INSTITUTE INDEX: Election Protection's unprecedented effort to safeguard the vote
The Election Protection coalition, which runs the national 866-OUR-VOTE hotline, is undertaking an unprecedented effort to assist voters this year. (Photo courtesy of Common Cause.)
Number of legal experts who have volunteered so far this year to safeguard voting rights and counter threats to ballot access through the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition: over 23,000
Percent increase in volunteers that represents over previous election seasons: almost 400
Number of organizations involved in the coalition, which is led by the Washington, D.C.-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: more than 100
Year in which the Lawyers' Committee was founded at the request of President Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination: 1963
Number of private law firms that are currently involved in the Election Protection program: more than 150
Number of members of the National Bar Association, a group of mostly African American lawyers, who recently joined the Election Protection effort: more than 7,000
Year in which the Election Protection coalition was founded: 2002
Number of reports of voting problems Election Protection received in the 2006 general election: 13,500
In the 2018 general election: 31,000
Number of calls the Election Protection hotline has received just since July 1 of this year, in which voting has been complicated by a pandemic and threats of intimidation: 100,000
Year in which the Election Protection coalition discovered that two Florida elections officials — both of them women of color — were doxxed on social media by a Facebook user whose account was dominated by Confederate imagery, leading to the harmful posts' deletion: 2018
Date on which the Election Protection coalition announced it was joining with Common Cause and the Digital Defense League to launch a Voting Anti-Disinformation Week of Content as part of the Stopping Cyber-Suppression program: 10/26/2020
Number of volunteers and online influencers the effort has recruited to monitor social media for disinformation and provide voters with correct information about their right to vote: 4,330
The toll-free Election Protection hotline number where people can get help with problems they encounter while trying to vote, with assistance available in languages including English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
(Click on figure to go to source.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.