Election Administration Resource Center
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
OUR MISSION IS TO MAKE RANKED CHOICE VOTING (RCV) ELECTIONS SUCCESSFUL.
- Income
- $741,005
- Spending
- $996,047
- Spent on programs
- 78%
- Reserves
- 13.5 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 95%
- Employees
- 12
- Volunteers
- 8
- Highest pay
- $154,500, executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 85 out of 100.
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 13.5 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 2% of what it owns.
Living within its means
0 of 15Spending exceeded income by 34% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 19% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1578% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 8 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 95 out of 100.
Independent board
25 of 258 of 8 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
0 of 5Reports no independent review process for its chief executive's pay.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (2)
- $411,445 spent. EARC DBA RANKED CHOICE VOTING RESOURCE CENTER (RCVRC) IS THE NATION'S ONLY ORGANIZATION DEDICATED SOLELY TO PROMOTING AND SUPPORTING THE ADMINISTRATION OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING (RCV). BECAUSE ELECTION OFFICES ARE OFTEN UNDERSTAFFED AND UNDERFUNDED, WE PROVIDE OUR EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AND TOOLS FOR FREE OR AT A NOMINAL FEE BASED ON STATE AND LOCAL POLICIES. (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O)RCV WAS USED IN 17 CITIES AND COUNTIES ACROSS NINE STATES TO ELECT LOCAL OFFICIALS IN 2025. RCVRC STAFF SUPPORTED ELECTION STAFF IN MANY OF THESE JURISDICTIONS, PROVIDING EXPERT ADVICE ON IMPLEMENTING ORDINANCES AND REGULATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, CONSULTATIONS, TRAINING STAFF ON RCV AND RCTAB, AND ADVISING ON RCV IMPLEMENTATION BEST PRACTICES. WE PARTNERED WITH REDONDO BEACH, CA, AND CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, TO SUPPORT THEIR RCV IMPLEMENTATION FOR THE MARCH 2025 AND JUNE 2025 ELECTIONS, RESPECTIVELY. WE ADVISED EACH CITY'S STAFF ON MANY ASPECTS OF THEIR RCV IMPLEMENTATION, INCLUDING LOGIC AND ACCURACY TESTING, AUDIT AND RECOUNT PROCESSES, RESULTS DISPLAYS, VOTER EDUCATION, AND RCTAB.* STATES IMPACTED (24): ALASKA, ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, CONNECTICUT, GEORGIA, HAWAII, IDAHO, ILLINOIS, MAINE, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, MONTANA, NEW YORK, OHIO, OREGON, PENNSYLVANIA, UTAH, VERMONT, VIRGINIA, WASHINGTON, & WISCONSIN* CITIES IMPACTED (5): ARDEN (DE), CHARLOTTESVILLE (VA), REDONDO BEACH (CA), ST. LOUIS PARK (MN), ST. PAUL (MN) RESOURCES RELEASED IN 2025:* NEW TOOLS: PRCV AND SINGLE-WINNER RCV HAND COUNT TOOLKITS AND RCV BLUEPRINT. THE HAND COUNT TOOLKITS ARE DESIGNED TO HELP ELECTION OFFICIALS PREPARE FOR RCV IMPLEMENTATION BY PROVIDING A DETAILED HAND COUNT PROCEDURE FOR TRAINING AND BY HELPING THEM DESIGN RECOUNT AND/OR AUDIT PROTOCOLS FOR RCV. RCV BLUEPRINT IS AN ELECTION ADMINISTRATOR'S GUIDE TO HELP BUILD A COMPREHENSIVE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN BASED ON A JURISDICTION'S EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE.