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As part of our Electionland project, we’re announcing four grants that will support local reporting projects on voting.
Electionland is a collaborative project to cover voting problems, misinformation and cybersecurity. Now in its third election cycle, the project has already signed up more than 60 local and national newsrooms in 2020 to participate. Journalists working in newsrooms can find out more and sign up to join the collaboration, which will give them access to data and reporting leads to help cover voting rights and election integrity.
These grants are a new component of the project. Thanks to a grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, ProPublica will support four local projects in the form of funding equivalent to 25% of each reporter’s annual salary. The grants are the result of an invited application process that targeted newsrooms in seven key states, including past and present Electionland partners.
The four reporters are:
Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Broadcasting;
Jonathan Lai of The Philadelphia Inquirer;
Lawrence Mower of The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau;
Vanessa Swales of Wisconsin Watch.
Through November, the local reporters will work on their investigations with ProPublica, and we will co-publish stories before Election Day.
The coronavirus pandemic has already required local election administrators to rethink how they run their elections in time for Election Day, often without precedent or adequate resources, and sometimes with opposition from political leaders. That’s why it’s more important than ever that local journalists fulfill their role in keeping an eye on the process and on the powerful forces being arrayed to control it.
To assist in this effort, ProPublica is hiring an editor to work with these newsrooms. Find out more and apply here.
