With the 2020 General Election fast approaching, One Voice was already working to ensure that everyone eligible to vote could do so without any problem. To accomplish this goal, One Voice led by establishing the Mississippi Civic Engagement Roundtable, a coalition of over 30 state organizations along with national and local partners. They united to share knowledge and resources to ensure that the rights of voters were protected during the 2020 Elections with the Election Protection program. Vital to this goal is One Voice’s commitment to providing the only direct hotline number (1-888-601-Vote) in the state for Mississippi voters.
According to the Mississippi Secretary of State Office, “there were 1,985,928 registered voters in Mississippi for the 2020 election. That is an increase of more than 110,000 over the total in 2016.” With the anticipation of a historic voter turnout, the Associated Press estimated that “more than 1.3 million ballots” would be cast for the 2020 Elections.
Of course, one of the main focuses on the ballot was a possible change in the leadership of the United States with Joe Biden and Donald Trump on the ballot. However, changes could occur in Mississippi Congressional districts with highly contested races, as well. There were also three statewide ballot measures: Measure 1—Allow Medical Marijuana, Measure 2—Office Elections, and Measure 3—Referendum on a Redesigned State Flag. With so many critical and highly contested races and initiatives, it was critical to have a mechanism established to monitor and provide assistance to every registered voter who may have issues casting their vote and/or participating in our democracy.
With over a hundred calls coming in on Sunday and Monday before Election Day, the One Voice Civic Engagement Team was ready to serve on Tuesday, November 3rd. Yet, with the election occurring in the middle of a pandemic, this year’s Election Protection program was different, having to address the normal election issues while navigating the unique issues created by COVID-19. Adhering to the practice of social distancing, there were about 10 people on location at the One Voice office. With over sixty volunteers trained, including a team of legal experts from across the State, most responding virtually to incoming calls using Zendesk and transferring this information into Election Protection’s OVL (Our Vote Live), which is a database used to collect and track calls in real-time led by the Lawyers Committee.
More than 600 voters called the Election Protection hotline, seeking assistance from trained volunteers by phone and on the ground. While we continued to see most of the same problems from mistakes on the voter rolls, misunderstandings at polling places, voter intimidation, and voting equipment problems, this election saw extremely longer lines than in 2012—and still we saw one of the largest increase of voter turnout in U.S. history.
It is intolerable that voters continue to have their voting voices silenced through no fault of their own. If we want to see democracy work, the structure must be changed to be efficient in serving all eligible voters in future elections.
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