oversight, the conversations at the conference were understandably sober, and often intense.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) urged attendees to match Republican aggression, encouraging them to verbally pummel officials with their concerns at every single opportunity, from school board meetings to town halls. Panelists emphasized self-care, including protecting one’s mental health and one’s digital privacy. Many speakers focused on nurturing community and cross-organizational collaboration in what are undoubtedly stressful times.
There was the usual dose of cliché, exemplified by the centerpiece film, America’s Burning. The film is narrated by celebrity actor Michael Douglas, who appeared for the requisite Q & A. It contains an odd mix of cheerleading for capitalism, bemoaning that US capitalism has been taken hostage by corporate elites, and a somewhat naive insistence that working across political divides can solve our problems. It envisions the emergence of a more ethical and balanced third party overcoming entrenched political divisions.
The film was made prior to the 2024 election, which saw the lead independent candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., join forces with the mainstream Republican Party, which absorbed his message like a cobra swallowing its prey whole. The film gives no new insights on how third parties could compete in our financially oversaturated political ecosystem or overcome the hijacking of their messages. The film pleads for cross-party dialogue, but all Republicans featured at the conference were firmly planted against the Trump agenda.
In the midst of the complete capture of all three branches of government by an increasingly lawless Republican Party, an onslaught of unconstitutional executive orders, and an emerging disregard for judicial oversight, the conversations at the conference were understandably sober, and often intense.
The conference used to be called “Unrigged” and in the past had a larger percentage of independent voices participating, with more of a Libertarian flavor. The perspective that we no longer have a left/right divide, but rather a choice between democracy and authoritarianism, is an understandable one, but it ignores the very real problem that one cannot have inter-party dialogue if one refuses to invite the opposition to the table.
The most authentic voices I experienced were on a panel called “Successfully Engaging Tribal Rural Voters in Arizona.” Native American organizers spoke about the long road of overcoming past trauma and the patience needed for deep organizing. Describing a 10-hour drive to work with a handful of women in a small remote community, they expressed profound satisfaction at having each of those women register their families to vote, and begin the process of intergenerational civic participation.
Karen Wharton, the democracy coalition coordinator at Citizen Action of New York, said she was percolating on new ways to overcome what she described as the “massive influx of money in our politics.” She did not specifically name the emergence of “oligarchy” as a frontline issue — but her focus on transparency made her concern plain: “Where is the money actually coming from? Do voters really know … the billionaires behind those ads?”
Over the course of three days, the conference offered panels on getting money out of politics, protecting the rule of law, cross-issue organizing, redistricting reform, and other electoral game-changers like ranked-choice voting and proportional representation. A little partying, morning yoga, and the casino next door gave attendees a few other flavor options.
The Next Train Coming Down the Tracks
The great benefit of attending democracy gatherings is getting information from folks who are out on the front edges of what’s happening. Danielle Reiff is part of a new organization called Unify-USA. They are creating citizen assemblies to prepare for the possibility of a constitutional convention that conservatives — including former Trump adviser and host of the War Room podcast Steve Bannon — are promoting and working methodically to implement. The constitutional convention is one path to a third Trump term, something that Bannon says will happen, despite being prohibited by the existing Constitution.
The possibility of a constitutional convention is detailed in Article 5 of the US Constitution. Ironically, a video explaining the need for a constitutional convention lists term limits as one of its goals. The push for the convention is being led, in part, by ultra-conservative Rick Santorum, a former United States senator from Pennsylvania. We’re guessing that finally ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment is not one of their goals.
Common Cause reports that four separate campaigns with different agendas are all working to make the convention a reality. A group called DefendOurConsitution.org says that 28 of the 34 required states have already requested the convention. That leaves only six states to go. Reiff points out that an administration that has blown through so many legal boundaries already might feel emboldened to move forward with the convention even before the 34-state requirement is reached.
Her concern is not theoretical. The Guardian reports that a 2022 lawsuit in Texas already tried to claim that the 34-state goal had been met:
Advocates filed a lawsuit in Texas in February that tried to get the courts to force a constitutional convention on grounds that they had reached 34 states already — they cobbled together unrelated state convention calls, including some dating back to the 1800s.
Trump, naturally, has already begun selling merchandise for his third term.
Hypocrisy
A session titled “States on the Frontline: Defending Democracy as Federal Protections Fade” featured three secretaries of state speaking about protecting the democratic process locally.
The panel included Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar (D), who was recently elected Board Chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS). DASS celebrated a $600,000 haul in the first quarter of 2025. Is it hypocritical to feature someone at a campaign finance reform conference whose organizational goal is to top their previous “record of $32 million in fundraising”?
But featuring Aguilar on a Defense of Democracy panel raises questions that are beyond financial. Aguilar spoke about Nevada’s election security protections. The state hired an outside agency for its cybersecurity needs, so as not to be dependent on the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which under Trump has drastically cut its election security activities. The real question, though, is why Nevada should be considered a leader in election security when only one of their counties is utilizing hand-marked paper ballots.
