John, the clock is ticking – Election Day is just days away and we’re rapidly scaling up our work to train and place Election Protection volunteers in time.
And our work couldn’t be more important. Anti-voter politicians passed 17 new restrictive voting laws this year – making 2023 second only to 2021 in sheer number of voter suppression laws passed in the last decade. [1]
Even though it’s an off-year for many elections, the stakes are high. Elections in states like Virginia and Ohio will decide people’s ability to access abortions and other reproductive care.
This all makes our Election Protection team’s work all the more important. So we’re scaling up our work to meet this new need.
In Ohio, we’re training poll monitors, social media monitors, and peacekeepers in our robust voter protection program to ensure that the People’s will – not politicians’ – is represented this year.
And we'll use what we learn this year to ensure we are ready for 2024, when we’ll have new voter suppression laws to contend with on top of everything else voters will face this year.
John, it’s no secret that there are people out there willing to bend the rules to force their will on the rest of us. We’ve seen it all – rigged voting maps, outright intimidation at the polls, and even threats of violence.
That’s why we invest so much time and resources into our Election Protection program. The stakes are simply too high for anyone but the People to decide our fates.
Our Election Protection volunteers make all the difference for voters – during early voting, at the polls, and even after, when votes are counted.
Our friendly, pro-voter volunteers help voters overcome new, confusing voting restrictions and any other attempt to take away their rights – like Virginia’s recent removal of thousands of qualified voters from the rolls.
In just a single shift, our volunteers will help dozens of voters. They’re ordinary folks just like you and me, but they’ve volunteered their time to make a measurable — and major — difference for their communities.
But John, the expert training our volunteers get in each state’s voting rules takes time and resources. It costs $50 to train and place a single volunteer.
We know that the work every volunteer does more than makes up for the cost of training. But if we’re going to place every volunteer that signed up, we’re going to need help from Common Cause members like you.
With just days to go until Election Day, we urgently need your help to train and place every volunteer that signed up. Can I count on you to chip in $50 – or whatever you can today – and sponsor an Election Protection volunteer?
John, we don’t take money from the government or politicians so we can remain accountable to you, the People. But that means that in times like this, we need the full support of our grassroots funders behind us. I hope I can count on you to step up today.
Thank you for all your work,
Elena Nunez, Director of State Operations
and the team at Common Cause
[1] brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-october-2023
