Pillars of the Community Expands Efforts to Strengthen Bipartisan Trust in U.S. Elections, Supported by More Perfect

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, More Perfect announced support for the Pillars of the Community (POTC) program, a bipartisan effort dedicated to strengthening public trust in America's election system. With More Perfect's help, POTC will expand its bipartisan activities into more of the nation's most contentious election jurisdictions.

The POTC initiative recruits a politically diverse group of community leaders to learn about their local election systems through ongoing engagement with local election administrators. As a result, these Pillars can serve as credible voices for fair, accurate, and professional election administration in their local jurisdictions, helping to build confidence in elections and promoting a shared commitment to democratic participation.

POTC is led by nationally respected election experts Ben Ginsberg and Bob Bauer, whose long record of work in the political process includes co-chairing the Presidential Commission on Election Administration and bipartisan work alongside state and local election officials after careers representing candidates and political parties on different sides of the aisle.

POTC mobilizes influential civic, business, faith, veteran, and community leaders of diverse political viewpoints to deepen their understanding of election processes and to share that knowledge within their communities. Through direct engagement with local and state election officials, POTC participants learn firsthand about the election system and its safeguards, such as checks and balances, chain-of-custody procedures, bipartisan oversight, and validation protocols that ensure accurate and reliable vote counts.

"In every corner of the country, Americans depend on the professionalism of election officials who administer our democracy with integrity," said John Bridgeland, Founder & CEO of More Perfect. "Pillars of the Community brings together trusted local leaders across the aisle to support their election officials and help restore confidence in this essential democratic process."

POTC is expanding its trusted-messenger program in 2026, adding Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina to its ongoing activity in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. With support from More Perfect, POTC will recruit respected community leaders from diverse sectors, equip them with accurate, locally relevant information, and support them in sharing it through public forums, media outreach, and everyday conversations.

"Trusted elections rely not only on secure procedures, but also on credible community voices who become knowledgeable in these processes and can explain them to their neighbors and networks," said Ben Ginsberg, Co-Chair of Pillars of the Community. "Through this effort and with the help of More Perfect, we are equipping leaders with the information and relationships they need to confidently stand behind the accuracy of their local election results."

This project, along with several others, advances More Perfect's Democracy Goal 4: Trusted Elections and More Representative & Responsive Governance, which aims to ensure Americans have confidence in the democratic system's ability to serve communities effectively and fairly.

About More Perfect
More Perfect is a bipartisan alliance of 43 Presidential Centers, National Archives Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and more than 100 organizations working together to advance five Democracy Goals: 1) Universal Civic Learning; 2) Expanding National Service and Volunteering; 3) Bridging Divides; 4) Trusted Elections and More Representative and Responsive Governance; and 5) Access to Trusted News and Information.

About Pillars of the Community
Pillars of the Community seeks to bolster faith in elections by hosting conversations between a group of politically diverse community leaders and election officials about the ongoing work at the state and local levels to deliver an election this year that meets voter expectations of reliability and security. These conversations will enable Pillars to gain a firsthand understanding of the electoral process and share their assessment with the public. The goal of this process is transparency and dialogue about the preparations for upcoming elections, which will promote voter trust and confidence — regardless of the election's results.

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SOURCE More Perfect