A voter picks up a sticker after casting a ballot at a polling station in Arlington, Virginia, where early in-person voting for the 2024 election began in September. (Photo by AFP)
With the presidential election mere weeks away, a small army of lawyers will deploy throughout the country in a nonpartisan effort to ensure a fair and transparent process — both before and after polls close.
BigLaw attorneys are partnering with nonprofits and grassroots organizations, and this buy-in from firms has been vital, said Anna Chu, executive director of We The Action, a group that links attorneys with pro bono opportunities. She estimates the organization has garnered about $14 million worth of legal services for election integrity projects since January.
"There are many, many, many law firms who are very engaged in this process, because this really is about upholding the rule of law," Chu told Law360. "Our partner nonprofits working on the ground, all of them are nonpartisan, because it's really not about one person, one party winning over the other. It really is about safeguarding our democracy and the right to vote."
It's not too late to sign up for some of these efforts. Here are a few initiatives for which volunteers are still needed:
Poll Watchers
Lawyers serving on the ground as poll monitors are often the first line of defense in ensuring election integrity, Chu said, especially in states where lawmakers have passed restrictive voting laws with little guidance as to how they should be implemented. Poll monitors can answer voters' questions and can "spot issues and correct them in real time," Chu said.
If they're seeing, for example, that a poll worker is confused about their state's voter identification requirements or who is allowed to turn in a ballot on behalf of someone else, the lawyer can intervene, she said.
We The Action still has poll monitor shifts available across the country, including in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin and Virginia.
"Sometimes, those issues that folks see at the polls could be rectified immediately," Chu said. "Sometimes, they have to be flagged up the chain … to the county election official, or they may even have to go to court."
Litigators at the Ready
There are also volunteer opportunities for when these issues do get flagged up the chain. For example, this year, the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania has expanded its network of volunteer lawyers with an "attorney in every county" initiative.
The organization is seeking volunteers to be available all day on Nov. 5, from 7 a.m. when the polls open to late in the evening. The volunteers must be on standby to contact local election officials and, if necessary, run to court and seek emergency orders from judges.
Lawyers need not be election experts or even civil rights attorneys, according to Vic Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. Criminal defense lawyers, family law attorneys and employment law litigators number among the organization's volunteers. What's most important is they are nonpartisan and "know the ins and outs of the courthouse," he said.
"What anybody who practices in Pennsylvania state court learns very quickly is that every county is fiefdom unto itself. Practices vary. They don't often have clear rules. If they do have rules, then certain judges don't follow them. And so the need for local counsel is just more imperative here than ever, anywhere," Walczak said. "The important thing is to know the courthouse. How do you find a judge at 7 o'clock on election night to get an order to keep the polls open longer? Because if you can't get into the courthouse, you can't get any relief."
Watching the Count
The work of election protection doesn't end when the polls close. In fact, for national election protection organization Scrutineers, that's when much of the work begins.
The group is teaching volunteers how to record poll tapes — paper records of the automated vote count posted at every polling location — for the purposes of maintaining an accurate record of the raw results. They are also training volunteers on how best to observe the vote-counting process that begins on election night, watching workers verify signatures, process mail-in ballots and adjudicate ballots that can't be read by scanners.
Attorneys would be well suited for this work, according to Emily Levy, the executive director of Scrutineers.
"I think sometimes it can be intimidating to people who don't have a legal or other relevant professional background to challenge election workers, especially in the really high-stress, fast-moving environment of an election office in the days following an election. So if they see something, especially if they're new to it, it can be hard for them to feel confident enough about it to raise a question, or know when to insist on something, and how and when to stand up for their legal rights as observers."
Similarly, monitoring county board of election meetings is vital for documenting which ballots are and are not counted, and for creating a record for potential litigation, according to Marian Lewin, vice president of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina.
Those meetings have already begun, but they'll continue past Election Day, and the league is still seeking volunteers to help cover more counties. Finding qualified help can be difficult, Lewin said. The meetings can last six to eight hours — and can be extremely dull.
"You show up at a meeting, and you take notes. It's really hard to train people for that, and it's really hard to convince people to do it, because it's like watching paint dry," she said. "The lawyers are the ones who could potentially understand. North Carolina's election law is incredibly esoteric."
Legal Aid for Election Officials
Attorneys can also sign up through the Election Official Legal Defense Network to offer free legal advice and representation to election officials who experience harassment and threats.
The group was founded in 2021, and in the years since, election officials have reported an uptick in threats. A May 2024 Brennan Center for Justice poll found 38% of election officials reported experiencing harassment or abuse because of their job, an uptick from 30% in 2023.
In the past few years, EOLDN has paired election officials in dozens of states with pro bono attorneys, according to David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, which manages EOLDN.
"We believe very strongly that these public servants shouldn't have to go out of pocket for that, just for doing their jobs," he said.
While EOLDN has recruited more attorneys than ever before, the organization is still seeking volunteers, particularly in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Michigan. But the work is not limited to battleground states. Becker said he's seeking attorneys everywhere, as he's seen harassment "in states that are very red, very blue, and everything in between."
"Given the stakes in this election, and given that we anticipate there will be a lot of disinformation, perhaps threats, we are ramping up those efforts," Becker said.
He added that volunteers need not be election law experts because the legal issues that election officials face have more to do with personal safety.
"These requests have to do with them being doxxed, or them being threatened, or them being harassed — or a variety of other issues," he said. "It may be that regardless of what your expertise is, your expertise can come in handy and help an election official."
Help From Non-Volunteers
But attorneys need not officially volunteer to get involved — they can spread the word about election protection efforts or help with voter education.
The group Lawyers For Good Government has put together voter guides for U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races, which break down candidates' stances on the rule of law, voting rights, reproductive rights, climate change, immigration and racial justice. Compiled by lawyers, the guides are backed by meticulous citations and easily shared on social media.
"We very much are asking people: Please, please share these. We really want voters to be informed before Election Day, before they get to the ballot," said Zenab Youssef, a spokesperson for L4GG. "It is kind of a volunteer opportunity."
Attorneys, like anyone else, can also call 866-OUR-VOTE, or 866-687-8683, the national election protection hotline orchestrated by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to report voting access issues.
"Sometimes, they might be walking down the street and see some intimidation going on in a polling place," said Julie Houk, managing counsel of Election Protection for the Lawyers' Committee. "They could call that, for example, and let us know on the hotline where it's taking place and what they're observing. That would be a huge help."
--Additional reporting by Steven Trader. Editing by Philip Shea and Lakshna Mehta.
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