This type of thing is talked about from time to time. The unfortunate thing is that there aren’t a ton of plausible interventions. The main tool we have to fight against authoritarianism in the US is lawsuits, and that’s already being done and not any place where EA could have a comparative advantage. The other big thing that people come up with is helping Democrats win elections, and there are people working on this, although (fortunately) elections are really ultimately decided by the voters, campaign tactics have limited effect at least at the national level. Besides this I think the most plausible intervention is probably changing election law at the state level though lobbying/advocacy or petitioning for ballot measures—and even there you’d have to find useful measures that are passible (mandating election counting be done on election night so that there’s less suspicion of fraud? Giving less leeway to election boards so that they aren’t an easy target for theft? score voting?).
PS: voting rights are pretty much a non-issue. The partisan effect of restrictive voting laws is quitesmall, and if if anything these laws probably hurt Republicans these days because they do better among disengaged voters.
This type of thing is talked about from time to time. The unfortunate thing is that there aren’t a ton of plausible interventions. The main tool we have to fight against authoritarianism in the US is lawsuits, and that’s already being done and not any place where EA could have a comparative advantage. The other big thing that people come up with is helping Democrats win elections, and there are people working on this, although (fortunately) elections are really ultimately decided by the voters, campaign tactics have limited effect at least at the national level. Besides this I think the most plausible intervention is probably changing election law at the state level though lobbying/advocacy or petitioning for ballot measures—and even there you’d have to find useful measures that are passible (mandating election counting be done on election night so that there’s less suspicion of fraud? Giving less leeway to election boards so that they aren’t an easy target for theft? score voting?).
PS: voting rights are pretty much a non-issue. The partisan effect of restrictive voting laws is quite small, and if if anything these laws probably hurt Republicans these days because they do better among disengaged voters.