Protect Democracy is a US-based, cross-ideological, anti-authoritarianism organisation that combines litigation, policy and legislative advocacy, research, communications, and technology to defend democratic institutions, elections, dissent, and fact-based debate - protectdemocracy.org 
The organisation was formed in November 2016 by former Obama administration lawyers including Ian Bassin, Justin Florence, and Emily Loeb, in the context of rising concerns about democratic backsliding and authoritarian tactics in American politics - wikipedia.org
Protect Democracy’s “recent work” is easiest to understand as a stack of interventions that run from courts and legislatures to public-facing frameworks and software, with a consistent emphasis on making democratic guardrails legible and enforceable in practice - protectdemocracy.org
A distinctive element of the Protect Democracy approach is treating technology as both a threat surface (surveillance, disinformation, platform power) and a pro-democracy capacity (transparency, monitoring, institutional tooling), with an explicit commitment to governance “guardrails” rather than techno-optimism - protectdemocracy.org
# Digital tools and technical initiatives
VoteShield and BallotShield are Protect Democracy’s best-known election-security tools, designed around a concrete risk model: voter registration databases and ballot-processing systems are critical infrastructure, and malicious or improper changes can selectively disrupt voting or damage public confidence; the tools analyse publicly available voter and (where available) mail-ballot processing data to identify unexpected or improper changes that election officials can investigate - protectdemocracy.org
VoteShield is also positioned inside Protect Democracy’s broader “technology startup” identity, aimed at supporting election officials and improving transparency and confidence in elections, which signals a product-and-operations posture (not only reports and memos) - protectdemocracy.org
OpenOMB is a transparency platform maintained by Protect Democracy Project that makes federal OMB “apportionments” easier to find and track; it frames apportionments as legally binding spending plans that matter because they affect how appropriated funds actually flow (and how withholding or conditions can be detected), and the site includes developer-facing entry points alongside public search and agency exploration - openomb.org
When the US Office of Management and Budget stopped publishing apportionments in March 2025, Protect Democracy litigated to restore that disclosure, explicitly tying a digital transparency resource (public access to machine-searchable records) to democratic accountability and legal compliance - protectdemocracy.org
The AI for Democracy Action Lab (AI-DAL) is Protect Democracy’s “build and govern” container for AI-era work, with two mutually reinforcing tracks: incubating AI-enabled civic tools with partners, and developing policy and governance approaches that embed constitutional principles like checks-and-balances, individual freedoms, and privacy into data and AI governance regimes - protectdemocracy.org
# Public-facing “framework tools”
Some Protect Democracy outputs function like “cognitive infrastructure” for journalists, civil society, and policymakers, even when they are not software; the flagship example is The Authoritarian Playbook, a structured framework that aims to help observers distinguish normal political conflict from authoritarian moves by mapping recurring tactics into an interlocking pattern - protectdemocracy.org
Protect Democracy has also spun this playbook approach into more campaign-like, web-native explainers (for example, a 2025-oriented version) that package the framework into a navigable public resource designed for rapid comprehension and reference in high-tempo political moments - authoritarianplaybook2025.org
# Toolkits for organisational resilience
Protect Democracy publishes practical toolkits that focus on organisational readiness against coercive or politicised pressure, including threat models that often include digital and data risks (for example, subpoenas, warrants, and demands for sensitive data) - protectdemocracy.org
A separate toolkit stream, The Faithful Fight, includes concrete digital safety and security guidance (including cyber and physical security practices) framed for community organisations that may face harassment, surveillance, or intimidation - protectdemocracy.org - protectdemocracy.org