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NJ Election Protection
2005 Seeks Volunteer Poll Monitors November 8
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Election Protection 2004 found
numerous voting problems in NJ, particularly in urban areas and areas with high student
populations:
·
Polls in Middlesex County were improperly denying students the right to vote
provisionally
·
Many
students who had registered on campus drives were not on the voter rolls.
·
Flyers with
misinformation were circulated in an attempt to intimidate
voters who may have had judgments against them or were late paying rent, utilities or child support obligations.
Election Protection
lawyers are able to act immediately to obtain court orders on Election Day and
oblige poll workers to provide students whose name aren't on the rolls with
provisional ballots, and to provide
alternative means of voting if machines
malfunction or lines are long.
"You have the right to vote"
information can help correct deliberate campaigns to misinform and deter
citizens from exercising their right.
Election Protection volunteers can put people together with their right
to vote -- to find out about training and volunteering, please write
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or continue reading for more information.
VOLUNTEER:
Please sign up to be
a Poll Monitor in November. You will be able to help provide
immediate access to legal support for voters who need assistance with their rights related to provisional ballots
and court orders, particularly in communities where voters have experienced
problems in the past.
You also will help collect valuable data by surveying voters
exiting the polls about their experiences with provisional ballots, challenges,
and the manner in which poll workers handled any problems.
You’ll receive training from the law firm
McCarter & English. McCarter & English will establish Election
Protection headquarters at its Newark office, staffed with lawyers to field
volunteers’ incoming calls on November 8.
Training is scheduled the last
week in October and first week in November in Camden, Newark, and Princeton.
To sign up or learn more:
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THE SPONSORS:
The American Civil
Liberties Union of New Jersey, the New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law
Center, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Advancement
Project, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and People for the
American Way.
THE PROJECT:
The New
Jersey Citizens' Coalition on HAVA Implementation' 2005 New Jersey
Election Protection Project is a non-partisan effort to determine the
extent of voting problems in New Jersey and the effect of state reforms
on resolving these problems as reforms are implemented. The project will
analyze this year's survey data for changes in voting problems compared with past years, to help
focus future advocacy efforts to improve elections in New Jersey.
Collecting information about the use of
provisional ballots from county
to county is a focus for this year's survey; last year, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Middlesex counties had the highest number
of uncounted provisional ballots.
The project also will examinewhether the
state response to a GOP demand for a "crackdown on voter fraud"
affects the number of eligible voters left off the rolls, with an interest in ensuring
that eligible voters aren't wrongfully purged from the rolls in New Jersey.
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