Protect Elections Locally

Election and voting suppression by Republicans is taking a variety of forms including:

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• Mid-decade redistricting after the decimation of the Voting Rights Act to slice up Black-held districts

• State and local laws reducing the number of polling places and early voting days and/or requiring IDs that cost money and time

• Insufficient staffing resulting in long lines on Election Day 

• Interfering with mail-in ballots via the post office and using federally created voter lists

• Intimidation of voters at the polls by ICE, DHS, and National Guard

• Challenging ballots after they are cast

• Refusing to certify election results

 

Electoral experts have identified “heat zones,” locations where a combination of factors indicate a higher likelihood of the use of election suppression tactics.  Local and state-based groups are on the ground in those targeted areas  to advocate with state legislatures and to monitor polling places to identify, challenge, and rapidly mobilize legal expertise as needed.

 

Force Multiplier recommends two especially effective groups working in these zones to protect the vote.

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• Fair Fight Action (FFA) anticipated the VRA ruling and its aftermath and is leading the fight, with partners, to stop this theft of House districts. So far they’ve blocked efforts to redistrict away seats in South Carolina, Georgia, and a second Black-held seat in Alabama. Preventing the loss of a House seat through redistricting has the same impact as flipping a battleground seat. They both lead to our goal of a Democratic House majority.
   

• Black voters and black communities are the particular target of voter suppression efforts. Black Voters Matter (BVM) is setting up Faith and Community Centers near the polls in election protection “heat zones”  where staff are recruiting and training local people:

  • As poll workers so that a large turnout can be accommodated​

  • As volunteer poll observers throughout early voting days and on Election Day to identify, amplify, and relay polling place irregularities to regional, state, and national legal and organizing staff for rapid response.

  • Post-election, poll observers will monitor vote counting, conduct ballot curing, and organize the community for rapid response as needed through the January  3rd certification of a new Congress.

 

Donations through Force Multiplier support BVM’s election protection work in North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Ohio.

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Support both of these groups through the Protect Elections Locally Fund.​​