If you are interested in volunteering with Democracy NC, a nonpartisan organization that works to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process, there will be an informational meeting Thursday, September 29, 2016, in Room 204 from 12:30 – 1:30.
Kenya Myers, Voting and Special Project Consultant with Democracy North Carolina, will be here to answer questions, provide training information, and sign interested students up for shifts. Please see below for further details regarding available opportunities. For more information about Dem NC, please visit their website: http://nc-democracy.org/
Student Pro Bono Opportunities – Election Protection
Early Voting – October 20 – November 5*
*The recent federal appeals court decision returns the early voting period to 17 days instead of just 10 days. *
During early voting students will have the opportunity to staff the voter protection hotline and answer questions on voter registration, voting and election law. The students will be supervised by the DemNC experts and attorneys from the Southern Coalition of Social Justice (SCSJ) who will be in our office manning the hotline phones. Students must travel to the DemNC office in Durham, NC to participate in this volunteer opportunity. There will be shifts available on weekdays between 8:45 am – 6:00 pm and on weekends from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm.
Students volunteering for the hotline will be required to complete the online interactive training provided by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and review the supplemental documents and materials.
Election Day – November 8
On Election Day students will have the opportunity to serve as poll monitors for one or multiple 3-hour shifts in any of the counties previously covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and major urban counties. Poll monitors provide assistance at precincts by passing out voter rights wallet cards, conducted exit polling to learn about incidents suffered by voters and directing voters to the hotline to solve questions regarding the voting process and redirection another precincts. On Election Day the hotline is staffed by civil rights attorneys and voting rights experts. Poll monitors are also charged to ensure that all voters in line by 7:30 PM be allowed to vote.
We are adding groups of NC licensed attorneys who will be “on call” to be “dispatched” to troubled precincts on Election Day for 4-6 hour shifts. DemNC is working with the Lawyers’ Committee to recruit attorneys. We agree that adding law students to this venture will expand the number of precincts that can be covered as well as reduce response time.
Any law students who volunteers as a poll monitor or as a part of the on call dispatch teams will have to complete BOTH the DemNC poll monitor training and the online interactive training provided by the Lawyers’ Committee.
Day of Canvass- November 15
The county canvass is the meeting where election results in a county become official. Students will have the opportunities to observe and document how the provisional ballots are researched after Election Day and if the provisional voter is determined to be eligible to vote and his/her ballot counted. Over 40,000 provisional ballots were cast during the primary election – only about 29,000 were counted. That’s more than 11,000 voters whose voice was silenced.
Law students can observe and document in any county, however we are prioritizing the 40 former VRA and major urban counties. The process begins at 9:00 in every county and will end when the last provisional ballot is reviewed. Students scan sign up for one or multiple 2 hour shifts.
Online webinar training for the Day of Canvass will be provided by DemNC and SCSJ attorneys AFTER the election.
Please contact Kenya Myers at Kenya@democracy.org to sign up.
DemNC is nonpartisan and works to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.
