Students! You can do your part to help protect voting rights. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, and community education. Spring internships are available for college, graduate, and law students in AALDEF's Voting Rights Program. In prior elections, Asian Americans have faced a number of barriers to exercising their right to vote; for example, ballots have been mistranslated listing Democratic candidates as Republicans and vice versa, lack of interpreters, denial of language assistance, and rude/hostile poll workers.
AALDEF's Voting Rights Program aims to enhance the political participation of Asian Americans and guard against anti-Asian voter discrimination. Here are some more details about the Voting Rights internship, including how to apply:
Voting Rights Interns work on the following:For further information, contact Glenn D. Magpantay at 212-966-5932, ext. 206 or gmagpantay@aaldef.org. For more information on the work the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund is doing, go to the AALDEF website here.
Legal research and writing on Asian American voting rights, under the Voting Rights Act and Help American Vote Act, and 14th Amendment.
Advocate for full compliance with the Voting Rights Act and federal Constitution, by analyzing election monitoring reports. The Voting Rights Act mandates Chinese and Korean language voting assistance and forbids anti-Asian voter discrimination. This includes legal research and writing, fact pattern development, and working with clients and witnesses for possible litigation.
Legal research and writing on minority representation in the redrawing of voting district boundaries for City Council, State Legislative, and Congressional districts.
Review monitoring reports from past elections in NY, NJ, TX, MA, PA, IL, GA and NV to document the use of bilingual ballots.
Assess local elections compliance with settlements reached in voting rights lawsuits in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and other states.
Registering new voters after citizenship swearing-in ceremonies.
Conduct research and advocacy on local, state and federal election reform proposals.
Description of Internships:
Supervision:
Interns are supervised by attorneys through regular meetings and trainings.
Compensation:
These internships are not paid positions, but academic credit can be arranged.
Hours:
Interns work anywhere between 12 to 25 hours per week in the office.
Duration:
Spring internships usually follow the spring semester, commencing with the start of classes (end of January) to the first or second week of May.
To Apply:
Bilingual ability is helpful but not required. Students with language ability in Korean, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, or Chinese are especially welcome to apply and languages (if any) should be stated in the resume.
Applicants should also state the number of hours they can work per week and a possible schedule.
Send a resume and cover letter to:
Voting Rights Spring Intern Search
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
99 Hudson Street, 12th floor
New York, New York 10013-2815
fax: 212-966-4303
Email: info@aaldef.org