Role in the network: A Y Combinator-accelerated nonprofit building open-source voting machines and election audit software used in swing states, funded by Paul Graham (YC co-founder) and Schmidt Futures, employing Jake Moritz (son of Formation Bio’s board director), and whose board now includes Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer — connecting Worldcoin’s investor to America’s election infrastructure.
Bio
VotingWorks is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that builds open-source election technology. Founded in December 2018 and headquartered virtually in San Francisco, it is the only nonprofit voting system vendor and the only open-source system used in United States elections. Its EIN is 83-2910494. [1] [2]
The organization was founded by Ben Adida, who holds a PhD, Master’s, and Bachelor’s in Computer Science from MIT, with his doctoral work focused on cryptography and election security. Before VotingWorks, Adida was Director of Engineering at Mozilla, worked at Square (Jack Dorsey’s payments company), led product engineering at Clever (a YC-backed education technology company), and served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he researched security and privacy of personal health data. He sits on the Board of Creative Commons. [3] [4]
VotingWorks builds three products: VxSuite (casting and counting ballots using off-the-shelf electronics), Arlo (risk-limiting audit software), and an accessible at-home voting system. All software is published on GitHub. The organization positions itself as the transparent alternative to the three legacy voting machine vendors (ES&S, Dominion, Hart InterCivic) that are owned by private equity firms and use proprietary, closed-source software. [1] [2]
As of 2024, VotingWorks reported revenue of $6.86 million, expenses of $8.88 million, and total assets of $10.5 million. The organization has approximately 20 employees with average compensation of $127,530. Ben Adida’s compensation was $324,821. Charity Navigator awarded a four-star rating. [5] [6]
VotingWorks graduated from Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 batch, making it a YC-accelerated election technology company — the same accelerator that produced OpenAI’s nonprofit structure, funded OpenResearch (Altman’s UBI nonprofit), and that Sam Altman led as president from 2014-2019. [7]
Deployment and Reach
VotingWorks’ technology is deployed in real elections:
Voting machines (VxSuite): Used in jurisdictions in New Hampshire (30% of the state) and Mississippi. First deployed in Choctaw County, Mississippi (2019) — a rural jurisdiction of approximately 10,000 residents. Currently pursuing federal certification (Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0). [1] [2] [8]
Audit software (Arlo): Used for statewide risk-limiting audits in 10 states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, Texas, South Carolina, and additional states. [2]
Georgia used VotingWorks’ Arlo software during its hand count audit in 2020 — one of the most contested election audits in modern American history. [1]
The swing-state concentration of Arlo deployments (Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada) means VotingWorks software touches the audit process in states that determine presidential elections.
Board of Directors
| Person | Role | Network Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Ben Adida | Founding board member, Executive Director | MIT PhD (cryptography/elections). Ex-Mozilla, Square, Clever (YC). Harvard Medical School faculty. Creative Commons board. |
| John Lilly | Founding board member | Former Mozilla CEO. Greylock Partners. VotingWorks donor. Silicon Valley network. |
| Paul Grewal | Board member (appointed Jan 2026) | Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase Global, Inc. Coinbase Ventures is a Worldcoin investor. Former federal magistrate judge. |
| Raylene Yung | Board member (appointed Jan 2026) | Public sector and program management expertise. |
| Ryan Merkley | Board member | Previously CEO of Creative Commons (Adida also on CC board). |
The Coinbase-Worldcoin-VotingWorks Triangle
Paul Grewal’s January 2026 appointment to VotingWorks’ board creates a direct governance link between election technology and cryptocurrency infrastructure: [9]
- Coinbase is a publicly traded crypto exchange (NASDAQ: COIN)
- Coinbase Ventures is an investor in Worldcoin / Tools for Humanity (Sam Altman’s iris-scanning crypto project)
- Grewal, as Coinbase’s CLO, is responsible for the legal framework around Coinbase’s crypto operations — including its Worldcoin investment
- Grewal now also sits on the board of the organization building voting machines and election audit software used across America
Worldcoin’s “World ID” is marketed as a “proof of personhood” system — digital identity verification using iris scans. VotingWorks builds the infrastructure for casting and counting votes. If identity verification ever becomes a component of voting systems, the CLO of the company that invested in the identity verification platform is already on the board of the voting machine company.
This is not an accusation of coordination. It is a documentation of the structural proximity between digital identity (Worldcoin), cryptocurrency (Coinbase), and election infrastructure (VotingWorks) through a single board appointment.
