Broward's News Beat- Fighting Fake News One Story At A Time: Advancement Project Seeks Florida Voter Protection Advocate

LOCAL VOTER PROTECTION ADVOCATE: FLORIDA

Advancement Project (DC) seeks a temporary, part- or full-time, Local Voter Protection Advocate for Florida. The Local Voter Protection Advocate ("LVPA") will join our 2008 Voter Protection Program, which is part of our Power and Democracy initiative. Through our non-partisan voter protection work we will focus on sustained pre-election activities and solutions in order to permanently break down barriers to voting in advance of the 2008 election cycle and beyond. The Florida LVPA will be Advancement Project's on-the-ground eyes and ears in key counties, including Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach.

The duties of the LVPA include: (1) identifying and organizing community groups and stakeholders into a "Local Voter Protection Coalition;" (2) helping the coalition build relationships with local election officials in order to identify and prevent problems with voter registration and election administration; (3) anticipate barriers to voter registration and voter participation by reviewing the registration process of 2006 and 2007; (4) working with local groups to encourage adoption of Advancement Project's voter protection model into their voter registration and community voter education activities, including providing technical support to local allies, as needed; and (5) working closely with Advancement Project's legal staff to address and remedy barriers to voter participation.
The LVPA will be expected to use organizing, coalition building, and community problem-solving skills to remove barriers to voter participation and foster structural change toward a racially just democracy. More specifically, the LVPA will:

Identify community partners and build a working voter protection coalition.
Trouble shoots and provides advice on voter registration and participation barriers.
Assist with voter registration verification efforts.
Monitor/challenge purging practices.
Monitor/challenge plans for Election Day practices (in advance), e.g., provisional ballots, ID requirements, polling place staffing and preparation.
Attend coalition meetings with election officials.
Perform Election Day monitoring.
Work with Communications Department to maximize public impact of voter protection activities.
Assist in drafting voter protection publications, toolkits and other materials for public dissemination to racial justice advocates and for Advancement Project's website.

Qualifications
Candidate must have strong writing and interpersonal skills and some knowledge of legal issues, as well as a proven commitment to racial justice. A college degree is required; a law degree is helpful but not necessary. Fluency in Spanish, coalition experience, and voting rights knowledge are pluses. Extensive travel within Florida is required. Salary based on experience. To

Apply: Applicants should send their resume with a list of three references and the phrase "FL Local Voter Protection Advocate" in the subject line, to Jennifer Maranzano at: jmaranzano@advancementproject.org or fax to: (202) 728-9558. Deadline: Applications accepted until position filled. Position needs to be filled as soon as possible.