Center Serves to Protect Voters’ Rights

ABC News On Campus reporter Zach Ferriola-Bruckenstein blogs: Today, volunteers around the country are staffing toll-free hot lines to answer voters’ questions and provide voting information to help protect voter rights. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law hosts the state’s hot line. Along with the national Lawyers’ Committee, the UNC Center for Civil Rights, the UNC Law’s Pro Bono Program and the Black Law Students Association organized and coordinated the hot line. Sylvia Novinsky, the law school’s assistant dean for public service programs, is in charge of the effort. "The main goal is to ensure that everyone’s vote counts," Novinsky said. "We are going to be fielding calls from people who have questions ranging from ‘I don’t know where my polling place is’ to ‘I was denied access to my polling place.’" Between 4 million and 6 million people were denied the right to vote during the elections in 2000, the Lawyers’ Committee says. As a result, the nonpartisan Election Protection operation "was formed to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process." Most of those denied the right to vote came from minority communities, the committee says. They were disenfranchised through a "combination of illegal threats and intimidation, ineffective voter education, inadequately trained poll  workers and voting machines that did not work." The hot line serves as a primary resource that voters can use on Election Day. Novinsky noted that there are lawyers standing by to address any legal issues that arise. "We are working in conjunction with the Lawyers’ Committee around the state who will be responding to us if we start noticing patterns or if individuals have trouble at polling places," she said. In addition to the protection of voters’ rights, Novinsky sees this effort as beneficial to the community as a whole. "I think it’s been an excellent opportunity for the community to come together on a project that is nonpartisan and provides legal education," Novinsky said. Matt Marvin, the director of communications at the law school, agrees with Novinsky. Marvin also feels that Election Protection is an excellent experience for law students, despite being a time-consuming endeavor. "We have over 100 UNC law school students who have signed up for this," Marvin said. "It is not an insignificant commitment. We have students who really care." Novinsky and Marvin agree that the success of the Election Protection hot line is hard to measure. During the 2004 election, Novinsky said that voters used the hot line heavily. "It was successful in that it was busy," she said. "The calls were coming in and there were obviously questions that people had. They were able to get a person on the phone and get individualized attention." Other than those calls that the hot line receives, however, it is hard to gauge how many voters need assistance or have their rights infringed upon. In the first 90 minutes of operation today, the North Carolina Election Protection Hotline responded to 97 calls. Marvin wishes that this sort of effort wasn’t necessary. "Obviously it would be better if there wasn’t a need for this," he said. "If the phones weren’t ringing it would be better."