Election Protection

Common Cause manages grassroots voter protection field programs for the Election Protection coalition mentioned above. It works with organizations in all 50 states to identify election reforms at all levels of government, including expanding vote-by-mail and ensuring safe in-person voting with strict public health and social distancing guidelines. The organization has recruited more than 35,000 volunteers during the 2020 election through its Protect the Vote program (four times more than they saw during the 2016 election), according to its national media strategist David Vance. Common Cause also has an online tool to help people quickly find their representatives, how to contact them, bills they’ve introduced, committees they’ve served on and political contributions they’ve received to ensure you have all the information needed to vote.

However, even in states with open carry laws and no restrictions on guns at locations that host polling, such as churches and schools, prohibitions on guns prevail, according to Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania. "There are valid concerns now," Almeida added, "but we must let voters know about them without involuntarily discouraging them from coming to the polls." "We will have more than 1,000 volunteers at polling stations for questions, and to be eyes and ears on the ground and have voters' backs," Almeida said. "We make sure voters have a good experience."

In the runup to Election Day, Common Cause, with help from our Election Protection coalition partners, has recruited tens of thousands of nonpartisan volunteers to assist and protect voters during the 2020 election. The ranks of volunteers continue to grow daily through ProtectTheVote.net and have already more than quadrupled the totals from 2016 and 2018. The nonpartisan volunteers are already monitoring early voting sites, assisting voters, tracking and removing social media disinformation online, and even helping voters with ballot curing so that their votes will be counted as they intended. 

“This year presents unprecedented challenges for voters who want to exercise their right to vote and protect their health at the same time,” said Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, in a statement. “New Mexicans should feel secure that they can cast their ballot in a number of different ways, and that it will be counted as cast and anyone who interferes or tampers with elections will be held accountable.” Common Cause New Mexico has been running an election protection program since 2008 with no party or campaign affiliation.

There’s concern about the potential for clashes and problems at the polls, but it’s illegal to intimidate or harass voters, said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania. The group is helping lead a coalition with about 1,000 nonpartisan “poll monitors” who will be outside polling locations across the commonwealth to ensure voting goes smoothly. “We are doing a lot scenario planning,” Almeida said. “The best thing we can do is prepare in advance.”

"In June, Georgia voters were denied their right to vote when polling places ran out of ballots. If Secretary Raffensperger has taken any action to prevent that from happening again -- for example, by increasing the number of paper ballots in each polling place -- we haven’t heard about it."