Text Size
Home > AAJ: Fighting for Justice > Voter Protection Action Committee
Voter Protection Action Committee
AAJ Voter Protection Action Committee (VPAC)
Have you signed up to be part of AAJ’s Voter Protection Action Committee (VPAC)? If not, the time is now! Do your part and sign up today!
There are less than 30 days until Election Day and hundreds of lawyers across the country are still needed to help on November 6, 2012. As lawyers, as members of the American Association for Justice, and as citizens, you are uniquely qualified to protect the rights of voters who might otherwise have their right to vote denied. Please protect that right.
This is a nonpartisan effort aimed at ensuring that all votes are cast and counted.
AAJ is coordinating with national organizations to identify all lawyers who will be able to work at polling places across the country, assist at call centers, or be part of an election protection legal team to challenge some of the most harmful actions in court on Election Day. These activities can either be done in your home state or in battleground states which include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Once you have signed up, you will be scheduled for training either in person or via a webinar. As soon as you have received the appropriate training, you will be given an assignment for Election Day. It’s that simple. We need you!
What’s At Stake:
There are groups out there who have been diligently working to deny the vote to people legally registered to do so. During the 2008 and 2010 elections, various attempts were made to suppress the vote. Some examples include:
- Emails informing students at George Mason University in Virginia that voting had been postponed for 24 hours.
- Text messages sent to University of Florida students that Tuesday voting was for Republicans only.
- More than 100,000 robocalls to predominately African-American precincts in Maryland advising supporters of incumbent Gov. Martin O’Malley that O’Malley’s re-election was secure and they needn’t bother to vote.
- Facebook messages distributed by a Mississippi pastor advising voters opposed to a “personhood amendment” to the state Constitution that because of anticipated high turnout they should vote on Wednesday, the day after the actual election.
- Phone calls directed at residents of two Philadelphia wards advising the recipients that Latino residents would be restricted to voting between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Election Day.
We Know This:
During this election, we will likely see similar attempts as what has occurred in the past while also facing the new attempts. True the Vote, its volunteers, and its affiliated groups have already garnered a horrendous record of filing inaccurate voter registration challenges, causing legitimate voters—through no fault of their own—to receive letters from local election officials notifying them that their registrations have been challenged and requiring them to take steps to remedy false accusations against them. Multiple reviews by state and local government officials have documented voter registration challenges submitted by True the Vote that were based on insufficient evidence, outdated or inaccurate data, and faulty software and database capabilities. Groups like these are playing for keeps, the actual facts be damned! Without your participation, they might just get away with it!
For more information, contact Tricia Cooley, Associate Director Outreach/State Affairs, at patricia.cooley@justice.org.
