Press Releases

January 6, 2004

Remarks of Barbara R. Arnwine, Executive Director of The Lawyers’ Committee on Launch of Unity 2004 Campaign

Good Afternoon, I am Barbara R. Arnwine, Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (“Lawyers' Committee”). Today, I join my colleagues from civil rights organizations, labor unions, the media, and civic organizations to launch Unity ‘04.

As you heard earlier, one of the purposes of the coalition is to facilitate the Election Protection Program. Election Protection was created in the wake of the 2000 election fiasco in order to prevent voter disenfranchisement from being repeated in future elections. Over the past three years, our coalition has successfully worked to ensure that voters in minority communities know their rights and have access to immediate legal advice and assistance on election day.

By collaborating with the Unity ’04 campaign, Election Protection is able to build on its foundation. This year, we will seek to expand the hotline so that it is operational in the months preceding November’s election to aid voters in registration concerns and voting rights issues that may portend the problems we need to focus on election day.

Election Protection is committed to mounting a massive voter assistance and education effort in 2004 and will expand and improve upon our previous activities. Our goals are to ensure that voters know their rights on election day and are able to exercise those rights despite the possibility of obstacles, intimidation, and poll worker errors.

Specifically, the Lawyers' Committee and our coalition partners will facilitate a toll free hotline to answer questions and assist voters from each of the target states identified by Unity ’04. The hotline will be based here in Washington and will be staffed by volunteer lawyers and law students. In addition, volunteers will be on the ground monitoring selected polling places and will be available to intervene in person, place telephone calls to the appropriate official to assist voters, or seek a court injunction if those measures become necessary.

Election Protection will develop a network of pro bono and civil rights attorneys to serve as volunteers to staff the hotline, monitor polling sites, and intervene in any serious problems that may occur on election day. Additionally, contact has been made with the National Black Law Students Association and the American Constitution Society who have agreed to support Election Protection and provide their members as volunteers across the country.

The activities of the Election Protection volunteers will be critical in 2004 as predictions of an extremely close presidential election, reminiscent of 2000, continue to grow. In addition to the presidential election, important congressional races, state ballot initiatives, and municipal elections will be held in November 2004. Potential confusion about new state and federal election reform laws also creates an urgent need for our Election Protection program.

Our past experience tells us how crucial a hotline can be to protecting voters’ rights. In the past, the Election Protection Hotline has received steady calls and provided assistance to voters including: informing voters of their proper polling places; instructing voters on how to request provisional ballots; alerting Justice Department officials to incidents involving voter intimidation at predominately black precincts; and contacting election board supervisors or state officials when necessary.

Over the past three years, Election Protection has consistently provided nationwide assistance to voters during five different election cycles. This year will be the largest effort as we plan to expand our previous activities and success in assisting voters. In November 2002, the coalition received nearly 700 telephone calls and had over 100 Election Protection volunteers in our offices monitoring phone lines from 20 plus states. Election Protection had over one thousand volunteer poll monitors on the ground to distribute the voter bill of rights and to receive complaints from voters at the polls in 2002. With this solid foundation in place, Election Protection will play a key role in addressing the concerns of voters across the nation.

By maintaining a vigilant oversight presence and expanding our voter education efforts in 2004 we will ensure continued progress toward our goal that everyone eligible to vote is able to cast a ballot and have it counted on election day. The Election Protection program and its volunteers form a unique and powerful coalition of those committed to protecting the principles of our democracy and the Lawyers' Committee is proud to be a partner in this initiative.

The Lawyers’ Committee is a forty year old nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights legal organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to provide legal services to address racial discrimination. The Lawyers’ Committee has through litigation and advocacy worked to protect and promote voting rights for communities of color.