On a Friday evening in Boyle Heights, several dozen people gathered on Whittier Boulevard for a night out.
It was open mic night at InnerCity Struggle, but a crowd of about 60 got there an hour early. Elders, youth, Spanish and English speakers packed a room inside the community center with a larger mission in mind: They were training to become neighborhood vote protectors.
Trainees were advised to encourage voters to stay in line. To observe, document and report any form of voter suppression. To know their First Amendment rights.
“These are your everyday community members … that came out for a common goal, which is to learn how to protect our community,” said Michelle Benavides, InnerCity Struggle’s director of civic engagement.
Voter education forums are being held across the state as California experiences a surge in immigration enforcement that community and labor organizations condemn as a coordinated campaign by the federal government to intimidate voters. That’s on top of the U.S. Department of Justice’s deployment of 1,000 federal election observers that State Attorney General Rob Bonta has labeled as “the source of interference.”
In Los Angeles, immigrant rights advocates and elected officials have urged residents to remain vigilant and to vote early, either by mail or by dropping their ballot off at an official ballot drop box as soon as possible.
“The timing of these actions, just weeks before the midterm elections, is no accident,” CHIRLA’s policy director Jeannette Zanipatin said at a convening with election leaders last Friday. “These tactics seek to silence immigrant communities, suppress civic participation and divide our neighborhoods.”
Commerce resident Martha Moya attended the training at InnerCity Struggle last Friday and shared an experience she had at a polling place some years ago when she was asked if she was a U.S. citizen as she prepared to drop off her mail-in ballot.
“It was ridiculous. If I wasn’t a citizen, then I wouldn’t have been there at all,” Moya recalled telling the worker.
That experience emboldened her to fight for voter rights, she said.
The training on Friday was held in partnership with the nonprofit Catalyst California, through its coalition known as We Are California, which includes partners like CHIRLA and PICO California. The Can’t Stop California campaign is holding statewide vote protector trainings in Koreatown, the Inland Empire and the San Fernando Valley.
About 20 who attended the training signed up to monitor polls. Organizers said they can choose which poll locations they’d like to monitor. They’re encouraged to show up with a partner. Trainees will be provided with “NEIGHBORHOOD VOTE PROTECTOR” hats and T-shirts.
Attendees of the training in Boyle Heights learned that intimidation tactics can include voters being blocked from accessing polling locations, being threatened with criminal actions or being questioned about their citizenship. People holding signs reading “Only Citizens Can Vote – We’ll Be Checking” are a form of voter intimidation, they learned.
The training covered how election workers are also at risk of intimidation if they’re disrupted from opening or closing polling locations or from counting ballots, and offered a hotline number to call if they witness any kind of suppression happening at their local polling sites.
Trainees discussed their First Amendment right to photograph or film anything in plain view, including law enforcement. However, they were told, filming anyone within 100 feet of a polling place could be interpreted as intimidation.
Directing focus to voters and encouraging them to stay in line is key, they learned.
What community members learned about voter protection:
Stay in line. If you are in line to vote when polls close, you have the right to vote.
You do not have to show ID to vote in a state election in CA.
Call or text 866-OUR-VOTE to speak with a trained volunteer if you experience any challenges voting.
If asked to prove citizenship or observe someone being asked for proof, you can document the incident here: bit.ly/cantstopcareport
Source: Can’t Stop California
Kaylanie Santos, an 18-year-old first-time voter, attended the training. “There’s a lot more intimidation tactics than I realized,” she said.
Santos said she planned to monitor polling sites on Election Day from a safe distance, despite the fear of being profiled.
“There should be people there protecting other people, help out the village, be there for another person even if you don’t know them. That’s your people. … It’s important to look out and defend,” Santos said.
