|
Louisiana: Protecting New Orleans' Elections |
|
|
|
|
By Barbara R. Arnwine, Executive Director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
|
|
March 05, 2006 |
With its elections next month, Louisiana is proving to be the first real battleground for Election Protection 2006. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is doing to help ALL Louisiana voters exercise their right to vote.
The Lawyers Committee has prepared two Voters' Bills of Rights for Louisiana - one for election day and one for absentee voting. Our National Campaign for Fair Elections, the Lawyers' Committee's integrated program of our Voting Rights Project, produced these materials on behalf of the Election Protection coalition. We are beginning to disseminate them among voters, activists, and more than 100 grassroots organizations to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast a meaningful ballot.
Beginning months ago, the National Campaign for Fair Elections, which coordinates all of our work on election reform and voter protection, began meeting with the Louisiana Secretary of State and other key officials to ensure that all victims of the Gulf Coast hurricanes are informed of their voting rights leading up to local elections on April 22nd. To that end, the Campaign helped organize a recent voter education meeting in Baton Rouge, LA, in conjunction with Rep. Cheryl Gray of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. We prepared and presented an earlier version of the two Bills of Rights, and I discussed recent changes made to Louisiana election law with regards to absentee and early voting. I also announced that we have activated our 1-866-OUR-VOTE Election Protection hotline, which will be staffed through the April 22nd elections to assist any voter or election worker with questions.
The Lawyers' Committee's experience as the lead legal organizer in Election Protection 2004 demonstrated clearly what we and our allies like you already knew - that orchestrating a massive mobilization for Election Day is not enough. True election reform requires tireless work before, during, and after Election Day to change the rules that hinder American voters, to educate advocates, to fight bad laws, and to communicate through diverse media to voters, election officials, and policy makers. The Lawyers' Committee has taken that charge, with our National Campaign for Fair Elections working year-round, pursuing both legislative and administrative strategies, working with lawmakers, election officials, and advocates at the federal, state, and local level to draft innovative new reforms, and intensifying our coordination of reform efforts among allied organizations.
Election Protection and election reform are inextricably linked. In a mutually reinforcing cycle, the two strategies help us improve the integrity of U.S. elections. Our Election Protection work informs and guides our election reform efforts, which in turn improve the quality and effectiveness of Election Protection.
We hope these resources will be helpful to you as we work together to ensure that every voter has the right to cast a meaningful ballot.
Comment on This Article
You must login to leave comments...
Other Visitors Comments
There are no comments currently....
|
