In 2000, millions of Americans, primarily those in minority communities, were denied their right to vote through a combination of ineffective voter education, inadequately trained poll workers, poor election administration policies, under-resourced election infrastructure, malfunctioning voting machines, and illegal threats and intimidation. The Election Protection coalition was formed in 2001 to respond to these challenges and to ensure all voters have the opportunity to participate in the political process.

While EP has operated every year since 2001, the largest two efforts to date were in 2004, the last Presidential election, and 2006, the mid-term Congressional election. During the 2004 election cycle, Election Protection mobilized 25,000 trained volunteers, including 8,000 legal volunteers, to monitor polling places, educate voters, facilitate a dialogue with local and state election officials, provide legal support to poll monitors, and answer the 1-866-OUR-VOTE national voter services hotline (hotline). The hotline received over 200,000 calls from voters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Election Protection volunteers received thousands of complaints of registration problems, absentee balloting, voting system errors, voter suppression and intimidation, and provisional ballots. Of particular importance, the 2004 experience demonstrated the need for an Election Protection program that starts earlier to support voter registration and mobilization efforts, as well as working between election cycles by sharing the information gathered through Election Protection’s unparalleled data collection effort to demonstrate the need for ongoing election reform.

Although the program was smaller in 2006, it was more efficient. By incorporating new strategies and new partners, EP evolved into a year-round, one stop shop for voter support, information, and assistance. The campaign expanded its coalition, developed more comprehensive and streamlined legal materials, and refined the EP training program and hotline structure to better respond to the needs of the electorate. Beginning in April, the coalition sprang into action to protect voters in New Orleans’s historic first election after the devastating Gulf hurricanes of 2005. During the Maryland primary in September, EP kept polling places open in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Baltimore, Maryland, in the wake of a wholesale breakdown in election administration that led to countless eligible voters being turned away from the polls. In Georgia, Philadelphia and across the country, EP attorneys worked with voter registration groups to guarantee that the people they registered were included on the voter rolls. In 2006, the hotline received more than 26,000 calls in October and November from voters in 48 states and the District of Columbia, including 17,964 on Election Day.
 

1. Helping Voters

Election Protection safeguards voters’ rights before, during and after Election Day, giving voters the information and resources they need to cast a meaningful ballot. From support for registration programs, to creating voter education materials, to providing direct assistance through the national hotline, Election Protection is a support system for eligible voters across the country. Examples of assistance voters can receive from EP include:

1. Support for registration problems;
2. Real time troubleshooting and guidance to overcome problems at each stage of the voting process – from registration through Election Day;
3. Information on locating their polling place;
4. Checking their registration status;
5. Finding out about election-related deadlines;
6. Reporting a problem at the polls; and
7. Receiving legal assistance to protect their rights.
2. Supporting Coalition Partners

Election Protection legal volunteers across the country serve an invaluable legal support role for grassroots organizations engaged in voter mobilization and registration. The EP Legal Program protects non-partisan voter registration drives by providing guidance about the nuances of state and local registration rules and advocating for coalition partners with election officials and in the courts. EP efforts at the local level (conducted by Legal Committees (LCs)) work with organizations that run voter education programs to provide specific information about the laws and rules in their jurisdiction that will help voters overcome barriers to the polling place. For one, legal volunteers provide strategic information to complement “Get Out the Vote” efforts to educate voters about their rights and how to effectively move through the electoral process. In addition to a suite of common, state specific materials, EP will also support our coalition partners by creating custom researched materials tailored to the community our partners’ represent. EP also works with grassroots coalitions to meet with election officials to better understand election administration at the state and local level. Finally, EP provides information, coordination, legal support, and strategic guidance for Election Protection grassroots mobilization at the local, state and national level.

3. Assisting Electoral Reform

Election Protection’s unprecedented ability to collect data through the hotline, pre-Election Day mobilization, and the Election Day field program paints the most complete picture available of the American voting experience from the perspective of the voter. On and before Election Day, the database allows EP to monitor, track, record and respond to problems across the country in real time, diagnosing both macro and micro problems in enough time to correct them for other voters. Election Protection’s data collection provides support for prospective reform efforts and potential litigation, demonstrates the impact of provisions that disenfranchise voters (such as voter identification proposals), and illustrates the results of election administration failures. The database allows researchers to aggregate data about the electoral process. The individual stories collected help coalitions to work on election reform, and demonstrates to policy makers the impact poor election administration has on their constituents. Since 2004, EP data has shaped much of the electoral reforms introduced at the state and federal level.