Over 50 Dorsey lawyers and staff from multiple offices participated in the nonpartisan Election Protection Project. Starting in the spring of 2008, Dorsey teams drafted and updated election law legal manuals for four states and peer-reviewed manuals drafted by other law firms for five other states. Election Protection volunteers used these manuals to assist voters prior to and on Election Day. Dorsey's Seattle and Minneapolis offices also led significant nonpartisan state election protection efforts on Election Day.
Election Protection is the nation’s largest non-partisan voter protection coalition. It guides voters through the voting process, helping to ensure that all eligible American citizens have the opportunity to cast a meaningful ballot and have that vote counted. The Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is the lead legal partner for Election Protection, and was Dorsey’s client on this project.
Dorsey served as the lead firm for the Voter Protection Project in Washington State. We had 25 people in our Seattle office participate in the project including support staff, summer associates, paralegals, associates and partners. Our Seattle office hosted four training sessions at the office and helped to recruit nearly eighty volunteers for the project, including attorneys from other firms. We prepared the written materials used by attorneys and non-attorney volunteers. Our Seattle lawyers responded to telephone calls from voters, helped staff the command post on election day and assisted voters at the polling places in King and Pierce counties, the only two counties that did not use mail in ballots in the election.
Dorsey’s Minneapolis office served as the lead firm for election protection efforts in Minnesota and were coordinated with the Lawyers’ Committee. Our Minneapolis lawyers prepared and peer reviewed election law legal manuals, set up and staffed the Hotline, coordinated Mobile Legal Volunteers, trained all volunteers and worked with the media to publicize the Hotline.
