Daily Record

Anthony P. Ashton was working an election troubleshooting hotline in November 2004 when calls started coming in from the Eastern Shore. Dozens of voters were being turned away from a polling place.

The local election supervisor found the problem (a polling judge unfamiliar with some election laws) but had no way of contacting the rejected voters. Ashton and other volunteers eventually connected the supervisor with a voter who had contact information for other rejected voters, and everyone was able to cast a ballot.

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Ashton will again work the phones next Tuesday, one of more than 100 lawyers across the state participating in nationwide, nonpartisan Election Protection programs overseen by the National Campaign for Fair Elections, a coalition led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

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Paralegals and lawyers, who receive pro bono credit for participating, learn federal election laws and state-specific statutes prior to Nov. 4. On Election Day, they serve as a clearinghouse for voting problems large and small. In 2006 a “mobile legal volunteer” got extension cords so all of the electronic voting machines could be plugged in at a polling location, Ritvo said.

In the Washington suburbs, teams of volunteers will be “proactively” given polling locations to observe based on demographics (more problems tend to happen in areas with new or first-time voters) or “reactively” respond to locations where problems have been reported, she said.

One common complaint is long lines, Ritvo said. Volunteers will help determine the problem, be it an equipment malfunction or slow poll workers; and just as importantly, she said, the volunteer can explain the situation to waiting voters.

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Ashton’s work at a local “command center” will be done during a four-hour shift at the national headquarters of the NAACP in Baltimore, which is part of the Election Protection coalition. The city’s branch of the NAACP will also have its own troubleshooting command center on Election Day, President Marvin L. “Doc” Cheatham Sr. said.

Already, the city branch is urging residents to report any rumors they are hearing about voting, Cheatham said. A major rumor concerns proper attire at polling locations, he said. People can wear clothing or accessories supporting a candidate to vote for as long as they do not linger at the polling site, said Cheatham. Partisan supporters standing outside a polling site must remove or cover up political items should they go inside the polling location for any reason, he said. (According to the Maryland State Board of Elections’ Web site, a supporter stationed within 100 feet of the polling place may not wear or display campaign materials.)

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Cheatham called on the organization’s lawyers during the 2006 primary election to keep the polls open late after they did not open on time. They are now “extremely interested,” he added, in allegations by the city branch that more than 400 ex-felons have been denied the right to vote due to flawed “Dear Applicant” letters from the city election board.

While some observers fear the projected record turnout next week could cause long lines and other headaches, Cheatham said more problems could arise because of evenly matched candidates.

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For U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, most of the work starts after the votes have been counted. Still, he said, elections are “often very emotional and sometimes controversial.”

Rosenstein’s office, as it has done for previous elections involving federal offices, will have its own task force set up on Election Day led by two prosecutors — one each in Baltimore and Greenbelt. The prosecutors have been trained in election law by the Department of Justice and can handle calls involving voter intimidation, administrative and voting fraud and campaign finance violations, among other problems, Rosenstein said.

Prosecutors will be in contact with the state and local boards of elections, but are not running or monitoring the polls.

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Any allegations brought to the prosecutors’ attention are immediately relayed to the Justice Department in Washington to determine a course of action, Rosenstein said. Several such calls were made in 2006, and while Rosenstein declined to discuss details, he said none resulted in prosecutions and there were no problems with fraud in Maryland.