Election Protection

One of the more interesting law school opportunities I've seen is "election protection" (EP). EP is voter hotline or field assistance (not exclusively legal in nature) prior to and on November 4.

"Am I registered to vote?"
"Where is my polling place?"
"Do I need a photo ID when I vote?"
"I've been 'challenged'--what do I do?"
"The polls aren't open and they should be. What's happening?"

(The latter two are escalated matters.)

I'm excited about volunteering. Elections and voting rights have been a particular passion. I see few opportunities to make democracy work so that elections are legitimately fair, I am moved to do what I can (especially to safeguard againist another 2000 election; I've rarely known such disappointment in my life.) But I can't help but notice...

There was underlying racial tension at the training event I attended this week. Largely, some white volunteers were skeptical of the persistent questions some black volunteers (including myself) about resolving certain problems that may have more pernicious consequences. By this I mean, some of us wanted to know how to address problems linked to institutional issues that could lead to disenfranchisement or more subtle coercion by bad actors (poll watchers, biased poll workers, etc.). Specifically, we had reviewed how to record "challenges" made by third-parities to a voter's status, but we never discussed how we actually responded to the voter or even had knowledge what his or her rights were. I did not fully appreciate at the time that such a question was a launch-pad :)

After some back-and-forth, one white volunteer rebuffed another black female volunteer's concerns (she had worked in Miami) by saying "that doesn't happen here." So ignoring any hierarchy ettiquette (I was among a handful of students, non-lawyers) I impulsively jumped in--I've been a poll worker in Northern Virginia for three elections in which we had improper challenges and poorly informed election officers (who I had to correct, sometimes) leading to questionable decisions and results. There was no direct response to my comments.

And what could one possibly say? Life lesson: lawyers make a LOT of assumptions.

November 4th is near. God Bless America.