ACLU launches $50 million push to protect election certification in 2026 midterms

Election certification, once a routine administrative step, is now a frontline test of American election administration. The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a $50 million midterm effort, its largest election investment in the organization’s history, and half of that money is being directed at ensuring elections are properly administered in key states.

The strategy reflects a hard lesson from recent election fights: the count does not end on election night. The Brennan Center for Justice says certification has historically been an uncontroversial post-election formality, and state law makes it a mandatory, nondiscretionary duty. The Election Assistance Commission has also said election-night totals are not final until canvass and certification are complete, which is why the ACLU is moving to monitor that phase closely as pressure on election administrators grows.

The other half of the national effort will go to down-ballot races and ballot measure campaigns, including state Supreme Court contests in Montana and North Carolina, secretary of state races in Arizona and Nevada, and state legislative races in North Carolina, Montana, Georgia and Michigan. Those contests matter well beyond local power. Control of both chambers of Congress is on the line in 2026, with about one-third of the U.S. Senate and all 435 House seats on the ballot, making state-level election administration part of a broader national struggle.

The ACLU has warned that a second Trump administration could use executive power, intimidation of election administrators and attacks on adverse outcomes to weaken trust in results. It has also criticized an executive order it calls anti-voter because it directs the Election Assistance Commission to change the federal mail voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship. Separately, the ACLU and allies have sued over a Department of Justice effort they say could create a national voter database and enable voter purges.

The 2026 election calendar is already moving, with primaries and runoffs stretching through the spring and summer before the general election on November 3, 2026. By placing a record sum into certification-related oversight and the offices that shape election rules, the ACLU is signaling that the most consequential fight may come after ballots are cast, when states decide whether to certify what voters chose.