Donations spotlight: Support the Legal Defense Fund in its work to advance Black political engagement

Note from the CREDO Mobile team: This November, the Legal Defense Fund is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO Mobile community will be vital to the nonprofit as it defends and advances the full dignity and citizenship of Black people in America—and in American elections.

 Read this important blog post about the Legal Defense Fund, then visit CREDODonations.com and cast your vote to help send much-needed grant money to the group to assist its efforts—and the efforts of our other outstanding November grantees.

For decades, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has engaged with partners nationwide to monitor election issues, pursue proactive policy interventions and—when needed—file lawsuits to protect voting rights. Recent election cycles provide a window into the issues voters may face in 2024, as well as a rubric for how the civil rights community and individual voters can take affirmative steps to protect and expand access to our democracy.

Everyone can take simple steps to build a more resilient democracy. Here are just a few ideas for where you can start as we head into the 2024 election.

Check your registration status

This is vital, especially if you’re a new voter or have not voted in recent years. You can check your registration at LDF.vote. There you can also get information to register for the first time or reregister, find sample ballots, locate your polling site and sign up for election reminders. To get more voters registered, consider sharing the site with five friends, who can then do the same.

Find your action community

Identify the grassroots power-building and movement organizations doing voter education and mobilization work in your state. Join a local NAACP branch or look for groups in the State Voices network, like LDF client Power Coalition for Equity and Justice in Louisiana and LDF partners like Alabama Forward.

Dedicate some of your time

Make a commitment to volunteer with nonpartisan organizations like those listed above or sign up to be an election monitor with LDF at LDF.vote. You can also apply to be a paid poll worker in your community by visiting PowerthePolls.org/LDF.

Get creative

You know your family, friends and community best. What are the messages and calls to action that will get them most excited about the upcoming elections? Invite friends over for a “Snacks, Sips and Sample Ballots” night to talk through items on the ballot and make a voting plan over snacks and libations. Make a bracket and see who can get to the final rounds by completing the most voter-outreach calls, texts or door knocks week-to-week. Think outside the box, recruit some friends and then get active!

Whichever path you choose, there are ways to exercise your power before, on and beyond Election Day. The outcomes in 2024 will be decided by those who make a plan and LDF will continue to produce resources like this to help you craft yours.

In LDF’s 2021 publication “Democracy Defended: Key Findings from the 2020 Election,” LDF acknowledged the unprecedented convergence of issues in the 2020 election cycle: a global pandemic, an international apex in calls for racial justice and police accountability, and a pernicious movement to advance the “Big Lie,” which led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. While situated in this unique history, the findings from that report and the lived experiences of Black voters and other voters navigating the election process in 2020 nonetheless continue to inform how the election process may unfold in November.

That’s why we engage with national and state-based partners to galvanize voter turnout and monitor the election. Below is a preview of what to expect in 2024—and suggestions for how you can best prepare for the election.

Our recommendations are based on data collected from multiple election cycles, including 2022’s midterm elections. That year, LDF collaborated with partners to conduct over 70 volunteer trainings, equipping volunteers with the tools and skills they needed to identify and report issues at over 2,300 poll sites. We compiled data on issues reported by media, posted online, provided by grassroots sources and observed at the thousands of poll sites volunteers visited.

As a result of this data collection, we created the following list of key election issues that inform the path forward to 2024—and also identified opportunities for proactive advocacy so you can prepare to cast your ballot.

Voting infrastructure and administration

Issues concerning election-administration infrastructure permeated the 2020 elections, midterms and other elections in between in all of LDF’s focus states. Volunteers observed inaccessible poll sites for seniors and voters with disabilities, poor signage identifying poll sites, technology failures on official websites and at poll sites, and insufficient supplies of election materials at poll sites.

Officials must prioritize investing in the infrastructure of America’s elections in 2024, including prioritizing accessibility at every level.

Availability of voting options

The limited availability of multiple voting options continues to be a barrier to political participation, especially among Black voters. The lack of no-excuse mail-in and early-voting options in several states increased the need for voters to cast ballots on Election Day in recent years, which led to long lines and heightened opportunities for disenfranchisement due to election-administration failures.

In addition, Black voters reported experiencing intimidation and harassment while voting at the polls on Election Day. Expansion of early voting options in some states, including South Carolina, where early voting was available to voters for the first time in 2022, reduced these pressures on Election Day and improved access to the ballot box during the midterm cycle. In 2024, Louisiana will also pilot extended days of early voting due to legislation LDF helped pass in 2021.

Broad efforts like these to extend early in-person voting options are critical but also should be coupled with options for mail-in and absentee accommodations like those that were integral to strong turnout numbers in 2020, because they limited congestion and other issues at polling sites.

Transparency of poll site changes

Voters must know where to vote and have reasonable access and transportation to that location to cast a ballot on Election Day. Yet the process for poll site selection varies across states, and poll site listings can be decentralized, resulting in unreliable information and voter confusion.

Leading up to the 2024 elections, it will remain critical to promote transparency in poll site selection processes and listings, and LDF will continue to monitor for discriminatory poll site changes and closures in Black communities.

Poll worker recruitment and improved training

Poll workers serve as the frontline of America’s democracy. The 2020 elections, especially, revealed the importance of recruiting a rising generation of election staff to promote the resiliency of our political process. Further improvement to poll worker training is also one of the best proactive ways to avoid confusion, congestion and other issues on voting days.

For example, in 2022 poll workers in multiple states improperly restricted LDF monitors and other nonpartisan volunteers, who were wearing apparel with nonpartisan messaging, from being within the electioneering boundary zone around poll sites. These issues arose due to incorrect interpretations of electioneering rules and poor poll worker training—and could have been avoided with improved and accurate training curricula.

Anticipating and countering election sabotage attempts

Strategic monitoring and messaging efforts to detect and counteract misinformation and disinformation campaigns will continue to be vital to dismantling election sabotage efforts and echoes of the “Big Lie” in future election cycles. The rise of new technology and rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies amplify the need for civil rights groups to be well-versed in the cutting-edge use of these tools, especially to advocate for election-related safeguards.

The path to the ballot box in 2024 is riddled with roadblocks—but it doesn’t have to be. The observation of issues from recent election cycles have equipped voting rights advocates with the tools needed to clear barriers to voting and educate voters on the simple steps they can take to ensure their ballots can be cast and are counted. LDF will continue to pursue proactive policy fixes at the federal and state levels—like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and state-level equivalents—as well as monitor issues year-round in 2024 and beyond.

This blog is an updated version of an article originally published on LDF’s website. To read more blogs like these, head over to naacpldf.org/originalcontent.