Thank you to everyone who joined Monday's (10/31) Our Homes, Our Votes webinar, “Countdown to Election Day: GOTV, Election Protection, and Post-Disaster Ballot Access”!

 

Morgan Conley, national coordinator for Election Protection at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, gave an overview of the Election Protection Coalition’s year-round efforts to protect access to the ballot through nonpartisan voter education and assistance, litigation, and on-the-ground advocacy on Election Day. Voters should be aware of the four election protection hotlines (available in English, Spanish, Arabic, and multiple Asian languages) as resources to call if their right to vote is being challenged or if they face voter intimidation.

 

Blake Tyler, voting rights organizer at the Granite State Organizing Project, discussed his organization’s ongoing work to expand election access, register returning citizens, educate youth voters, offer rides to the polls, and get out the vote in subsidized housing. He emphasized the importance of deep canvassing, relational organizing, and texting friends and family to make sure they have a voting plan.  

 

Jesse Burns, executive director of the League of Women Voters of NJ, shared lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy, which struck one week before the presidential election of 2012. She reviewed the strategies that the state employed to preserve access to the ballot—such as printing provisional ballots, offering mobile voting sites, stationing volunteers at closed polling places, and extending the ballot return deadline. Jesse emphasized that the best way to ensure access to the ballot in the wake of a natural disaster is to adopt pro-voter laws that make voting accessible in all circumstances.

The webinar recording can be found here. The meeting transcript can be found here and the saved chat can be found here.

The final webinar, “Holding Candidates to their Campaign Promises," will take place on Monday, November 14, at 2:30 pm ET. Elected officials are most attentive to the concerns of their constituents who vote. After the election is over, housing organizations should evaluate the success of their voter engagement efforts and demonstrate that low-income renters are a significant, active voting bloc in their communities—a constituency to whom elected officials must be responsive. Panelists will discuss opportunities to hold elected officials accountable to their campaign promises, establish relationships with new staff, and ensure that candidates who champion affordable housing on the campaign trail maintain that commitment when their terms begin. The panel will feature Neisha McGee, manager of advocacy, engagement & mobilization at Independent Sector, and Molly Jacobson, senior policy analyst at the Virginia Housing Alliance.

Visit the Our Homes, Our Votes website to watch the recordings of past webinars.