Dear NBA Member and Colleague:
Ameilia Boynton Robinson famously stated that “[a] voteless people is a hopeless people.” In today’s political climate, people of color across the country are motivated to vote unlike ever before this November. Mean spirited national and international forces are allied to deny and defeat these aspirations. Using vicious voter suppression, deception, and voter confusion to discourage election participation, these national forces are threatening the very foundation of our democracy, the right to vote.
Deploying the cover of two pandemics, COVID-19 and racism, these anti-democratic forces have weakened the U.S. Postal Service in an effort to stifle the voices of the American people. These “voter piranhas” have created obstacles at the state and local levels including changing and reducing polling locations with little or no notice; limiting staffing and voting equipment, purging voters, opposing drop boxes, thus creating long lines and increasing the possibility of exposure to COVID-19. The people most affected by these strategies are communities of color, the elderly, young and low-income voters.
The National Bar Association, as the largest organization of Black lawyers and judges in the country, has vowed to fight for our democracy. The NBA will take on these anti-democratic forces in the courtroom, in the newsroom and in the field of the election process.
The National Bar Association will fight for every American’s inalienable right to vote. To achieve this crucial objective of voter and election protection, we need YOU! Black Lawyers Matter! Over the decades, NBA Lawyers and Affiliate Chapters have been leaders in the fight for voting rights and, since its inception, of the Election Protection (EP) Program.
We have designed an expansive 2020 NBA Election Protection Program with the addition of an NBA Election Protection Fellow to provide grassroots training, public education on voting, poll watching, hotline captains and volunteers, and where needed, rapid response teams to quickly mobilize and assist in mounting legal challenges. Our success hinges on your support.
As a NBA Member, past or present (and if past, please come home and be present with us), we are asking for two things: 1) a personal commitment to be a volunteer, advising of the capacity in which you are willing to work; and 2) that you share this communication with your larger local/state bar associations, particularly the sections for minority lawyers as well as other groups for which you are a member that have lawyers who would likely volunteer if aware our work (i.e. sororities, fraternities, civic clubs, etc.).
Please visit our website at www.nationalbar.org, click Election Protection to learn more about our efforts, the training required for various roles, to sign up as a volunteer, and to register for our informational webinar, which will be held on Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 1:00 pm EST. We will keep a slide deck from the webinar posted on our website for you to view at your convenience if unable to attend in real time. Please direct any questions or advise of your chapter participation by response to [email protected]. We will host an NBA Election Protection Training CLE in early October, too. Thanks in advance for your consideration.
Kind regards,
C.K. Hoffler
National Bar Association President
source:
www.nationalbar.org
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