Voters' Rights Project at Rutgers School of Law-Camden
Students from the Voter’s Rights Project at Rutgers School of Law-Camden are volunteering their time to monitor participation and provide advice to voters at the polls today throughout Camden.
The Voters’ Rights Project is a non-partisan pro bono program established by Rutgers-Camden students, in 2004, in a effort to mirror the efforts of the national Election Protection program.
“The goal of the project is to ensure that every voter within Camden feels safe and is able to successfully exercise their right to vote without fear of intimidation,” said 2L Matt DePasquale, co-coordinator of the student-run project.
Students have registered dozens of voters, monitored Camden polling places, and developed a strong partnership with the Camden County Board of Elections. According to Eve Biskind Klothen, Assistant Dean for Pro Bono and Public Interest Programs at Rutgers–Camden
“[t]he Camden County Board of Elections has sought their assistance and input, and in turn conducts training for participating students. They then monitor elections as student observers; and now some students, after additional training, have been deputized to provide further assistance on Election Day.”
The students’ work does not stop after election day, throughout the year the project organizes voter registration drives and implements educational programming at local schools and community centers. In 2009, the project received national recognition when it was awarded received Equal Justice Work’s Exemplary Public Service Award for a student group. Read the full coverage.
The Tidewater Roots Polling Project (TRPP) at William and Mary Law School trained 66 Hampton Roads area undergraduate students to work with registrars running polling locations during the midterm election. The goal of TRPP is to aid local government in recruiting and training a new generation of poll workers and is funded by a Help America Vote College Program grant administered by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
Check out OurVoteLive.org for a comprehensive national log of election-related issues and inquiries. When the PSLawNet Blog last checked OurVoteLive.org the site had already processed over 8,000 reports for the 2010 general election.