Supporting journalists in responding to critical election information needs.

Get Election SOS Resources, Including Articles, Guides & Workshops

How to be effective at post-election engagement

By Massarah Mikati Communities’ information needs don’t disappear once an election is over. As the Trump administration’s barrage of executive orders, the numerous attacks on First Amendment rights and an…

Case Study: Platforming Black people’s political power

By Massarah Mikati Going into the 2024 presidential election, Capital B knew they had a monstrous task ahead of them to fulfill their mission of serving Black audiences during a…

Case study: Putting together an election guide of the people in Santa Cruz

By Massarah Mikati Every election season, Santa Cruz Local has one big product that serves as the core of their election coverage: the People’s Agenda. Like many other election guides,…

Case study: Wisconsin’s Main Street Agenda partnership uncovers voter concerns

By Massarah Mikati As the 2024 election neared, staff at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel knew they wanted to tailor their reporting to readers’ needs, priorities and questions — and they…

Kansas City Defender screen grab, Feb. 26, 2025.

Case Study: Kansas City Defender pursues engagement through activism

By Massarah Mikati The Kansas City Defender isn’t like any other newsroom. In fact, founder Ryan Sorrell doesn’t even call it a news outlet, but rather a community organization. Since…

Election Also SOS Offers

The Citizens Agenda

If you're looking to create more voter-centric reporting that answers the public's most pressing questions, download our Citizens Agenda guide and find inspiration from newsrooms using this tested process.

Get the Guide

Voter Guide Training

A self-paced, five-day email course to help you build a guide with your audience in mind. You'll receive one email each weekday with activities to help you create a successful strategy.

Extremism Coverage Prep

Concrete guidance for newsrooms on assessing risks, digital safety and editorial policies before covering extremists. Sign up to access videos with experts and other critical resources on extremism reporting.

Trusted Elections Expert Network

In partnership with The American Press Institute, Election SOS curated this searchable network of federal, state and topic-centric elections experts for journalists to contact as sources and for support.

Connect with an expert

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Election SOS offers training & resources for journalists, connecting them to best practices, resources and support around election coverage.

Participation is free of charge thanks to the generous support of our funders.

What participants say

"After working with and researching Hearken as well as surveying many of the newsrooms it has worked with, I can say definitively that the company is driving important change in the industry, especially in terms of making journalism—and journalists—more relevant to their communities. Their paradigm around engagement as relationships seems critical to (re-)building trust with mainstream news content."

– Dr. Sue Robinson / University of Wisconsin-Madison

"This training provided WSHU with the needed framework to really understand the work that we need to do, how we want to accomplish the work and a way to communicate the change and importance of this work to our different stakeholders."

– Rima Dael, General Manager, WSHU Public Radio

"Election SOS is helping us reassess how our election coverage impacts the communities we serve. Plus, the opportunity to workshop and share information and best practices with other news organizations has been invaluable."

– Carlos Virgen / Digital News Director, The Day

"The Engaged Elections training is a worthwhile investment to guide a newsroom in being more open and engaged with readers, viewers or listeners. Especially at a time when trust is being questioned and many Americans are disinterested in the news."

– Rhonda Prast, Assistant Managing Editor, Las Vegas Review-Journal

"The Engaged Elections Training really gave our organization the space to think through our elections coverage in a thoughtful and nuanced way."

– Kate Weibezahl, Senior Engagement Coordinator, PBS SoCal | KCET

"I would recommend the Engaged Elections Training to newsrooms who are ready to not just listen but partner with their audience to provide more user-friendly elections coverage and participation. This cohort helped me understand the limitations of just publishing bilingual voter guides and start brainstorming how to engage our audience in advance."

– Fátima Ramírez, Executive Director of Acción Latina, El Tecolote

"The training from Election SOS has solidified our plan for election coverage in an actionable, engaging way. The resources, guest speakers, and fellow cohort members have been key to helping me answer questions and think through roadblocks."

– Annelise McGough / Growth and Engagement Editor, Grist

"The Engaged Elections Training helped us think a bit deeper about how we serve our BIPOC communities. Even though we are a newsroom focused on systematically oppressed communities in South Carolina, we still gained insight into how to be more intentional with election coverage to that it serves the community rather than adding to the noise that often arises during elections that doesn't address policy and its impact."

– Fernando Soto, CEO & Publisher, Nuestro Estado

Election SOS

Election SOS is managed by the consultancy Hearken and is principally funded by The Democracy Fund and the Trusted Elections Fund Project.

Learn more about the Election SOS team on our About Page.