Funding Sources
VotingWorks receives funding from three sources: product sales, government contracts, and donations. The organization is notably transparent about its donors — unlike the private equity-owned legacy vendors it competes against. [2]
Foundation funders:
- Schmidt Futures (Eric Schmidt, former Google/Alphabet chairman)
- Democracy Fund
- New Venture Fund
- Smart Family Fund (angel philanthropy, early growth capital)
Individual donors:
- Paul Graham (Y Combinator co-founder)
- Chris Sacca (early Twitter/Uber investor)
- Matt Cutts (former Google Distinguished Engineer)
- John Lilly (board member, former Mozilla CEO)
- Brian Acton (WhatsApp co-founder)
- Ron Gula (cybersecurity)
- Mark Gorton (tech entrepreneur)
- Niels Provos (security researcher)
Government:
- CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency)
- NSF (National Science Foundation) — funded work in 2019 and 2020
The donor list is YC-adjacent and Silicon Valley-centric. Paul Graham’s personal donation connects the organization directly to Y Combinator’s founding network. Schmidt Futures connects it to Google/Alphabet’s former leadership. [2]
The Rural Testing Pattern
VotingWorks chose Choctaw County, Mississippi as its first testbed — a rural jurisdiction of approximately 10,000 residents with “ancient” voting machines and no paper audit trail. The county was selected because of Mississippi’s “favorable regulatory environment” for new voting systems. [7] [8]
This parallels OpenResearch’s RISE study, which chose three of the poorest rural areas in America for its guaranteed minimum income research: Warren County, Mississippi; Mercer County, West Virginia; and Beaufort County, North Carolina. [10]
Both organizations — one building election technology, one studying AI displacement — chose small, rural, politically weak populations as test subjects. The demographic reasoning is similar: these communities have the fewest alternatives, the greatest need, and the least capacity to object to being a testing ground.
Mississippi appears twice in the network’s testing geography. The state’s combination of poverty, limited infrastructure, and permissive regulatory environment makes it an attractive laboratory for both election technology and economic experiments.
Key Staff
| Person | Title | Compensation (2024) |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Michael Adida | Executive Director | $324,821 + $56,443 other |
| Jesse T Dewald | Head of Hardware | $255,631 + $48,162 other |
| Janine M Trame | Operations/Secretary/Treasurer | $244,040 + $38,142 other |
| Arsalan Akkas Sufi | Head of Software | $238,711 + $22,868 other |
| Matthew R Roe | Head of Product | $228,442 + $22,442 other |
| Kevin W Shen | Software Engineer | $217,195 + $19,515 other |
| Virginia M Vander Roest | Head of Customer Success | $197,465 + $42,673 other |
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Dec 2018 | VotingWorks founded by Ben Adida and Matt Pasternack |
| Winter 2019 | Graduates from Y Combinator |
| 2019 | First real-world deployment: Choctaw County, Mississippi primary and general elections |
| 2019-2020 | CISA and NSF fund work |
| Nov 2020 | Georgia uses Arlo for hand count audit in presidential election |
| 2022 | Revenue: $6.3M. 20 employees. |
| 2023 | Revenue: $10.9M. Arlo used in 10 states. |
| 2024 | Revenue: $6.86M. Assets: $10.5M. 30% of New Hampshire uses VxSuite. |
| Jan 2026 | Paul Grewal (Coinbase CLO) and Raylene Yung join board |
| 2026 | Pursuing federal VVSG 2.0 certification |
Nodes and Open Questions
- Coinbase-Worldcoin-VotingWorks triangle: Paul Grewal (Coinbase CLO) is now on VotingWorks’ board. Coinbase Ventures invested in Worldcoin. What is the governance firewall between Grewal’s Coinbase role (crypto exchange with Worldcoin investment) and his VotingWorks role (election infrastructure)? Did VotingWorks’ board evaluate this conflict?
- Does VotingWorks receive grants from any Moritz family foundation? Jake Moritz works at VotingWorks. His father Michael controls Kelson Foundation (Jake’s) and Crankstart Foundation. Has either foundation funded VotingWorks directly?
- YC alumni network in election tech: VotingWorks (YC W19), Clever (YC, where Adida previously worked). What other YC companies touch election or civic infrastructure? Is there a YC pipeline into democratic processes?
- Georgia 2020 audit: VotingWorks’ Arlo software was used in one of the most politically significant election audits in American history. What was VotingWorks’ role specifically? Who contracted them? How was the contract awarded?
- Revenue volatility: $6.3M (2022) to $10.9M (2023) to $6.86M (2024). The 2023 spike followed by 2024 decline may reflect election cycle spending patterns, but the 2024 loss ($8.88M expenses vs $6.86M revenue = $2M deficit) raises sustainability questions.
- Schmidt Futures connection: Eric Schmidt’s foundation funds VotingWorks. Schmidt also chairs the National Security Commission on AI and has deep ties to the defense/intelligence community. What is Schmidt’s interest in open-source election technology?
- Matt Roe (Head of Product) is quoted publicly about VotingWorks’ technology. Is he related to or connected to any other entities in the investigation?
- Jack Dorsey / Square connection: Adida worked at Square before founding VotingWorks. Jack Dorsey (Square/Block founder) also co-founded Twitter/X and donated $15M to OpenResearch through Start Small. Dorsey’s philanthropic foundation funded Altman’s nonprofit, and his former employee now builds election technology.
Sources
[1] [Archive] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VotingWorks)
[2] [Archive] (https://www.voting.works/about)
[3] [Archive] (https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity20/speaker-or-organizer/ben-adida-votingworks)
[4] [Archive] (https://www.usenix.org/conference/enigma2019/speaker-or-organizer/ben-adida-votingworks)
[5] [Archive] (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/832910494)
[6] [Archive] (https://givefreely.com/charity-directory/nonprofit/ein-832910494/)
[7] [Archive] (https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/02/votingworks/)
[8] [Archive] (https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/03/07/1089524/open-source-voting-machines-us-elections/)
[9] [Archive] (https://www.voting.works/blog/votingworks-news-1/votingworks-strengthens-board-with-two-new-appointments-24)
[10] Prior investigation sessions — OpenResearch RISE study documentation
[11] [Archive] (https://www.guidestar.org/profile/83-2910494)