Security experts overwhelmingly support the use of hand-marked paper ballots to help assure accurate elections. Nevada has one of the worst setups in the country for election security. Most Nevada counties use either ballot-marking devices or direct record electronic systems (DREs). In both cases computers record the vote, instead of voters marking a paper ballot with a pen. Security experts say these systems are far more vulnerable to mistakes and manipulation and do not create an adequate paper record of the voter’s intent. When asked if Nevada is planning on offering hand-marked paper ballots, Aguilar shook his head with a hard no.
When concerns about election fraud are raised in progressive circles, backlash against the Stop the Steal movement seems to elicit didactic sermons about how secure our voting systems are and an anxious choral recitation of the need for a peaceful transfer of power.
Another member of the panel, Al Schmidt (R), is the secretary of state of Pennsylvania. He is one of two election officials who accepted financial contributions from lobbyists of a voting machine vendor and then voted to approve the vendor’s voting machine for exclusive use in Philadelphia, a lucrative market for the vendor. The circumstances around that and other contributions led to the vendor being hit with a $2.9 million fine for illegal lobbying.
Schmidt denied any wrongdoing when asked about those events at the conference and defended his actions by saying that he didn’t take donations directly from the vendor, but local press reported that Schmidt and another commissioner “had benefited from campaign contributions from Election Systems & Software LLC (ES&S).”
The voting machine in question, another ballot-marking device, has not performed well for Philadelphia. A Reuters investigation found there were problems with the voting machine in
more than 40 percent of polling locations in its debut election in 2019:
Problems included touchscreens that were hypersensitive or that froze; paper voting receipts getting jammed in the machines; and panels opening on some machines to expose the equipment’s electronic controls.
Advocates say the machines break down so often that all locations must stock paper ballots; this means the savings that were promised from not printing paper ballots have not materialized. Another study revealed that the ballot-marking devices have not made Philadelphia’s elections fully accessible, another unrealized vendor talking-point.
The Third Rail
For the moment, the question of whether US election results are accurate or rigged remains a topic that is discussed solely at conservative conferences. Democratic-leaning explorations of election subversion tend to focus on voter roll purges and the increasingly strict voter ID requirements that are creating an oppressive sticky snare of voter suppression. When concerns about election fraud are raised in progressive circles, backlash against the Stop the Steal movement seems to elicit didactic sermons about how secure our voting systems are and anxious recitations of the need for a peaceful transfer of power.
That could be changing as more and more members of the Democratic base raise questions about the accuracy of the 2024 election. A new organization called the Election Truth Alliance recently made the rounds of popular YouTube podcasts sharing statistical data indicating possible election manipulation of the 2024 presidential election results in Pennsylvania and Nevada. They were warmly received by the hosts and some of the podcasts were viewed more than half a million times. Our own organization, SMART Elections, saw a huge influx of over 1,000 volunteers following the election, most of them galvanized by concerns that the results were incorrect.
The mainstream take on this topic may also be shifting. In January, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a former prosecutor who served as lead counsel in the first Trump impeachment, posted that Trump’s comments about Elon Musk helping with the “vote counting computers” need to be investigated. More recently, Walter Mebane, a statistician at the University of Michigan who has studied election fraud internationally for decades, released an analysis showing mathematical indications of fraud in three Pennsylvania counties in the 2024 presidential election.
Tears of Inspiration
Conference attendees I spoke with had an overwhelmingly positive experience. Chauncy Wadsworth, a young advocate from a new organization called America’s Main Street Party, told me that, as a young person who is “part of the generation that will soon inherit this world,” he couldn’t help finding the passionate atmosphere inspiring. Karen Wharton from Citizen Action of New York said, “I feel energized, and I can’t wait to get right back into the work.”
The closing plenary delivered a remarkable lineup of powerhouse speakers. Former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger — a Republican who voted for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and now runs the organization he founded called Country First — was a fresh and bracing voice. He avoided easy platitudes and encouraged advocates to “embrace the suck.”
Closing speaker Desmond Meade brought down the house. He is well known for spearheading the successful movement in Florida to return voting rights to former felons. A former felon himself, he evoked eerie parallels of other hard times, referencing his ancestors walking past lynchings on their way to vote. He shed tears as he held up photos of his grandchild and spoke of always continuing the work for the next generation. The crowd surged to their feet, embracing his message as they headed back to their battle stations on the front lines of democracy.
Lulu Freisdat is a thought leader, documentary filmmaker, and TEDx Speaker, who co-founded and runs a nonprofit, SMART Elections, to examine and raise confidence in US elections. She’s contributed to Emmy award-winning coverage at ABC News and been both quoted and featured in The New York Times. Her journalism and advocacy work have been featured in Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Hill, and Politico, among others.
