We've all received invitations from the Obama campaign to travel to swing states. But what will happen when we get there? Will we be more effective than we were in 2004?
In an effort to find out the answers to these questions, I sent a few folks the following e-mail:
Hi everyone -
At the risk of sounding somewhat obsessed, I wanted to explain my interest and why I'm pursuing this by nagging a few of you. I (and several others I know) submitted the applications to the campaign by e-mail when we received the request. But none of us have heard back, and this effort will require serious preparation. With all the work the campaign has now, I'm afraid our applications may get back-burnered until it's too late for us to be as effective as we could.
I'm an attorney in upstate N.Y. I volunteered, as did hundreds of other
lawyers, in Cleveland in 2004. (I guess I may not have done such a good
job, huh?)...And I'm planning on heading to Ohio or Pa. this year.
Anyway, in 2004 I went to a training the day before Election Day, and then assisted with election protection on Election Day. Here were some of the problems:
- Prior to Election Day it seemed there was confusion about which attorneys would be assigned to which city, and which organizations were coordinating Election Protection. There is an important difference between the partisan organizations, and the non-partisan which cannot coordinate with the campaign and may not be as focused on getting into court on Election Day (just speculation on my part). Actually, I'm finding now that there may be some confusion where I live as to who is coordinating the out of state effort here.
- When I arrived in Cleveland to attend the training, it seemed there were many more volunteers than had been anticipated. Consequently, trainings were disorganized, crowded and delayed. There was insufficient law explained, and those explaining seemed somewhat uncertain of some specifics themselves. I expect that Obama and history will draw even more of us to the more notorious states this year.
- Those of us who were trained were then assigned to certain offices. We took calls and drove to election precincts. And sometimes it did help to have a lawyer in a suit to address problems. But so many of the problems were people who had been bumped off the rolls (probably due to Blackwell's shenanigans) and we simply advised them to file provisional ballots. How did that work out for us? And there were times we'd been given incorrect advice, and were advising others incorrectly. That cannot happen this time.
I realize there's a different secretary of state in Ohio, but never
underestimate the dedication of the opposition. Anyway, here were some of the problems that I found on Election Day:
a. We were not partnered with local volunteers, so when problems arose we did not know how to get where we were going quickly. I drove around with a woman who was as unfamiliar with Cleveland as I (and a far worse driver - she really nearly got us killed!).
b. We were not in touch with local attorneys admitted to the bar. So when problems arose that should have led us to court, we never went.
c. We did not receive updates, and had difficulty reaching those
coordinating the EP effort.
d. There were rumors of court rulings during the day, but we never got
details, and those conveying the information weren't attorneys.
e. The phones at the Board of Elections were busy or unanswered, so we
couldn't get responses when there were problems.
f. We were asked to enter data on the problems, which though it may have
helped in writing a book or report some day, wasn't useful for the most
important priority that day - winning the election.
g. Although non-partisan and partisan groups couldn't coordinate, there was no understanding by each group of what the other's role was.
Although it's helpful to have poll watchers (and I received an offer to be a poll watcher in Pa. but I don't think I can because I'm not a registered voter there) and those taking calls, I think we really need to distinguish who is doing what job, and be ready for court. So here are some of my thoughts.
Divide (or designate to me and others the opportunity to divide) volunteers
into categories -
- Attorneys admitted to the bar in the swing states
- Attorneys who are travelling to swing states
- Other volunteers in swing states who live in those areas
- Other volunteers who are coming to the state for Election Day
Prior to Election Day, tasks for attorneys -
- Attorneys both in state and out of state should begin preparing pleadings that can be used as fill-in-the-blanks on Election Day,
anticipating some of the problems and seeking appropriate relief, such as -
-anticipating broken machines, especially in inner city districts, with
pleadings demanding replacement machines anticipating extensive lines in poor districts and none in others, with pleadings demanding additional machines and arguing about disenfranchisement (and equal protection?)
-anticipating people erroneously bumped from the rolls, and pleadings that will get us into court so they can vote regular ballots instead of
provisionals
-anticipating delays that may cause people to be on line after hours, and pleadings that will require polls to stay open.
Some friends and I are happy to start working on pleadings for our nearby
states. We aren't election law experts, but with advice and guidance from a few we can crank things out. And even without the advice and guidance, we've done enough research and writing in our day to get the papers prepared.
- Preparing trainings in advance
- Finding out who the judges will be on Election Day, where the courts
are, and other logistics
Prior to Election Day, tasks for other volunteers:
Attorney and non-attorney volunteers should figure out -
- How to get the list of volunteers together, contact them and sort them
- Getting group rates at hotels (off topic, but it wouldn't hurt)
- Once we have numbers for each city, setting up locations for trainings
- Setting up the schedule for trainings
- Splitting the districts up so that pairs of volunteers will have
specific locations or parts of the city to respond to
- Setting up how hotlines or phone communication will be organized, so
that when a call comes in with a problem, it's relayed quickly to someone in the field
- Setting up lines of communication so that people in the field can easily reach local Board of Elections officials who will be helpful (I can dream, right?) or a campaign coordinator when there is a need to go to court, and a way that that person can reach an attorney who's ready to roll
- Creating a method for distribution of pleadings - preparing disks with printers available? Also, if notaries are needed for pleadings in the state, having notaries available and close by.
I think that the effort in 2004 was incredible, given the number of
volunteers and the lack of anticipation of just how low the opposition would stoop. But as George Bush once said, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...we won't get fooled again. Or something like that.
Anyway, I hope I haven't been too presumptuous here, but this is nothing I actually emailed Bob Bauer too! I guess with a bottom-up campaign, we're all feeling like we own a part of it.
So thank you for your efforts and any guidance you can provide. I work full time, but I am happy to volunteer to try to put this together at night and on week-ends. And I have some friends willing to help, too.
Anyway - I tried a follow up call today to someone in a swing state. I was told that lawyers would be used to triage at the polls. That's what we did in 2004. Is there any reason to think they're going to be more receptive to our complaints this year? I was also sent a flyer urging visiting lawyers to sign up to be poll workers (we can't unless we're admitted in the state) and suggesting we only have to be there for one day. But we need to be there early for training!
So I'm posting this in the hopes that folks in the swing states, especially those admitted to the bar, will reach out to the campaign and offer some help, and suggest that maybe lawyers can be used to do...well...lawyer things.
Sorry if I'm sounding like a scratched record...no wait, most of you don't know what that is...damaged vinyl?
(And sorry about the formatting - I cut and pasted my e-mail and that seems to have created margins that refuse to be fixed.)