As millions vote, democracy watchdogs emphasize voter protection • Iowa Capital Dispatch

As election-related violence and lawsuits challenging voters’ right to vote continue to occur in the United States, a democracy watchdog group aims to ensure voters are protected while they vote.

A week before the presidential election, in which Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are vying for the Oval Office, the nonpartisan group Common Cause is rallying volunteers across the country to help Americans vote without impediment.

“Right now, we’re seeing lawsuits ranging from challenging voter eligibility, to challenging completed ballots, to challenging long-standing rules around elections, to trying to purge voter rolls,” said Sylvia Albert, Common Cause’s democracy and representation policy counsel. at a media briefing on Tuesday.

“I think the most important thing to know is that this close to the election, individuals cannot arbitrarily rewrite the law or remove people from the voter rolls; there are clear laws in place to protect voters from such attacks,” he added.

Albert said the organization monitors all cases where voters’ eligibility or completed ballots are challenged and “works with partners to ensure there is always someone at the table to protect voters.”

“But really the message we want to send is that every eligible American should have the freedom to vote and have their voice heard, and voters should feel confident that they can cast their vote and know that it will be counted. he said.

In addition to Florida, Common Cause state leaders in the swing states of North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania also shared some of the election protection efforts and early voter turnout they witnessed.

Virginia Bowl SolomonCommon Cause’s president and CEO noted that thousands of election protection volunteers have signed up and more are joining every day. The organization is co-chaired Election Protection Coalition.

“Our coalition is running field programs in 42 states for the 2024 elections,” he said, adding that “our election protection hotlines are open and already assisting voters.” This number is 866-OUR-VOTE.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 51.3 million early votes had been documented. University of Florida Election Lab Early voting tracker.

Meanwhile, as fears of election-related violence continue in the US, Two ballot boxes were set on fire Hundreds of ballots were destroyed this week in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, and officials believe the incidents are likely related.

Common Cause state operations director Suzanne Almeida said “we haven’t seen a trend emerging from fires like we’ve seen before… attacks on ballot drop boxes continue.”

Almeida noted that “voting by mail is still incredibly safe” and that “ballots are still a perfectly valid way to return a ballot.”

“I actually wouldn’t recommend putting your ballots in the mail at this point in the election cycle,” he said, urging people to use a ballot drop box or another ballot return system instead.

Almeida also recommends that any voters in Washington or Oregon who think their ballots were affected by the fires track their votes online at local and state election officials’ websites.

“You should contact election officials and have the ballots republished,” Almeida said. “It is by no means too late for those votes to be voted and counted.”