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Protecting Access to the Polls: Dispatches from Fellows Advocating for Voting Rights
/ Blog Post
Equal Justice Works recently spoke to 2022 Fellow Kevin Muench and 2023 Fellows, Grace Thomas and Conner Kozisek about their work protecting voting rights and voter access. Read more about their experiences in the dispatches below:
During my Fellowship, I worked with local advocates and jail administrators to operate voter registration and absentee ballot programs in Kentucky’s jails. I also investigated and published findings regarding the impact of prison gerrymandering on state and local elections.
As a Fellow, what did an average day working with your clients look like?
My daily work was dynamic and varied. Some days I was inside a jail, working with advocates and administrators to establish a registration drive. Other days, I was reviewing redistricting data alongside data scientists. Each day was a fun, new adventure.
What did you accomplish and learn throughout your project?
During this project, I’ve learned the strength of community advocacy and relationship building. Change rarely comes from the top down, and more frequently is the output of sustained, long-term advocacy from a grass roots community based on open, trusting relationships. To create the change we want to see, we must build relationships and commit to the long fight.
What are you most excited about continuing your project?
Looking forward, I strongly believe that we need to create better conditions in jails and prisons. A key piece of that is helping people in pre-trial detention–who have the legal right to vote–participate in the democratic process. Our criminal legal system normalizes the mass processing of incarcerated people, and we cannot allow those folks’ rights to be stripped during this.
What advice do you have for people looking to learn more about their local voting laws?
For those who want to learn more, my best piece of advice is to get involved! If you’re interested in an issue, find a community organization who focuses on that issue and volunteer with them. These advocates have deep, intimate understandings of how the law impacts people daily, and are some of the best experts to learn alongside. Here in Kentucky, I’d recommend All of Us or None Kentucky, Kentucky Equal Justice Center, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, The League of Women Voters, and countless more.
Change rarely comes from the top down, and more frequently is the output of sustained, long-term advocacy from a grass roots community based on open, trusting relationships.
Kevin Muench /
2022 Equal Justice Works Fellow
Although the U.S. Supreme Court articulated the right of eligible voters to cast a ballot from jail fifty years ago, few incarcerated voters participate in elections because of a lack of voter information and electoral resources, voter intimidation, and institutional barriers that exist by virtue of being inside a jail. At Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, I advance jail-based voting initiatives for eligible incarcerated voters and the community advocates who support them, primarily in Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, and Virginia.
What does an average day working with your clients look like?
On an average day, in coordination with justice-impacted advocates and community organizers, I communicate with election and jail staff to explain their duties to incarcerated voters, advocate for community-led support of incarcerated voters, provide educational resources to voters, and push for expanded ballot access in jails. Near election deadlines, I accompany community organizers inside facilities to register voters, answer election questions directly, lead educational programming, advise volunteers, and provide access to mail-in ballot applications. I will also return a call to the occasional voter asking a rights restoration or jail-voting question that comes in through our Election Protection Hotline.
What have you accomplished and learned so far?
Because most election laws do not adequately consider the specific barriers eligible incarcerated voters have when voting, I have seen legal advocates and county officials creatively meet the need of voters while complying with election laws and without straining jail resources. When a county official brings up an issue or a jailer says no, I have learned to be a better advocate for incarcerated voters by problem-solving with officials or pursuing alternative avenues for partnerships. The best part of this work is witnessing government officials, community members, and directly impacted people all working together to support traditionally marginalized voters. With these folks, I have helped some community organizers start new jail-based voting programs inside jails and helped secure a jail-based polling location.
What are you most excited about continuing your project?
I am involved in 17 counties across five states now. In many of these counties, voter participation from the county jails in 2020 and 2022 was small, so I am excited to see how participation this November compares to previous years because of the agreements, programming, and resources we fought for. I am looking forward to using the momentum from this past year to create long-term policies in these counties, encourage more counties to implement similar programming, and support the legislative efforts of our partners in 2025.
What advice do you have for people looking to learn more about their local voting laws?
If you have an election-related question about how to vote in your state, you can reach out to the national, nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, which is made up of more than 300 local, state, and national partners, at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683). Our 886-OUR-VOTE hotline and voter assistance field program are staffed with trained legal volunteers to assist voters with a variety of questions and issues.
The best part of this work is witnessing government officials, community members, and directly impacted people all working together to support traditionally marginalized voters.
Grace Thomas /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow
At Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, I expand voters’ access to polling places and ensure voters have meaningful access to in-person voting options. My work focuses on polling place closures and last-minute changes, language and disability access, polling place staffing concerns, jail voting, and other issues that disproportionately affect Chicago’s low-income communities of color.
What does an average day working with your clients look like?
Although each day is different, my days often include meetings with coalition and community partners, responding to requests and questions about different voting requirements or processes, presenting to partners about voting rights issues, helping to draft policy proposals based on partner goals, and working on other forms of advocacy.
What have you accomplished and learned so far?
During the 2024 Primary Election, I helped to train a team of field program volunteers who visited specific polling places that had recently been changed, had been identified by community partners as areas of concern, or had a history of problems. The volunteers also responded to problems related to polling place access as we learned about them during the day. Additionally, one of my main policy projects has involved researching and drafting language for an Illinois State Voting Rights Act, which provides broad state-level voter protections for polling places and voter access. Through this and other efforts, I have learned so much about working within coalitions with different and overlapping goals and thinking through ways we can help each other.
What are you most excited about continuing your project?
The 2024 General Election is just around the corner! I am excited to expand upon the groundwork created for the primary to assist voters and continuing to advocate for racial equity considerations being part of the process for polling place consolidations, closures, changes, or other issues.
What advice do you have for people looking to learn more about their local voting laws?
My host organization is part of the national Election Protection coalition, which includes the nonpartisan 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) hotline. Voters can call this hotline to talk to trained Election Protection volunteers about questions they have about voting or problems they encounter while trying to vote.
I am excited to expand upon the groundwork created for the primary to assist voters and continuing to advocate for racial equity considerations being part of the process for polling place consolidations, closures, changes, or other issues.
Conner Kozisek /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow
To learn more about the Fellows that have worked to protect voting rights and electoral participation, click here.