'Election protection' effort needs Spanish, Arabic-speaking volunteers

A nonpartisan lawyers' group that offers assistance to voters on Election Day is looking for local volunteers who speak Spanish and Arabic.

The Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights is in charge of the "Election Protection" effort in Illinois and Indiana, as part of a national coalition devoted to ensuring all eligible voters have an equal opportunity to vote.

Local elections take place Tuesday for municipalities, school boards, library boards and other government bodies throughout the suburbs and most of Illinois.

The coalition offers hotlines for voters who might experience difficulties at the polls. The hotlines are monitored by volunteers who speak English, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Tagalog, Urdu and Vietnamese.

The committee's volunteers primarily are attorneys, law students and paralegals. However, there is a need for bilingual volunteers who speak Spanish and Arabic - and for that, the organization is open to working with people who don't have a legal background, said Jenny Terrell, program counsel for the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

The committee has been conducting voter protection work for local elections since at least 2013 and volunteers have dealt with a variety of issues, Terrell said.

For example, voters might have a language barrier or difficulties registering to vote on Election Day. They might be confused about where to go due to lack of signage in different languages, or might be intimidated by electioneering too close to the polls. Occasionally, there might be issues with specific election judges, she said.

Whenever possible, volunteers resolve issues on the phone by talking to election judges or the local clerk's office, Terrell said. "Most of the time, we are able to resolve the issues on the spot, and that is amazing."

But if needed, volunteers are dispatched to polling places to resolve issues in person, she said.

Normally, the effort also includes proactively sending volunteers to monitor polls that might present problems, such as during hotly contested local races, but that's not happening Tuesday because of COVID-19, Terrell said.

Volunteers go through "a pretty intensive" training on election law and logistics and watch a 90-minute video, she said. They will be paired on Tuesday with a committee staff member who will help with any questions or issues, Terrell said.

Anyone interested in volunteering should visit clccrul.org/election and click on "Volunteer for April 6 Election Protection."