FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Stacie Royster, Director of Communications
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
(202) 662-8317
(202) 445-6101(cell)
sroyster@lawyerscommittee.org

Election Protection Hotline Available to Help Voters in New York

Toll-Free Number (1-866-OUR-VOTE) Available Now; Live Assistance on Primary Election Day

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 – Election Protection - the nation’s largest

nonpartisan voter protection coalition - will be available to assist voters in New York’s primary
elections on Tuesday, September 14, 2010, as the state transitions to new voting machines. From
5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m on primary day, trained volunteers will help resolve New York voters’
questions and problems through Election Protection’s toll-free hotline, 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-
687-8683). Additionally, legal volunteers will be monitoring polling sites in all five New York City
boroughs, providing assistance to voters and poll workers, conducting a brief survey on voters’
experience with the new voting machines and intervening when necessary.
 
Election Protection is concerned about the inadequate overvote protection on the machines used
in New York City. An overvote occurs when the machine reads that a voter selected too many
candidates for a particular office. Instead of automatically rejecting the ballot, a voter receives a
confusing message and is allowed to still cast his or her ballot. As a result of this configuration, in
2008, 13 Florida counties produced overvote rates almost 14 times higher than was expected,
according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

“There is often an increase in problems and confusion at polling places any time a jurisdiction
implements a new voting system for the first time,” said Eric Marshall, manager of Legal
Mobilization at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Unfortunately, these types of
problems could be compounded on September 14 by the lack of overvote protection and lead to
the disenfranchisement of countless New Yorkers. Election Protection is ready to do its part to
ensure traditionally disenfranchised voters are able to fully participate in Tuesday’s primaries,”
Marshall continued.

The 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683) toll-free hotline is available in English and Spanish to any
voters who need information, assistance or guidance in understanding their rights.  It is open to the
entire voting public, but targets historically disenfranchised communities, including: African
Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and other racially and ethnically
diverse communities; seniors; young people; low-income voters; and individuals with disabilities.

Election Protection’s nationwide, nonpartisan voter protection program was the largest in the
coalition’s history in 2008. Over 10,000 legal volunteers fanned out across the nation to assist
voters, poll workers and election officials in 25 states, the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline received over
240,000 calls from voters seeking assistance, and the www.866OurVote.org Web site was visited

(more)
Election Protection Hotline Available to Help Voters in New York – Page Two

by more than 283,000 people in the six weeks leading up to Election Day. Click here to read
Election Protection’s 2008 report, Election Protection 2008: Helping Voters Today, Modernizing the
System for Tomorrow.

For more information about Election Protection and the 1-866-OUR-VOTE Hotline, please visit:
www.866OurVote.org.
###

Media Note: Voting Rights experts and Election Protection spokespersons are available for
media interviews. Please contact Stacie Royster to coordinate,
sroyster@lawyerscommittee.org, 202-662-8317.