Democracy Defenders

Ben Nimmo

By Vera Bergengruen

Cisco Aguilar

By Rebecca Schneid

Ken Block

By Philip Elliott

Chad Lorenz

By Sanya Mansoor
More in Democracy Defenders

Lauren Kunis

More Americans voted in the 2020 election than in any other in U.S. history. In the four years since, 18 states have enacted new or stricter voter ID requirements to cast a ballot, warns Lauren...

By Nik Popli

Courtland Cox

In 1964, Courtland Cox was among hundreds of college students who traveled to Mississippi to help register Black people to vote, drawing strong opposition from the state's segregationists. The project, known as Freedom Summer, was...

By Lottie Joiner

Lucille Wenegieme

Lucille Wenegieme sees her job as a straightforward one: “We turn music fans into voters.” That’s the mission statement of Headcount, which leverages the fan bases of some of the world’s biggest artists to get...

By Simmone Shah

Stephen Richer

This summer, Stephen Richer, the county recorder in Maricopa County, Ariz., ran for re-election as an unabashedly pro-democracy Republican. That was a bold stance in Maricopa, which had been overrun by baseless allegations of widespread...

By Vera Bergengruen

Steve Ballmer

After Steve Ballmer retired as the chief executive officer of Microsoft in 2014, his wife suggested he join her in her philanthropic work with foster children. He had thought it was mostly the government’s responsibility,...

By Chantelle Lee

Janice Winfrey

Watch THE OFFICIALS, a documentary on election officials preparing for a contentious 2024 election, here Janice Winfrey never thought that she would feel unsafe in her job as Detroit’s city clerk, which she’s held for...

By Sanya Mansoor

Meagan Wolfe

Watch THE OFFICIALS, a documentary on election officials preparing for a contentious 2024 election, here Over the past four years, Meagan Wolfe has seen a drastic and alarming change in the way Americans perceive the...

By Vera Bergengruen

How We Chose the Democracy Defenders

The list shines a spotlight on leaders who are working to boost voter participation, reverse disenfranchisement, and combat misinformation.

By Sam Jacobs
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