Orleans Parish Election Protection Program
On April 22 and again on May 20, 2006, the voters of New Orleans went to the polls to choose their city’s new political leadership. In the process, New Orleanians from across the country made history by their unique commitment to our democratic traditions. These elections were the first since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast area and the city of New Orleans. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s National Campaign for Fair Elections worked extensively on voter protection efforts, to help ensure that every eligible citizen, those who were displaced and those who returned home, had the opportunity to cast their vote and make their voice heard in the most important election in New Orleans’ history.
Through our work in Louisiana, the Election Protection coalition, led by the Lawyers’ Committee’s National Campaign for Fair Elections, People For the American Way Foundation, and the NAACP, created the first success story of Election Protection 2006. Working as part of the Louisiana Voting Rights Network, a large and dynamic coalition of national and local civil rights and community organizations, the Lawyers’ Committee assisted displaced voters throughout the country and those who voted in person in Orleans Parish.
Pre-Election Day Efforts
Like programs in the past, our Louisiana Election Protection program integrated the creation of materials for volunteers and voters, use of the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline, a field program to distribute materials, and a legal field mobilization program to assist voters and solve problems on and prior to Election Day.
As part of our preparation to run the hotline and assist voters through Election Day, the National Campaign worked with our pro bono partners on legal research to help craft documents, including updated Bills of Rights for both displaced voters and voters in Orleans Parish, legal guidelines for organizations assisting voters, and extensive research on absentee ballot challenges. The law firm of DLA Piper took the lead in producing key legal materials over the course of the election cycle. We also worked closely with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office for months preceding the election to obtain accurate information for voters, offer suggestions and advice, and assist in their efforts to reach out to displaced voters.
To help educate and inform voters about the upcoming elections, we also activated our 1-866-OUR-VOTE voter assistance hotline. Staffed by volunteer lawyers and law students and run out of the Lawyers’ Committee’s Washington, DC offices, the hotline ran from Monday, March 13 through Election Day on May 20, assisting hundreds of displaced voters around the country. Questions from voters mainly centered on the absentee ballot process and, on Election Day, questions about where to go to vote. In total, 65 volunteers from 23 law firms and law schools filled 138 hotline shifts. The hotline also served as a key mechanism to record voting incidents for further analysis.
The National Campaign and the Louisiana Voting Rights Network (LVRN) did extensive outreach to local community partners to help educate voters about their rights and new Election Day procedures. LVRN organizations, including the NAACP, People For the American Way Foundation, the Louisiana ACLU, NAACP LDF, the National Urban League, and Unity ’06, coordinated legal and field efforts to maximize our outreach and effectiveness. Nearly 20 trainings were held throughout April and May to help recruit Election Day Poll Monitors – lawyers, law students, community members, and out-of-town volunteers who wanted to assist with the city’s historic election. We worked closely with Rep. Cheryl Gray of the Louisiana Black Legislative Caucus and the National Bar Association affiliate, the Martinet Society, on outreach and recruitment efforts. The National Bar Association was also instrumental in recruiting attorneys to assist voters at the NAACP’s Displaced Voter Assistance Centers in 16 cities throughout the country. Additionally, the NBA recruited attorneys to be on call during the early voting period in parishes across Louisiana.
The Elections: April 22 and May 20
On April 22, the Louisiana Voting Rights Network mobilized over 150 volunteers who were deployed to monitor over 30 polling places, covering over 300 precincts. Poll Monitors were allowed inside polling places to observe the voting process, point out problems to commissioners, discuss incidents with voters after the voting process was completed, and record and report any problems that voters had inside or outside the polling place. LVRN concentrated on placing volunteers at mega polling sites and precincts with high numbers of African-American voters. For the general election on May 20, LVRN mobilized over 50 volunteers, who were able to monitor similar numbers of sites and precincts through a mobile field attorney and roving volunteer program.
Kim Boyle, a Lawyers’ Committee Board member and a partner at Phelps Dunbar in New Orleans, hosted the Legal Command Center (LCC) for both Election Days. The LCC served as a headquarters for responding to Election Day problems. The LCC communicated regularly with Poll Monitors and other field volunteers, hotline volunteers in Washington, DC, state and local election officials, and local law enforcement. Attorneys in the LCC tracked incidents at polling places, recorded problems for further follow-up and analysis, assisted dozens of voters with complicated voting problems, and helped coordinate the deployment of Poll Monitors to key polling places throughout the day.
Analysis
While we commend the Secretary of State and other state and local election officials for elections that were largely administered well, there were, unfortunately, a variety of incidents on Election Day for the primary election. But the real heroes, of course, were the voters of Orleans Parish who, despite unprecedented obstacles, honored our democracy by exercising their political voice through the ballot box. Problems at the polls included inaccurate polling place information, lack of signage at polling places, voters missing from registration rolls, and police presence at polling sites. Our legal volunteers and poll monitors were able to resolve many of these problems but many of these issues could have been prevented. Based on these incidents and other data gathered from the hotline and at Election Day polling places, we made recommendations for improvements to the elections process to help provide for a more inclusive process for the general election.
There were some improvements on May 20, but many problems persisted. Most notably, there was continued confusion over proper polling place locations, voters missing from registration rolls (in some cases, voters were not on the rolls even though they had voted in the primary), and an increased police presence at polling sites, especially mega polling sites.
After the hurricanes, in the months leading up to the election, our major concern was preventing disenfranchisement of displaced minority voters. Regrettably, our analysis of the election concludes that disenfranchisement of displaced voters residing outside of Louisiana was the # 1 problem for both elections. The absentee voting process was daunting and confusing for voters and, as we see now, largely unsuccessful in providing a true opportunity for displaced voters to cast a ballot. Of an estimated 90,000-120,000 displaced voters, only 21,000 cast absentee ballots, voted early in New Orleans, or voted early at satellite sites in Louisiana in the primary; 24,000 voters voted early or absentee for the general election. While this represents a significant increase over the number of absentee ballot requests for any previous Orleans Parish election, it is still a staggeringly small number of displaced voters. Of the voters who did request absentee ballots for the primary, 65% were Black and 32% were White.
In the future, we will need to push to change some of these procedures to make the absentee ballot process less problematic. Certainly, out of state satellite voting locations in cities with a large number of displaced voters would have helped to alleviate this problem; but even providing satellite sites within Louisiana on Election Day would have helped to ease the burden of long-distance travel for thousands of voters. It is clear that better outreach was needed to help inform displaced voters about the voting process and FEMA should have provided funds to the State of Louisiana for this purpose. Additional steps must be taken to ensure that every voter can participate in the November elections.
Overall, the racial disparity in voting from 2002 to 2006 meant that 25,000-30,000 fewer African-American voters participated while voter participation among White voters was largely unchanged. In the primary, the average voter turnout for predominantly White precincts was 44%, while turnout was only 24% for the predominately Black precincts. Turnout for the general election increased overall by 2%, to 38% (an increase of 5,000 votes) but the increase in turnout was split fairly evenly between predominantly White and predominantly Black precincts. Fifty-five percent of general election voters were Black and 44% were White. Contrary to the statements of some demographers that the racial composition of the city is unchanged post-Katrina, these facts suggest that this is not the case and that the voters who remain displaced are predominantly African-American.
Despite these and other problems, the disenfranchisement of displaced voters would have been much more severe without the efforts of the Lawyers’ Committee’s National Campaign for Fair Elections, the Election Protection Coalition, the Louisiana Voting Rights Network, and hundreds of local volunteers. Our efforts will continue as we work to ensure every Louisiana resident has the opportunity to cast a ballot this November.