* REPORT UPDATES: RCV MAPS. THIS IS THE RCVRC'S PRIMARY RESEARCH PROJECT, COMPRISING 51 INDIVIDUAL REPORTS. THIS PROJECT IS A STATE-BY-STATE ANALYSIS OF THE RCV CAPABILITY OF VOTING EQUIPMENT IN EACH STATE AND DC.* WE ALSO MAINTAINED OUR EXISTING RCV IMPLEMENTATION TRACKING TOOL, RCV ELECTION IN A BOX TOOL, AND RCV FACT SHEETS. THESE RESOURCES PROVIDE VALUABLE TRANSPARENCY ABOUT HOW RCV IMPLEMENTATIONS WORK IN PRACTICE AND POINT ELECTION OFFICIALS TOWARDS TOOLS AND RESOURCES THEY CAN USE WHEN IMPLEMENTING RCV.* OUR PODCAST, RCV CLIPS, CONTINUES TO COVER RCV ELECTION ADMINISTRATION TOPICS RANGING FROM DRAFTING LEGISLATION TO ELECTION CERTIFICATION TO BEST PRACTICES LEARNED FROM RUNNING RCV ELECTIONS. RCV CLIPS HAS HAD 12,900 PODCAST DOWNLOADS OVER 8 YEARS. WE RELEASE 9 EPISODES ANNUALLY USING A SEASONAL FORMAT, SHOWCASING GUESTS LOCATED ACROSS THE COUNTRY, FROM ALASKA TO WASHINGTON, DC.ALL OF THE RESOURCES REFERENCED ABOVE ARE AVAILABLE ON THE ORGANIZATION'S WEBSITE: WWW.RCVRESOURCES.ORG.
- $366,000 spent. EARC PROVIDES ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCES AVAILABLE IN THE ELECTION WORLD, RCTAB. RCTAB IS A FEDERALLY TESTED OPEN-SOURCE TABULATION SOFTWARE THAT USES BALLOT DATA FROM VOTING SYSTEMS TO RUN THE ROUND-BY-ROUND COUNT. OVER THE YEARS, MULTIPLE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPERS HAVE VOLUNTEERED THEIR SERVICES TO HELP US CREATE USER-FRIENDLY, SECURE SOFTWARE THAT BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS TO RCV IMPLEMENTATION.(CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O)* RCTAB HAS BEEN APPROVED OR CERTIFIED FOR USE AS STANDALONE SOFTWARE IN FOUR STATES: MAINE, NEW YORK, UTAH, & VIRGINIA.* RCTAB HAS ALSO BEEN APPROVED OR CERTIFIED FOR USE AS PART OF A WHOLE VOTING SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA (HART VERITY 2.4) AND OREGON (CLEAR BALLOT CLEARVOTE 2.5). CLEAR BALLOT'S CLEARVOTE 2.5 WAS CERTIFIED BY THE U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION (EAC) TO THE VOLUNTARY VOTING SYSTEM GUIDELINES IN NOVEMBER 2025.* IN 2025, RCTAB WAS USED IN FIVE SEPARATE JURISDICTIONS AND TABULATED OVER 5.1 MILLION TOTAL VOTES. RCTAB WAS USED FOR THE FIRST TIME ACROSS THREE JURISDICTIONS: ST. PAUL, MN; CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA; AND REDONDO BEACH, CA, MARKING ITS FIRST USE IN MINNESOTA AND CALIFORNIA.* VERSION 2.0 WAS RELEASED IN THE SUMMER OF 2025, FOLLOWING MORE THAN TWO YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT. IT ENABLES MULTI-VENDOR RCV TABULATION, ALLOWING STATES WITH MULTIPLE VOTING SYSTEM VENDORS TO MORE EASILY CENTRALIZE CAST VOTE RECORDS (CVRS) FOR TABULATION. THIS FUNCTIONALITY INCREASES THE NUMBER OF STATES (28) CAPABLE OF RUNNING STATEWIDE RCV ELECTIONS USING EXISTING VOTING EQUIPMENT.IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT RCTAB OR DOWNLOADING IT FOR USE, PLEASE VISIT THE ORGANIZATION'S WEBSITE: WWW.RCVRESOURCES.ORG.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since April 2019.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.