Young Black Lawyers’ Organizing Coalition launches Black Ballots, Black Futures–Georgia GOTV Voter Protection Effort to empower Black voters during the Georgia run-off elections

This nonpartisan effort will amplify critical information about voter protection through a grassroots GOTV community outreach campaign

Atlanta—The Young Black Lawyers’ Organizing Coalition (YBLOC) has announced the launch of its Black Ballots, Black Futures–Georgia GOTV voter protection campaign, which will seek to empower Black voters and protect Black voting rights during the Georgia run-off elections. To this end, YBLOC will host a series of nonpartisan voter-protection education sessions with strategic partners and local media platforms to engage grassroots leaders to serve as voter protection ambassadors in their communities. Sessions will be held December 14-15 and December 28 focusing on the HBCU community and grassroots leaders such as local Black barbers. YBLOC will also engage in local advocacy to ensure the equitable administration of elections.

“As we head into the final weeks of the Georgia runoff elections, it is critical that we mobilize as young Black lawyers and law students to empower Black voters to protect their vote,” said Abdul Dosunmu, the founder and chief strategist of the Young Black Lawyers’ Organizing Coalition (YBLOC). “Building on our voter protection work during the November general election, YBLOC is working in collaboration with grassroots communities in Georgia to ensure that Black voters are able to exercise their full political power.”

YBLOC’s Black Ballots, Black Futures November general election initiative, a seven-state voter-protection campaign, coordinated voting-rights litigation to protect 132,000 absentee voters in Arkansas. Prompted by the litigation, the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners issued an order requiring that the counting of absentee ballots continue until complete. Prior to the order, Arkansas’s arbitrary counting deadline had placed thousands of absentee ballots at risk of not being counted.

During the November general election, YBLOC also distributed 180,300 items of personal protective equipment (PPE) to Black voters in Texas and South Carolina to ensure safe voting, led voter-protection training sessions in Black communities, engaged in robust local advocacy to hold state and local elections officials accountable, and mobilized legal volunteers to support national election protection work.

“In the Georgia runoff elections, Black voters will again have to navigate an election cycle fraught with voter suppression, the global coronavirus pandemic, and unprecedented attacks on democratic norms and traditions,” added Dosunmu. “It is imperative that we work to protect Black voters and Black ballots.”

The Young Black Lawyers’ Organization Coalition (YBLOC) is the only network of young Black lawyers and law students mobilizing to protect and empower Black voters across the country through community-centered voter education, litigation and election protection support, and local advocacy. Through the Black Ballots, Black Futures campaign, YBLOC is activating 1,000 young Black lawyers and law students to protect and empower 500,000 Black voters in seven target states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas.