Legal Field Program
Election Protection’s legal field program concentrates on communities with a history of past disenfranchisement, areas where partners are carrying out extensive voter registration programs, previous Election Protection programs, and states with expected high turnout (higher turnout generally yields additional problems before and on Election Day).
We are currently recruiting pro bono attorneys, law students and paralegals to volunteer for Election Protection. Every location is unique and, therefore, not every local effort will be identical. However, certain elements of the program will be consistent for each targeted location.
At the core of our legal field program are the Legal Coordinating Committees (LLCCs). In each targeted location, LLCCs will lead the local legal effort for Election Protection, including volunteer recruiting and administration, media contacts, voter education, outreach to grassroots organizations, election official contacts, and resolution of legal problems.
Election Protection legal volunteers will be active throughout the pre-election process with volunteer recruitment and administration, voter education, support for voter registration groups, outreach to grassroots organizations, meeting with election officials, contacting media organizations, and resolution of legal problems. Before Election Day, volunteers will provide direct support to voter registration groups in the states, helping to ensure that new voters make it on to the registration rolls. This support will include legal research, “on call” attorneys in targeted locations to respond to problems, and understanding the registration process through meetings with election officials.
On Election Day, volunteers will participate in a multi-faceted legal field program. Many of the LLCC members will staff the Local Legal Command Center, with others stationed at elections official’s offices, field sites, and other strategic locations. Each targeted location will carry out a legal field program with a Local Legal Command Center, mobile field attorneys, poll monitors, and, in some locations, local hotlines. Thousands of legal volunteers will be needed across the country on Election Day to make this program a success.