The NAACP is setting up a hub to safeguard voting rights amid worries that the Trump administration could interfere with people’s ability to cast ballots.
The NAACP has long run “election protection” programs but is putting extra emphasis on them this year because of President Donald Trump’s push to change voting rules and a Supreme Court decision weakening the Voting Rights Act that led to a spate of gerrymandering to break up majority-Black congressional districts.
The legal hub, launching Oct. 24, will vet claims of voter intimidation and voter suppression and take such incidents to court, according to the NAACP. Attorneys with the group will take calls and review online submissions to help ensure eligible voters can cast ballots, said Kristen Clarke, the NAACP’s general counsel.
“We are ready,” Clarke said. “We have an army of legal volunteers across the country and are prepared to activate and seek emergency relief on Election Day where necessary.”
Clarke oversaw the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during President Joe Biden’s tenure. That division has long focused on protecting voting rights, but critics contend the Trump administration has used it to make it harder to vote.
One of Clarke’s top concerns this election is the division’s plans to send 1,000 or more election monitors to the polls, she said. Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday told Fox News the Justice Department’s plans are in line with what it has done in the past and accused its detractors of “fearmongering.”
Last month the NAACP sued to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies from deploying armed personnel to polling places.
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