2020: Common Cause Texas Deploys Its Largest Nonpartisan Election Protection Program

Since 2012, Common Cause Texas has led the grassroots component of the Election Protection program in Texas, working with partners to recruit, train and supervise thousands of volunteers to assist Texans who have voting questions or who run into problems at the polls.

For Election Day 2020, we have over 500 volunteers in black and white t-shirts monitoring poll sites in every corner of the state, with hundreds more helping out virtually. We had over 3,000 volunteer sign-ups for 2020, three times more than any prior election.

“Voting should be easy and for the vast majority of Texans, it will be. For people who run into problems or have questions, we’re here to help. The same energy and excitement driving record-breaking turnout has helped us assemble the largest team of volunteers we’ve ever had for an election,” said Anthony Gutierrez, Executive Director of Common Cause Texas. “We strongly encourage anyone who has voting questions to look around at your poll site for one of our friendly, nonpartisan volunteers wearing black and white Election Protection shirts and masks or call the Election Protection hotline”

Throughout Election Day, the staff at Common Cause Texas will be receiving calls from our volunteers in the field, and monitoring reports coming in on the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline.

**Volunteers are available to speak to media in most major media markets. Contact us if you’re interested in speaking to one or getting B-Roll of a volunteer helping voters.

“Our program in 2020 looks far different than ever before, but our core mission of helping anyone who needs it remains the same,” added Gutierrez. “For this election, we have volunteers at poll sites in masks who will maintain social distancing, and we also have hundreds who will remain in cars and rove around various poll sites scanning for problems. Finally we have many more people who prefer to stay home but will be helping out virtually by watching social media and sites online and doing everything they can to flag and resolve problems there.”

People with questions about voting or who encounter problems at the polls can call any of these helplines staffed by trained volunteers and voting rights experts:

866-OUR-VOTE – English
888-Ve-Y-Vota – Spanish and English
888-API-VOTE – Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Bengali also known as Bangla, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Tagalog and English
844-Yalla-US – Arabic and English
301-818-VOTE – American Sign Language (Video Call)
888-796-8683 – Disability Rights Texas

Common Cause Texas
Common Cause Texas is the state chapter of Common Cause – a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. Our work in Texas focuses on voting rights, civic engagement, ethics reform, campaign finance, election administration and redistricting reform.