The Bench is the heart of what we do: the community of program-certified Americans — lawyers, civic professionals, everyday citizens — who've completed our training, met our standards, and understand the law of their state and the procedures of their county.
It begins with the curriculum: a state-specific election law program built in partnership with a leading national law firm, designed to be comprehensive and accessible.
Program-certification — the Fund's internal designation, earned by completing the program, passing our assessments, and committing to our standards — is what places a participant on The Bench, ready to serve where they live, under the law of their state.
Election administration in the United States is enormously complex. There are roughly 10,000 election jurisdictions across the country, each with its own rules, ballots, and procedures. Federal law sets a floor, and the rest is state and local.
The citizens who watch these elections — at polling places, central count, signature verification, post-election audits — are doing some of the most important civic work in the country. For most, training is ad hoc: a two-hour briefing, a handout, a more experienced person to ask.
This is not how a republic prepares its citizens for the work of self-government. The Bench is.
The Bench launches in Arizona for the 2026 election cycle. Arizona has one of the most procedurally complex election environments in the country and a state where trained observers are urgently needed.
From Arizona, the program expands nationwide. The work in each state is built with local election counsel and adapted to that state's law and procedure, on a timeline that reflects what serious civic infrastructure actually requires to stand up.