Election Protection: Our History

The 2000 elections were a wake-up call. More than four million Americans from all over the country were disenfranchised in 2000. People were denied the right to cast a vote—or to have their vote counted—by a range of problems, including faulty equipment, poorly designed ballots, and untrained poll workers, as well as voter intimidation and suppression efforts and other illegal actions by public officials.

Election Protection began in June 2001 as a pilot program for a special election in Virginia. Election Protection grew in 2002 and 2003 into multi-state programs so that in 2004 it could blossom into a 17-state, 18-month non-partisan mass mobilization.

Among many other highlights in the days and weeks around the 2004 election, some 25,000 Americans volunteered for Election Protection efforts across the country. Some 6,000 attorneys and law students volunteered their expertise to voters. More than 2,000 college and high school students boarded buses to provide voter assistance at the polls. Volunteers worked through more than 52 field offices and 38 legal command centers stationed around the country.

The Election Protection headquarters operated as a voter-assistance and information-sharing clearinghouse, with 34 computers and 55 telephone lines. Forty staffers worked seven days a week. On Election Day, information poured in from the field offices and legal command centers. The Election Protection Voters’ Hotline provided immediate help to voters and to record voting problems and irregularities. Election Protection also launched the first-ever national polling place locator, collecting 100 percent accurate data from every jurisdiction.

Launched in 2004 in Florida in collaboration with the Center for Immigrant Democracy, Democracia USA, then called Mi Familia Vota, registered 72,000 new voters with a turnout rate of 88 percent. Victory Through Voting registered 59,000 new voters. Overall, Election Protection registered 410,000 new voters in 2004.

While the non-profit People For the American Way Foundation has helped lead the Election Protection coalition, its advocacy affiliate People For the American Way has fought and won many battles around proposed laws that seek to suppress voter turnout by requiring voters to show one of a restrictive set of identification in order to vote and by requiring the organizations that help register voters to comply with onerous regulations.

Now called Election Protection 365, the program has evolved into a constant, everyday multi-layered approach to helping African American, Hispanic, and other underrepresented communities protect and exercise their right to vote. Drawing on expertise on the large and nationally known People For the American Way Foundation and the strengths of the broad coalition, Election Protection 365 helps preserve the integrity of our democracy. On each of the 365 days of the year, Election Protection has progressively transformed into a ever-busy operation that

Collaborates with election officials to eliminate barriers to the ballot box
Files lawsuits to challenge election unfair laws and procedures
Provides direct assistance to voters through the Hotline
Verifies vote tallies through independent exit polling
Publishes reports on problems voters encounter
Pushes for changes that will make it easier for citizens to vote