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Founder accuses Vote.org of defrauding donors

By Joseph Nepomuceno July 15, 2025 | updated 3 weeks ago

Debra Cleaver, founder and former CEO of the voting registration nonprofit Vote.org, filed a complaint with the attorneys general of several states, alleging that the organization defrauded donors and mismanaged its funds.

Cleaver’s complaint, first shared with Politico, says the nonprofit organization promised prospective donors that it would register 8 million voters during the 2024 election cycle, despite having no plan on how to do so. Vote.org eventually only registered 2.2 million voters in 2024.

The complaint alleges that the original goal was 6 million voters, but was revised to 8 million on the fly as the number of 6 million could remind possible donors of the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Lauren Brown, former communications director for Vote.org, told the Daily Mail that the current CEO, Andrea Hailey, “aspired to be another Stacey Abrams.” This allegation is reinforced by Cleaver’s complaint, which says Hailey neglected key CEO duties and mismanaged the organization’s finances.

While Hailey’s compensation grew from $190,787 in 2020 to $251,420 in 2022, the organization ran a total $2 million deficit during the same period. Vote.org also laid off five employees of its under-20-person staff in March 2024, blaming the “pace of philanthropic giving.” 

GEORGIA STARTS PROCESS TO REMOVE 500,000 INACTIVE VOTER REGISTRATIONS

These layoffs occurred shortly after the COO left due to “ethical concerns.” This turmoil led a major Vote.org donor, the left-wing super PAC Mind the Gap, to withhold future investment due to “poor management” and “high administrative costs.” 

Vote.org is not the only voter registration nonprofit organization that faced legal trouble due to the 2024 election. Everybody Votes, a voter registration group that targets low-income minority residents, was found to have helped submit fraudulent registration forms in Pennsylvania, including one for a dead resident.

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