Want To Defend Your Voting Rights? There’s An App For That

Victor Landa, NewsTaco

It sounds trite, and I couldn’t resist the cliché, but it’s true…there is a new app for voting rights.

The Hufington Post reports that the app was put together by “a consortium of civil rights groups,” including:

• The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• National Association of Latino Appointed and Elected Officials Education Fund
• New Organizing Institute Education Fund
• Rock the Vote
• Verified Voting Foundation

The idea is to put t tool in the hands of voters in order to educate them about their rights and at the same time arm them with information to take action. The organizations responsible for the app feel this is timely, given what they call the efforts across the country to supress minority voting rights.

The tool gives voters the ability to digitally verify their registration status, find their polling place, encourage their friends and family to vote, fill out voter registration forms, and contact election protection officials, amongst other means to encourage voting.

Around the country, state governments have pursued voter identification laws and other legislative initiatives that civil rights activists — and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder — have labeled a type of “poll tax” that suppresses the vote, similar to historical efforts to disenfranchise minority voters during the Jim Crow era.

The hope is that the app will end confusion about voter ID laws and stop attempts to disenfranchise voters.

The important stuff: you can download the Election Protection Smartphone App HERE!