Like all of you, we are disappointed that 52 senators failed to use their power to secure voting rights and preserve our democracy. The fight for democracy is the single most pressing issue today. It takes all of us – including our elected representatives – doing our part to ensure voters can have their voices heard in our democracy.
But we know this fight doesn’t end in the Senate. If anything, the Senate vote highlights the importance of working on the ground to help voters overcome voter suppression.
We’re already seeing the impact of Republican voter suppression bills. In Texas, for example, absentee ballot applications are being rejected at unprecedented rates of 50% due to new voter ID requirements under Republican-backed Senate Bill 1.
We at Power the Vote understand what it takes to fight voter suppression. Our co-founders ran voter protection at the Democratic Party of Georgia in 2020, when Georgia voters faced historic challenges to voting, including hours-long lines to cast a ballot. The fight won’t be easy, but Georgia shows that we can win.
What will it take to help voters overcome voter suppression?
- Local relationships with election officials to advocate for voter access and help voters solve problems;
- Organizing against new voter suppression bills and educating stakeholders and activists about their impacts;
- Year-round outreach to educate voters on new (and often draconian and confusing) voting requirements;
- Monitoring election boards and mobilizing to ensure that election board members are committed to free and fair elections and equitable access to voting;
- Organizing armies of voter protection volunteers at election time and keeping them engaged year-round – including poll watchers to observe in person at polling places, hotline volunteers taking calls to help voters facing problems, ballot monitors to observe at elections offices as officials open, process and scan ballots, and ballot cure volunteers to help voters whose ballots are rejected.
We’ve got a plan. Power the Vote is working to ensure that voter protection teams in battleground states have the tools and resources they need to help voters.
We’re funding voter protection staff in Georgia and Texas, and we’re not stopping there! We aim to fund more voter protection staff in battleground states for 2022 – and keep those staff in place after the 2022 cycle, so that they can fight for voters year-round.
How you can help. Sign up to be a voter protection volunteer, and pitch in what you can to help us fund voter protection staff in battleground states!