Announcing the revamped Democracy Toolkit

Vetted, relevant resources to help meet this moment of democratic backsliding in America.

Supporting journalists in responding to critical election information needs.

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Our month-long Election SOS training program helped newsrooms to center their elections and politics coverage on the communities they intend to serve, rather than on candidates or politicians.

Read what we learned

Democracy Day is an effort to draw attention to the attacks on democracy, provide the public with the context and information they need, and bring all types of media together to sound the alarm collectively.

Get Involved

The Democracy Toolkit equips reporters, newsroom leaders and journalism educators with vetted, relevant resources to help meet this moment of democratic backsliding in America.

Get The Tools

Featured 2022 Midterms Resources

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Election SOS First Aid

Election SOS introduces essential resources for busy newsrooms and reporters! Critical advice on digital safety and covering conflict.

First Aid Kit: Digital Safety Checklist

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First Aid Kit: Covering Conflict Card

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What Election SOS Offers

Webinars & Resources

We are partnering with dozens of civic and journalism support organizations to bring reporters timely and relevant information and context for their reporting.

See all Election SOS resources

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.

Election SOS Scenario Planning Guide

This Scenario Planning Guide is designed to help newsroom leaders, journalists and freelancers to plan for a variety of outcomes - some inside and others outside - of their control. Use this guide as a strategic plan to customize for your newsroom.

Get the guide

Trusted Elections Expert Network

In partnership with The American Press Institute, Election SOS is curating a representative and diverse network of elections experts for journalists to call on for sources and for support. We'll feature federal, state and topic-centric experts for you to easily search and contact.

Connect with an expert

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

Story & Pitch Database

The Election SOS story and pitch database showcases great examples of election coverage. It was built for reporters who are on a deadline, searching for inspiration, or just need a bit of a break.

Get inspired - Pitch This

Are you looking for a resource or help that you're not finding on the site? Let us know!

<< Fill out the form and we'll be back in touch soon.

We are adding new resources all the time. To stay up to date on story ideas, expert sources, training and best-practices, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page.

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

The Election SOS team & partners

Election SOS is managed by the consultancy Hearken with the support of Trusting News, is fiscally sponsored by the American Press Institute, 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.

Democracy Fund invests in organizations working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people.

American Press Institute helps transform news organizations for an audience-centric future. Read about related API efforts to improve election reporting.