ATLANTA – Power the Vote (www.powerthevote.org), a Georgia-based nonprofit, today announced its official launch, co-founders and advisory board. The mission of the organization, the only one of its kind, is to fund and support year-round voter protection teams at state Democratic Parties, starting in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.
Power the Vote has partnered with the Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG) to fund voter protection staff for the 2022 cycle. It also announced members of its Advisory Board, including Honorary Co-Chairs U.S. Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-7), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Lucy McBath (GA-6), Stephanie Murphy (FL-7) and Katie Porter (CA-45).
Power the Vote co-founder Kimberley Allen said, “Power the Vote is proud to support the Democratic Party of Georgia to expand its ongoing voter protection work. Investments in voter protection were critical to flipping Georgia blue in 2020 and are critical to keeping Georgia blue in 2022 and beyond.”
Allen added: “Power the Vote’s mission to build permanent voter protection infrastructure is inspired by the DPG’s innovative model for year-round voter protection organizing. We’ve founded Power the Vote to scale up that model and fund voter protection infrastructure in other battleground states.”
Power the Vote co-founder Jamil Favors said, “Voter suppression happens year-round, so voter protection must as well — and that work has never been more urgent. With this investment, Power the Vote is making good on its commitment to fight to ensure every voter can vote, every vote count is counted, and every election result is certified.”
Power the Vote will:
● Fight voter suppression and expand voter access by funding permanent, year-round voter
protection teams;
● Build statewide voter protection infrastructure and volunteer capacity to fight for every vote,
everywhere;
● Work to dismantle systemic barriers to voting that disproportionately impact marginalized voters,
voters of color and voters with disabilities;
● Coordinate with progressive groups to complement their work and lift up local voices;
● Ensure that voter protection programs continue after the 2022 cycle, so that knowledge and
expertise are reinvested for 2024 and beyond.
“The DPG was the first state Democratic Party to create a permanent, full-time voter protection program, established in 2018,” said DuBose Porter, chair of the DPG from 2013 to 2019. “That investment laid the groundwork for the success of the DPG’s voter protection work in the 2020 cycle, which was essential to the outcome of the elections, and which has now become the model for programs around the country. Likewise, funding year-round, statewide voter protection staff will be critical for the 2022 elections and the fight to help voters overcome efforts to suppress the vote.”
Kim Allen joins from Covington & Burling LLP, where she was special counsel in the commercial litigation group. During the 2020 election cycle, she was deputy director of voter protection at the DPG and led the ballot monitoring program.
Jamil Favors is an experienced litigator and former accountant who has been involved with voter protection since 2018. Favors was deputy director of voter protection with the DPG in 2020. He regularly speaks on voting rights, volunteers with local organizations and mentors high school and college students in his native Atlanta.
Jason Lewis-Berry served as a diplomat in a dozen countries and as an Obama appointee at the State Department, here he oversaw conflict prevention operations around the world. In 2017 he pivoted to domestic issues, first as economic advisor to Oregon’s Governor and in 2020 as Deputy Director of Voter Protection for the DPG.
Power the Vote’s additional advisory board members include Manny Diaz, chair of the Florida Democratic Party; Adrienne Jones, Ph.D., a voting rights expert and assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College; Michael Kramer, a leading Georgia labor and employment lawyer; Jeremy Smith, co-founder and CEO of Civitech, a Texas-based corporation that builds data tools for progressive candidates and causes; and David Worley, former Democratic representative on the Georgia State Election Board and former DPG chair.
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Power the Vote media contacts:
Anne Isenhower, 404-353-6088
anne@anneisenhower.com
Melissa Sanders, 404-909-6726
melissa@tadpolecomm.ne