As election workers face increasing threats and harassment in smaller, less-resourced jurisdictions, PRP aims to ensure free and fair elections by providing them with free legal services and other resources.
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(February 28, 2024) OAKLAND, CA — Public Rights Project (PRP)—the civil rights legal advocacy nonprofit founded by Jill Habig, former special counsel to Kamala Harris in the California Attorney General’s Office—announces the launch of its Election Protection Hub to support and defend 200+ local elections officials in the face of unprecedented challenges and attacks on democracy from both outside actors and state governments ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The Election Protection Hub will serve as a central resource for local election officials—including clerks, registrars, recorders, and other election administrators and partners—offering them direct legal services and litigation support, so that they can do their jobs to administer free and fair elections ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“Local elections administrators are on the front lines of protecting our democracy, and they are facing unprecedented threats,” said Jill Habig, PRP’s founder and president. “The Elections Protection Hub offers much needed legal support to under-resourced local governments to make sure they do their part in administering fair and free elections where all voters can make their voices heard.”
A growing culture of violence and distrust has led to the harassment and threatening of elections officials, interference with election administration, misinformation and disinformation, and delegitimization of our electoral process. Over the past several years, local elections officials have been subject to increasingly escalating assaults by state and political actors that threaten their independence and the ability to do their jobs. Elections officials also have been subject to personal attacks, threats of violence, and baseless accusations by private individuals and groups. As a result, some states have lost up to 50% of their elections officials since 2020, per a report by Issue One.
“These efforts are increasingly targeting smaller, less-resourced jurisdictions that don’t have the capacity they need to push back,” added Habig. “Because of our decentralized system, election deniers don’t have to mount a huge effort in one place to have a significant impact on election outcomes, but instead are adopting a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ approach to undermining election integrity, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.”
“I’ve seen first-hand how the rise of misinformation, disinformation, and personal attacks are negatively impacting local election officials who are simply trying to do their jobs,” said Clifford Tatum, a former election administrator for more than 20 years, whose most recent position as Election Administrator of Harris County, Texas was eliminated by an abusive preemption law passed by the Texas legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott. “Our election administrators are suffering, both personally and professionally, and they need support. That’s why I’m proud to partner with PRP to stand up for government officials committed to helping voters exercise their rights.”
As election year 2024 gets underway and new and greater challenges emerge to election administration, the Election Protection Hub will help address those challenges.
The Election Protection Hub will:
Fight back against attacks on the authority and ability of local election officials to administer elections, including attacks on their budgets, staffing, and equipment;
Protect their offices and staff against in-person and online harassment;
Challenge efforts to replace electronic voting systems for hand counting;
Push back against overly burdensome, harassing, and frivolous Freedom of Information Act filings designed to slow down and hamper election administration;
Litigate against challenges to vote tabulation and certification;
Combat harmful and targeted misinformation regarding the safety and security of election administration intended to dissuade voters from coming to the polls; and
Offer technical assistance, file amicus briefs for coalitions of clerks on important issues of state and federal law, deliver confidential legal analysis, and represent individuals or governmental entities in litigation.
The Election Protection Hub builds on PRP’s ongoing work to protect voting rights and ensure free and fair elections. PRP was successful in 2020 and 2022 in helping local elections officials to administer elections in Michigan and Texas.
“We are built to help government officials use their authority to advance democracy. With the Election Protection Hub, PRP is systemizing and expanding its previous work with local elections officials to meet the moment” says Michael Adame, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Rights Project.
For more information about the Election Protection Hub, please visit here.
About Public Rights Project
Public Rights Project (PRP) is a 501(c)(3) legal advocacy nonprofit that works with local government officials to protect and expand the rights of the communities they serve, including voting rights, reproductive rights, workers rights, and more. Founded in 2017 by Jill Habig, former special counsel to Kamala Harris in the California Attorney General’s Office, PRP works with more than 500 local and state governments and officials across 43 states to fight against abuses of power and help advance and protect civil rights. PRP provides state and local governments with the capacity, training, representation and legal support they need to build trust with communities, take action to enforce civil rights, and ensure that voters’ voices are heard. PRP is staffed by dedicated lawyers and public servants with decades of combined experience in community organizing, program development, and promoting affirmative litigation. Since its founding, PRP has protected 1 million working people from corporate abuse, ensured voting rights for 10 million people, and secured legal access to abortion for 6.5 million people.
Web: https://www.publicrightsproject.org/
X/Twitter: @public_rights
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PRESS CONTACT:
Grace Kair, Chatham Strategies: GraceK@chatham-strategies.com, press@publicrightsproject.org
