Joyce Democracy Grantees Ramp Up Great Lakes Voter Education, Protection Efforts

Investing in nonpartisan voter education, protecting voting rights and safeguarding fair elections in the Great Lakes region is a core mission of The Joyce Foundation’s Democracy Program. With early voting underway, and just about two weeks before the November midterm election many of Joyce’s Democracy Program grantees have created resources designed to empower voters by providing accurate information and getting them safely and easily to the polls.

“The stakes for this election are especially high. Every vote and every voter counts. The work that our grantee partners are doing to ensure that every eligible citizen has accurate and accessible information to exercise their right to vote is essential to preserving our democracy,” said Carrie Davis, Democracy Program Director. “We continue to invest in these initiatives because we know they’re working and making a difference.”

Here’s a snapshot of what these nonpartisan organizations are doing to get out the vote:

• Election Protection is a coalition of nonpartisan organizations providing state-specific, comprehensive information on voter registration, locating your polling place, voting hours and helping troubleshoot problems. Voters can also receive information and receive assistance through a hotline in English, Spanish, Arabic, and several Asian languages, a live chat feature, and via text.

• Common Cause is promoting a package of voting tools that, in addition to looking up voter registration and polling location information, also allows voters to track their ballots and provides voter information for returning citizens as well as a portal dedicated to stopping online disinformation.

• Students Learn Students Vote (#StudentVote) is a coalition of nonpartisan groups focused on increasingstudent engagement and turnout through a variety of resources, including its SLSV Checklist.

• Campus Vote Project has an interactive map of state-specific guides of what students need to know to be able to vote at home or at school (here’s an example from Wisconsin).

• Chicago Votes voter mobilization programs include Unlock Civics which features Cook County Jail Votes, an initiative that successfully facilitated a polling location inside Cook County Jail–the first in the nation to do so.

• Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Voting Rights Project leads the Election Protection initiative for Illinois and Indiana and has a variety of resources for both states.

• Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) features a New Americans Democracy Project promoting civic participation in Chicago and surrounding suburbs and mobilizing new citizens in immigrant communities to Get Out the Vote.

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago has a robust voter engagement program that includes in-language voter education and voter protection to help immigrant citizens overcome language barriers to casting their ballot and guard against race-based discrimination.

MichiganVoting.org, supported by a broad coalition of nonpartisan voting rights organizations, is a one-stop shop for statewide info on voter registration, absentee and in-person voting, and “know your rights” materials in multiple languages.

Common Cause Minnesota’s I Vote! MN 2022 initiative aims to combat mis- and disinformation, facilitates volunteer opportunities and spearheaded the “Me + 3 GOTV pledge” encouraging voter registration, early voting and asking at least three others to do the same.

• Ohio Voter Rights Coalition offers a factsheet with quick-access QR codes to look up voting locations, check your registration, or fill out an absentee ballot application.

• League of Women Voters Ohio also has compiled a one-stop voter information page where you can look up what’s on your ballot, learn about judicial elections, and volunteer opportunities to help with Election Protection or learn about serving as a poll worker.

• League of Women Voters-Wisconsin produced a detailed Voter Checklist, a topic by topic list of voter information, training on spotting disinformation (see here and here), and nonpartisan info about what’s on the ballot in the midterms.

• More state-specific voter information is available from Common Cause Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.