For the 8th election cycle in a row, Proskauer hosted an Election Protection call center on November 7th and 8th in partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which spearheads a national, nonpartisan effort that provides comprehensive information and assistance to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to vote. This year, Proskauer answered calls from Ohio. Our volunteers answered questions about a wide variety of issues such as polling locations and voter identification requirements, while also compiling reports of long lines, voter intimidation and electioneering activities in and around polling sites and relaying that information to the on-the-ground Lawyers’ Committee team stationed throughout Ohio.
In its two days of operation, Proskauer fielded 115 volunteers providing guidance to over 420 Ohio voters. Of the volunteers, 50 were in-house lawyers from various firm clients. As we did two years ago, the call center was fully virtual, so we were able to draw volunteers from across our U.S. offices.
Partner Jason Madden spearheaded the effort, with assistance from Project Assistant Sophia Egrari. In addition, Jillian Ruben, Tara Brailey, Elliot Stevens, Matt Levy, and Michael Guggenheim served as managing leads throughout the two days, escalating pertinent issues as needed and answering any questions from volunteers that came up along the way.
Jason noted the importance of these efforts: “It is extremely worthwhile to collaborate with both colleagues and clients to educate the public and do our small part to ensure that any voter, of any party, has the opportunity to participate in this process that is so fundamental to democracy.” Sophia added that, “Running the Call Center was a great service to the state of Ohio and our country as a whole.”