In The First Tuesday in November: Democracy Denied by Database, J. Cagney documents votes that were changed after they were counted in the 2024 election — not at the precinct, not in the county’s central election office, but in the “data layer” that secures results. Evidence that details possible unauthorized access to Election Night vote counts has been reviewed and corroborated by cybersecurity experts.
If results can change after they’re counted, out of view of every existing form of oversight, an independent record is essential.
While we don’t have access to the systems that hold data on Election Night, we do have the resources to monitor what they report, measure it, and flag what doesn’t add up. That’s what Data Defense Teams do. Working together, The Progressive Network and The Common Coalition have crafted a volunteer program that will support observation of Election Night process and results.
Building the Teams to Defend Democracy:
A Data Defense Team is county-based, comprised of 3 to 7 people who work to defend the election results in their jurisdiction. The team will be provided communication and process protocol, online training, administrative support and other necessary resources to complete their tasks.
WE ARE SEEKING TEAM VOLUNTEERS IN EVERY COUNTY IN THE US!
Team Roles:
County Coordinator
- Responsible for managing team volunteers
- Responsible for organizing tasks, tracking deadlines
- Point person to identify and resolve issues in coordination with administrative team
- Provide status updates in virtual weekly meeting
- Research and understand jurisdiction-specific legal parameters for county tabulation observation
- If possible, obtain tabulation results from the county for mail-in, early voting and aggregated precinct totals
- Provide results data through defined protocol on Election Night
Campaign Coordinator
- Outreach to campaigns in advance of Election Day, to include:
- Establishing a campaign point-of contact
- Sharing Information and education
- Recommended Election Night protocols for responding to red flags and other warnings that appear in the data
Results Analyst (2-4 people per county)
- Responsible for results collection from livestream and media outlets on Election Night, using tools and process provided by TPN administrative team
- Collect and report results data into team portal.
- Volunteer opportunities are available for those that want to help build a county-specific volunteer support team.
- Option Virtual Training Wednesday, October 12
- Primary responsibilities are on Tuesday, November 3.
SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER:
County and Campaign Coordinator Volunteer Signup
Election Night Results Analyst Volunteer
COUNTY COMMISSIONER/CLERK OUTREACH TEMPLATE
NOTE: IF POSSIBLE, address this outreach to the person in the County Commissioner/Clerk’s office who handles the CONTRACT with the county’s election hardware/software contractor. Contractor examples include ES&S, Liberty Voting (formerly Dominion), Hart InterCivic. These contracts are signed and managed at a COUNTY level.
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your Email Address]
[Date]
County Commissioner/Clerk
[Clerk’s Address/Email]
CC: The Honorable [Congressman’s Name]
[Congressman’s Address/Email]
Dear Mr./Ms.[Last Name],
I am writing to express my profound concern regarding the potential threat our county’s midterm election results. As identified in recently published findings, our county’s election results are vulnerable to manipulation through unauthorized intrusion in the centralized database that supports our vendor’s Election Management System (EMS) software.
While these findings do not indicate that there is specific threat to our county’s local election infrastructure (machines and tabulators kept onsite in precincts and county offices), there are concerns that our county’s cast vote records are vulnerable to attack after they are uploaded into our vendor’s EMS. Evidence from recent elections suggests that, on Election Night, cast vote records were changed in one or more vendor’s EMS through unauthorized access to the central database that supports the EMS, effectively altering unofficial results.
My outreach today is to ask that your office, in its capacity as contract owner with our election software vendor, remind the county’s contractor that they will be in breach of contract with our county if our cast vote records our changed. Our contract with this vendor should provide the protection and retention of our votes, as cast. If our votes are changed after they leave county control, our contractor will be in breach of their contract with us.
I urge you to consider proactive contact with our county’s contractor on behalf of the citizens of this county who have invested interest in protecting the choices made in the November 3, 2026 election.
Thank you for your consideration and action in this critical matter.
Sincerely,
[Your Typed/Printed Name]
[Your Signature]
