From: Jonah Goldman, Lawyers' CommitteeIt has been a busy few weeks for voters and voting rights advocates around the country. With just 32 days to go until Election Day, our Election Protection efforts are heating up across the country. We need your help as we work to ensure that every eligible voter has the right to cast a meaningful ballot and have that vote counted.
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and our partners are currently recruiting volunteers for the 2006 national Election Protection program.
Election Protection, the nation's largest non-partisan voter protection coalition, is led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, the National Bar Association, and People For the American Way Foundation. Election Protection provides direct voter assistance through our toll-free hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE, and through legal field programs in targeted states.
Election Protection guides voters through the voting process, helping to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast a meaningful ballot and have their vote counted. While Election Protection is a resource for all Americans, the program centers on traditionally disenfranchised communities including: African Americans, Latinos, and other racial, ethnic, and language minorities; seniors; young people; low-income voters; and individuals with disabilities.
Interested volunteers should sign up online at http://www.866OurVote.org.
National Voter Assistance Hotline - Washington, DC, New York, and San Francisco
Volunteer attorneys, paralegals, and law students are needed in Washington, DC, New York, and San Francisco to staff the national voter hotline on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7th (6:00 a.m. - 12:00 midnight EST) and Monday, November 6, 2006 (8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. EST).
In addition, volunteers are needed in Washington, D.C. starting Monday, October 16th through Friday, November 3rd (Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) to staff the national voter hotline for early voting.
The hotline will provide immediate assistance to voters who encounter problems attempting to vote on Election Day in states across the country. Expected problems include dissemination of misinformation by poll workers, problems associated with voting machines (including new electronic ones), and potential intimidation of voters in minority communities.
All volunteers (including those who volunteered in 2004) must attend a 1.5 hour training session. Legal materials, including Voter's Bills of Rights and Frequently Asked Questions, will be provided for all 50 states.
Sign up for hotline shifts online at www.866OurVote.org.
Local Legal Field Efforts - Targeted Locations
Volunteer attorneys, law students, and paralegals are needed to serve as Mobile Field Attorneys, staff local voter hotlines, and/or serve as "on-call" lawyers on Election Day in targeted locations.
Mobile Field Attorneys roam between several pre-assigned targeted polling locations, providing in-person assistance to voters at the polls in coordination with the local hotline and local Legal Command Center. In some locations, calls to the national voter hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE) will be routed to a local phone bank staffed by volunteers. Finally, in some areas, "on call" attorneys will be dispatched to polling places or the local Board of Elections if serious problems arise.
Sign up online at www.866OurVote.org to be a local legal field volunteer.
All volunteers must attend a 1.5 hour training session. You will receive further information about the legal field program in your community in the coming weeks. Please note that we are not supporting "traveling volunteers."
Targeted locations include (list still being finalized): Montgomery County, Alabama; Maricopa County and Pima County in Arizona; Los Angeles, California; Miami-Dade, Broward, and other locations in Florida; Atlanta, Georgia metro area; New Orleans, Louisiana; Boston, Massachusetts; Baltimore, Montgomery, and Prince George's County, Maryland; Detroit, Michigan; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Mississippi; St. Louis and Jackson County, Missouri; New Jersey; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Hamilton, Cuyahoga, and Franklin County, Ohio; Philadelphia metro area and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Columbia, South Carolina; Houston, Texas; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Our partner organizations are creating programs in several additional states. If you do not live in a targeted location, but want to volunteer for Election Protection, please sign up online and we will share your information with our partners.
National and state co-sponsors include: the American Bar Association, Asian American Justice Center, Common Cause, Electronic Frontier Foundation, IMPACT, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, National Black Law Students Association, National Congress of American Indians, National Disability Rights Network, Poll Workers For Democracy, Rock the Vote, Verified Voting, United States Student Association, and many more.
Sign up today to volunteer for Election Protection!
Election Protection is a non-partisan effort and is not affiliated in any way with any candidate or political party.
Other News
In a major victory for voters in Arizona, yesterday we received a favorable ruling in ITCA v. Brewer, where the 9th Circuit enjoined Proposition 200, Arizona's law requiring that voters present proof of citizenship when they register to vote and also present photo ID at the polls. Coming just days before the registration deadline in Arizona, the ruling prevents implementation of Prop. 200 for the November 7, 2006 elections.
On Tuesday, Judge Boyko of the U.S. Dictrict Court for the Northern District of Ohio found that an Ohio voter challenger law that treats naturalized citizens differently than native-born citizens is unconstitutional. The overruled law required naturalized citizens to provide documentary proof of citizenship but made no such requirement for native-born
The Senate adjourned last week without taking up photo ID. On September 20, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4844, the deceptively titled Federal Election Integrity Act. While the Senate has not introduced a companion bill, we will continue to monitor any efforts in Congress to attach photo ID requirements to legislation during the lame-duck session.
Read more Recent News at the National Campaign for Fair Elections' website.
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