Voting in the Midterm Election has already begun! Good news: voters are energized about important issues such as education, abortion access, racial justice, fair elections and fair maps. Bad news: voters face uncertainty about confusing election rules, dis/misinformation campaigns, and election security. We need your help to protect our democracy and let voters know that we have their backs. By joining Ohio’s nonpartisan Election Protection program you can help ensure Ohio voters have the information they need in order to successfully cast their ballot and minimize obstacles to voting, particularly for under-represented communities. 

There are lots of ways that you can volunteer with Election Protection this year. 

• Be a Non-Partisan Poll Monitor. Help voters during Early Vote and on Election Day by answering questions, distributing fliers, and reporting problems to the Election Protection Hotline. Sign up here to be an Election Day Poll Monitor. Training for Election Day Poll Monitors begins October 27. If you plan to be an Early Vote Poll Monitor sign up here and view the on demand training.
• Be a Peacekeeper. Peacekeepers are trained to help manage any tense situations that may arise at early vote centers or polling places. Typically, volunteers are recruited from the Faith community, social work, or other backgrounds with de-escalation training. Peacekeepers monitor early in-person voting locations during the final weekend of early voting, and will be on-call to be deployed on Election Day. Sign up to be a Peacekeeper and then you will receive an email to provide you with access to the recorded training. 
• Volunteer in our Command Center (Legal Experience Preferred). Command Center volunteers monitor the Election Protection Hotline to ensure that problems are resolved by boards of election officials. Volunteers receive training, and then can monitor incoming questions virtually from their home or office. Sign up to be a Command Center Volunteer and we will follow up with you on next steps for training.
• Help us monitor Social Media. Start now! Social Media Monitors volunteers receive training on how to monitor their social media feeds for disinformation and misinformation so that we can source it, report it, and remove it if needed. Click here to learn more & sign up to be a Social Media Monitor, and click here to watch a recording of a training. 
• Be an Election Protection Ambassador – Start now! Ambassadors distribute posters, palm cards, and yard signs featuring the Election Protection Hotline 866-OUR-VOTE. There’s no minimum or maximum requirement: you can participate at whatever level works best for you. Use this link to sign up to be an Ambassador for Election Protection & access our recorded training. You can request Election Protection materials at this link. 

Our volunteers are our eyes and ears on the ground. Poll Monitors and Command Center Volunteers allow us to rapidly respond to problems at the polls and guide our advocacy to fix problems for future elections. Please consider signing up to help voters this year!

Please contact cturcer@commoncause.org to learn more. Thanks again for your interest and participation! With your help, we’ll make sure that volunteers are involved in all corners of the state so that Ohioans can cast their ballots with confidence.