Democracy Desk: Insights from Joyce's Annual Midwest Democracy Grantees Convening

During a busy election year, it’s not just political parties and partisan interests who are hard at work. Non-partisan organizations across our region are educating, mobilizing and supporting voters through a range of exciting programs. Joyce’s Democracy program recently welcomed 40 leaders from organizations across the Great Lakes to Chicago for the second annual Midwest Democracy Convening. State delegations shared insights from their spring elections, recent voting policy changes and concerns leading up to November. Two days of vibrant discussions addressed a range of topics from working with election officials to language, cultural and physical accessibility to voting.

Four grantees – Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago, ACCESS Michigan, Wisconsin Native Vote, and Detroit Disability Power – shared best practices to lessen barriers to voting.

Language and Cultural Access:

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago (AAJC) shared their three-step advocacy cycle. First, they recruit and deploy poll watchers to observe in all language-designated precincts (locations with a large enough population that they are required by law to offer translation) in Chicago and Cook County. Second, they compile the results in a report of observations and recommendations for improvement. Finally, they advocate to local election authorities to improve their practices, and support the implementation of new policies.

Some of AAJC’s recent recommendations include:

• Increase bilingual judge recruitment, retention, and pay (especially in Cook County)
• Employ full-time bilingual staff for outreach in specific language communities
• Regularly consult with community-based organizations
• Establish language-specific hotlines for interpretation assistance on Election Day
• Increase visibility of in-language resources at polling places

Best practices suggest that voters are more likely to participate fully in democracy when they have the opportunity to vote in their native language. Even in municipalities that offer translators and translated materials or ballots, voters often do not know how to request them. AAJC recently advocated for the Chicago Board of Elections to list which languages are offered on absentee ballot request forms and in polling places, and won. New polling place signage and absentee request forms allow voters to request specific-language ballots. This will help increase participation among Asian American voters in Chicago, and serve as a model for other cities in supporting non-English speakers.

ACCESS, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, is providing similar services in Dearborn and Metro Detroit for the MENA (Middle East North African) community. ACCESS has been a community service provider to MENA families for many years, providing culturally competent services from jobs to health, and is a trusted voice in Metro Detroit. By layering voting rights information and engagement into their programming, ACCESS reaches many Arab American voters. They offer translators, translated materials, and are fierce advocates to local election officials to protect voters.

ACCESS works with young people in high school and college to better understand the voting process, and to volunteer in election protection efforts. Since Michigan is still implementing new election reforms passed in recent years, ACCESS has played an important role in educating voters on these changes, but also working in coalition to provide feedback to state and local officials on how new policies are affecting the MENA community. They are trusted leaders in spreading accurate voting information, and follow rapid response protocol when voters need assistance.

Wisconsin Conservation Voice’s Wisconsin Native Vote (WNV) spoke to the cultural competencies required to educate, mobilize and protect all marginalized voters, but especially Native Americans. Wisconsin’s increasingly unfriendly voting laws have disproportionate impacts on Native voters, including stringent address requirements and photo ID laws. Native voters can be hesitant to interact with state and federal agencies, which are often the main points of contact for voter registration. WNV is advocating for the engagement of Indian Health Service (IHS) Centers as official voter registration sites, and for IHS staff to be trained to assist.

Another barrier WNV identified is how the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) categorizes addresses in MyVote, the online system voters use to register to vote and to locate election information, like polling locations. In 2022, through door-to-door voter education and voter registration efforts, Wisconsin Native Vote learned that addresses on reservations are consistently left out of the master database of addresses used by the MyVote system. If a voter’s address is not recognized as a valid address within the database, that voter cannot use the online MyVote system to register to vote or look up their polling location.

Wisconsin Native Vote’s non-partisan voter education and election protection program has increased civic participation by forming deep partnerships with Tribal governments and leaders that provide trusted messengers with accurate voting information and to help tribal voters overcome barriers. For example, in the April 2023 election, the first time Native Vote was active in a Spring election, turnout increased by an astonishing 130 percent in Red Cliff and 75 percent in Menominee.

Disability Access and Polling Place Audit:

Voters with disabilities also experience barriers to voting, and Detroit Disability Power (DDP) presented about the impact of their 2022 polling place accessibility audit across Metro Detroit. DDP found that only 16% of the polling places in Metro Detroit meet the criteria for physical accessibility. However, 26% of all polling places studied were only missing one of the four criteria for accessibility. This means that with a relatively simple fix, these locations could improve their ability to serve disabled voters.

DPP created a toolkit for other organizations to model and conduct similar accessibility audits in other cities. In addition to auditing polling places, another resource that DDP provided was access to their Inclusive Campaign Guides. As DDP points out, disabled voters are everywhere and these tools can be applied in any community to improve accessibility.

Overcoming Misinformation:

Misinformation and disinformation remain the greatest threats to voter participation. This is often due to election officials’ strained resources, and not malicious intent, but the outcome is the same. If voters don’t know where or how to cast a ballot, or how to make their absentee vote count, they are less likely to trust and participate in voting.

Nationally, we rely on the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline or www.866ourvote.org to answer questions and report problems voting or incidents at the polls. In the Great Lakes region we use the following resources:

1. Michigan: MichiganVoting.org, One-stop shop for statewide info on voter registration, accessing absentee and in-person voting ballots, and “know your rights” materials in multiple languages.

2. Minnesota: Minnesota Common Cause’s “I Vote” page to combat mis- and disinformation, facilitates volunteer opportunities and encouraging voter registration and early voting.

3. Wisconsin: Wisconsin League of Women Voters, known for reliable, impartial election information, and Law Forward’s voting rights guide.

4. Illinois: Just Democracy coalition offers nonpartisan election information.

5. Ohio: Ohio Voter Rights Coalition and the League of Women Voters of Ohio

6. Indiana: The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee covers Indiana elections as part of their Midwest Voting Rights program.

7. All States:

Common Cause has offices in all six Great Lakes region states. Their Voting Tools let voters check their voter registration, look up polling place, track your ballot, sign up for election reminders and more.

8. For College Students:

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). The Students Learn Students Vote coalition educates young voters nationwide.