ACLU of Eastern Missouri is Site of Election Day Voting Rights Command Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@aclu.org

ST. LOUIS, MO–The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri announced today that it will serve as the Legal Command Center for the Voting Rights Coalition of St. Louis and will monitor election activities through volunteer poll workers stationed at more than 50 polling places throughout the city.

“Our goal is to make sure that every eligible voter who wants to vote gets to cast a ballot,” said ACLU of Eastern Missouri Legal Director Denise Lieberman, who is serving as the Command Center coordinator. Lieberman also assisted in training more than 200 volunteer poll workers on how to deal with a wide range of voting problems that may arise.

The Command Center, which will be staffed by volunteer attorneys and other workers, will provide legal advice to poll monitors and dispatch attorneys to polls if needed. A coalition attorney will also be stationed at the Board of Elections in the event that problems arise that cannot be solved at polling sites. The ACLU also said that attorneys are ready to go to court if problems cannot be resolved.

“The ACLU is fully committed to this effort to keep people from being disfranchised again as many were in the 2000 presidential election,” said ACLU of Eastern Missouri Executive Director Brenda Jones.

The Command Center will open before the polls open and remain open until the polls are closed.

The ACLU of Eastern Missouri is a member of the Voting Rights Coalition of St. Louis, which is a nonpartisan, ad hoc group working to prevent the kinds of voting rights violations that occurred during the 2000 presidential election. The ACLU of Eastern Missouri previously brought a class-action lawsuit against the St. Louis Board of Elections in 2001 challenging election practices and procedures that impede the right to vote.