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Become a “Poll Watcher” in FL

Election Protection Volunteer

Become a “Poll Watcher” in FL and Stop Voting Rights Violations on Election Day

FL has been identified as one of nine states nationwide that are at “high risk” for voting rights violations such as not allowing registered voters to cast their ballots.

Here’s what you can do to help ensure that all legitimate votes are counted.

A coalition of groups is training volunteers to be Election Day “poll watchers” who will go to polling places, monitor what takes place there, and educate voters about their rights. Volunteers are also needed to hand out flyers in key neighborhoods informing residents of their voting rights.

To volunteer or learn more, visit www.electionprotection.org.

TrueMajority.org is teaming up with our friends at Working Assets, People for the American Way Foundation, and the Election Protection Coalition to put together this program that will work.

There’s a long history of antidemocratic forces interfering with voters’ right to cast ballots. Here’s the kind of stuff that Election Protection volunteers will be taking action to prevent:

* This summer, Representative John Pappageorge (R-Troy) of Michigan was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election." African Americans comprise 83 percent of Detroit's population.
* In South Dakota's June 2004 primary, Native American voters were prevented from voting after they were challenged to provide photo IDs, which they were not required to present under state or federal law.
* Earlier this year in Texas, a local district attorney claimed that students at a majority black college were not eligible to vote in the county where the college is located. It happened in Waller County—the same county where 26 years earlier, a federal court order was required to prevent discrimination against the college's students.
* In Kentucky in July 2004, Black Republican officials joined to ask their state GOP party chairman to renounce plans to place "vote challengers" in African American precincts during the coming elections.
* In 2003 in Philadelphia, voters in African American areas were systematically challenged by men carrying clipboards and driving a fleet of some 300 sedans with magnetic signs designed to look like law enforcement insignia.
* In 2002 in Louisiana, flyers were distributed in African American communities telling voters they could go to the polls on Tuesday, December 10—three days after a Senate runoff election was actually held.
* In 1998 in South Carolina, a state representative mailed 3,000 brochures to African American neighborhoods claiming that law enforcement agents would be "working" the election and warning voters that "this election is not worth going to jail."