PFAW-Election Protection

[babylonsister]

I hate to say it, but when it comes to the machinery of our democracy we are in bad shape. Every state in our nation has different laws for voting, and the imperfect (even defective) technologies voters use to cast their ballots can vary from county to county – even from one polling location to the next. Nothing better exemplifies the low priority that our current leaders put on access to the ballot box than the plight of displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina, who received lackluster support from government leading up to last Saturday’s election in New Orleans.

I was in New Orleans on Saturday with PFAW Foundation staff, the Louisiana Voting Rights Network, and our Election Protection partners, the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. It was a life-changing experience. The various layers of government could have – should have – made voting easy for these citizens. But they didn’t.

It’s infuriating that we had to do this work at all. Americans shouldn’t have to depend on me, you and Election Protection programs in order to confidently participate in democracy, but many do – and many will.

While in New Orleans we helped voters locate polling stations that had moved, were poorly identified, and in one case, listed a half-mile away – on the wrong street. Some poll commissioners insisted – contrary to law – that voters show ID; we intervened and the voters were able to cast a ballot with signed affidavits. There was an intimidating police presence at and around polls in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, so volunteers and lawyers worked with the police to reduce their visible presence.

Sadly, many displaced voters requested absentee ballots too late and were unable to travel to New Orleans on Election Day. Other voters who went to the wrong polling place or got in the wrong line at the correct polling place were not permitted to vote as polls were closing.

People For the American Way Foundation will be back in New Orleans for the May 20 run-off. We'll run November Election Protection programs in 6-10 states (like Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan). We'll distribute materials educating voters about their rights. We'll monitor the polls and provide direct assistance to voters on Election Day. Our legal team will challenge discrimination and disenfranchisement. We will conduct voter registration drives in African-American, Hispanic, and youth communities – and follow up to make sure their registrations were properly recorded. We’ll meet with elections officials to monitor their interpretation of laws and their procedures for implementing them. If we lose a request for a preliminary injunction against the improper use of new voting machines in Allegheny County, PA (our challenge could get a ruling today), we hope to put exit surveys on the ground to monitor problems in primaries that we can resolve before the general election.

I’m not saying it will be easy. Powerful forces – including some government officials who have a duty to remain nonpartisan – will try to block us every step of the way.

In the oldest and proudest democracy in the world, citizens should not have to donate money to make sure their elections are fair and accurate. But we can’t let them get away with it. Not this time. Never again.

Donate to democracy by making a tax-deductible contribution to this critical work now: http://www.PFAW.org/go/SupportElectionProtection

Yours in the struggle,

Sharon J. Lettman
Director, National Programs and Outreach
People For the American Way Foundation