PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008 - (Page 9)

FEATURE SToRy ELECTIon DAy HoTLInES It is 6:20 a.m. on April 22, 2008, and volunteer hotline workers, including DLA Piper lawyers and staff, begin streaming into our Philadelphia office, ready to staff an election hotline for the next 16 hours. The polls do not open until 7:00 a.m., but the phones are already ringing. Volunteers field calls reporting problems with voting machines, confusion over voter registration, voter intimidation and many other issues. They work with determination all day to allay confusion while striving to ensure that eligible voters will be able to cast a vote. This scenario played out in an office that works closely with the LCCR attorneys and The Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan organization aimed at improving the Philadelphia region by demanding ethical conduct of public officials. Safeguarding elections is its signature effort. “Seventy and the Lawyers’ Committee each have a stellar track record of upholding the integrity of the election process,” says John McKeever (Philadelphia), who serves on the boards of directors of both organizations. “Pooling our respective resources and strengths for this crucial primary helped ensure that all eligible citizens had an equal opportunity to exercise the most fundamental of all rights — the right to vote.” The assistance we provide includes hosting and staffing hotlines and monitoring the polling sites. Our lawyers researched, created or updated election manuals, voting guides and other Election Protection materials for over half of the states. In some locations, they operated voter hotlines. This work is continuing in preparation for the November election. Eric Marshall of LCCR says that the firm “has played an invaluable role in our leadership in Election Protection. DLA Piper has been there every step of the way providing valuable leadership, hosting call centers, recruiting and training volunteers, promoting the hotline, producing legal materials and offering any assistance the Lawyers’ Committee requested.” InTERnATIonAL ELECTIon MonIToRInG We also provide assistance in promoting fair elections beyond the United States. Knowing that elections throughout the world are rife with fraud and other practices that taint the electoral process, partner Claudia Salomon (New York) is working on a survey of successful domestic and international election monitoring efforts in selected nations in Asia, Africa, Europe and South and Central America. DLA Piper has committed extensive resources to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law (LCCR), which has been at the forefront of the legal struggle to secure racial justice and equal access to the electoral process for all voters. Working with LCCR and other organizations that are part of Election Protection, a national, nonpartisan coalition, our offices nationwide have provided pro bono assistance in a number of ways. Volunteers working the Election Protection hotline. SUMMER 2008 | 09

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008

PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008 Contents A Firm Response to a Natural Disaster Protecting Our Electorate National News An Interview with Sandy Gohn Mapping Impact FourThought Signature Project Update New Perimeter Launches Addis Ababa Law School Project Awards and Recognition What Our Clients Say About Us

PROBONO Bulletin - Summer 2008

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