Investigative reporting by the Chronicle of Philanthropy into Vote.org found a range of state regulatory compliance issues, including lapses in charity registration and poor recordkeeping. The Chronicle also found high staff turnover, employee dissatisfaction, and allegations of disability discrimination and retaliation. Vote.org and its CEO, Andrea Hailey, argue that the group’s fundraising growth has been robust and its compliance issues were products of Covid-related processing backlogs in state agencies. The organization denies the disability-discrimination allegations.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Vote.org, a prominent voter-registration group, is in turmoil six months before a high-stakes presidential election. At a time when these organizations are typically gearing up for crucial voter-registration drives, it has lost a significant share of its staff since February because of resignations, layoffs, and firings.

The nonprofit’s problems appear to be years in the making, the result of lax board oversight and poor management by a CEO that some people who know and have worked with her say was unqualified for the role. The result has been million-dollar deficits, a lawsuit, high turnover, lapsed fundraising registrations in states across the country, and a complaint that was filed with the Internal Revenue Service in January.