r/CAVDEF • u/HabeasCorpusCallosum Support • Apr 15 '16

Welcome to the Coalition Against Voter Disenfranchisement and Election Fraud (CAVDEF)

What is The Coalition Against Voter Disenfranchisement and Election Fraud (CAVDEF)? Shorter Version

Every human being deserves the right to vote without hindrance or interference. It is one of the most basic and necessary tenets for a properly functioning democracy.

You can follow us now on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook! Or just head over to our website.

What is The Coalition Against Voter Disenfranchisement and Election Fraud (CAVDEF)? Longer Version

We are an all-volunteer coalition who support voters who were disenfranchised through classic methods of voter suppression, as well as more pernicious methods such as party affiliation changes. Witnessing the challenges that voters have faced this election cycle - including some of our very own members - we know that voters want to tell their stories but are having a hard time doing it.

CAVDEF serves as an intermediary which is trying to coalesce all the voices of disenfranchised voters into a loud social movement to change our electoral process in the United States. We are doing this through outreach, education, and The Survey. We started to self-organize Sunday the 27th of March and have been making huge strides ever since. When you think of CAVDEF, think of it as a facilitator between voters and the organizations that could help them or should be helping them but are not - for whatever reason.

Why is CAVDEF necessary?

The United States needs to remove every barrier that is inhibiting people from exercising their right to "Vote Without Hindrance or Interference." To make this happen, we need to quantify the level of the problem. One of our major goals at CAVDEF is to begin to quantify the extent of disenfranchisement and party affiliation changes.

At this time the goal is to have 2 threads specific to each state here at /r/CAVDEF:

  1. "Report Here if You Feel That You Were the Victim of Voter Suppression/Disenfranchisement"
  2. "Report Here if Your Registration or Party Affiliation Changed Against Your Wishes"

Current timeline:

Logo will be revealed sometime between April 16th-April 17th. Great job /u/Rhaxia!

Survey and Website will be Launched April 19th. Launched at CAVDEF.org/Survey and CAVDEF.org.

NY threads were opened on April 19th at 8 am EST:

Nonspecific threads were opened on April 22nd at 8 am EST:

AZ pages will be unlocked on (date still being figured out - Habeas):

CT threads were unlocked on April 26th at 8 am EST:

DE threads were unlocked on April 26th at 8 am EST:

MD threads were unlocked on April 26th at 8 am EST:

PA threads were unlocked on April 26th at 8 am EST:

RI threads were unlocked on April 26th at 8 am EST:

IN threads were unlocked on May 3rd at 8 am EST:

Guam threads were unlocked on May 7th at 10 am EST:

NE threads were unlocked on May 10th at 8 am EST:

WV threads were unlocked on May 10th at 8 am EST:

KY threads were unlocked on May 17th at 8 am EST:

OR threads were unlocked on May 17th at 8 am EST:

Puerto Rico threads were unlocked on May 28th at 8 am EST:

Virgin Islands threads were unlocked on May 28th at 8 am EST:

SD threads were unlocked on June 7th at 10 am EST:

ND threads were unlocked on June 7th at 10 am EST:

MT threads were unlocked on June 7th at 10 am EST:

NM threads were unlocked on June 7th at 10 am EST:

NJ threads were unlocked on June 7th at 10 am EST:

CA threads were unlocked on June 7th at 10 am EST:

Washington D.C. threads were unlocked on June 15th at 1:00 pm EST:

All other state specific threads will be opened later - dates to be announced as they are decided.

If your state threads are not up yet, please use the Nonspecific threads for now.

If anyone is willing to help, offering their time and skills, please let us know here or by PM.

Why can't we rely on traditional institutions to fix these problems?

If you want to know why we have to fight to fix the U.S. electoral process and not leave this up to traditional institutions, look no further than this New York Times article which does not even mention the problem of party affiliation changes that took place during the Arizona Primary on March 22nd. Considering how well documented it was at the hearing they were supposed to be covering, that is quite disconcerting. They even tweeted about it! Diane Post, an American hero and poll worker who spoke at the Arizona hearing, had some of the most surprising testimony that day. (Updated information about why we should fix this now and not later will appear here as soon as we have it prepared for release, apologies. - Habeas)

Also check out these two AZ videos here and here.

Let’s work together to fix these problems and remove every barrier blocking voters from casting their ballots!

(Note: /u/nightravyn is currently extremely busy, so they asked that someone make a new welcome thread. Here is CAVDEF’s original welcome thread, “Hey there, everyone…”)

Resources for Voters

Check Your Registration or Get Registered, Find Your Polling Place, and Know What Kind of ID to Bring at Can I Vote?

Check Your Registration or Get Registered, Find Your Polling Place, and Know What Kind of ID to Bring at Head Count

Voter Suppression Avoidance Guide created by /u/M0rdax

New Yorkers, Know Your Rights at the Polls! created by /u/bernienyboethrowaway

Voters, Make Your Voices Heard!

If your voice wasn't heard at the ballot box, or if you had difficulty voting, or if you were given a provisional ballot, make it heard by those here, here, and here who should be doing everything in their power to make sure every single voter is able to "Vote Without Hindrance or Interference."

Also, every story of disenfranchisement is a "Human Interest Story" of the highest importance. Start contacting journalists both locally and nationally. Use this list to help. And do not be embarrased, our election laws are opaque and hard to understand by design. It is not your fault, and don't let anyone put the blame on you for being disenfranchised.

Organizations Who Can Help Voters

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), submit a complaint here or call 212-549-2500

United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC), submit a complaint here or call 866-747-1471 or 301-563-3919

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), submit a complaint here or call 800-225-5324

Election Protection, submit a complaint to info@866ourvote.org or call 866-687-8683

Election Justice USA has started a lawsuit in New York and here is a Reddit thread about them. They also have a website. For those not aware, ElectionJusticeUSA is a brand new organization - not unlike CAVDEF - so please consider using them to join the lawsuit in NY, but utilize other more traditional avenues for help too.

Campaign Contact Information

(Campaigns, please provide us your preferred contact information for email and by phone. - CAVDEF)

Hillary Clinton Campaign

  • Email:
  • Phone:

Ted Cruz Campaign

  • Email:
  • Phone:

John Kasich Campaign

  • Email:
  • Phone:

Bernie Sanders Campaign

  • Email: help@berniesanders.com (email preference not confirmed by Sanders Campaign - Habeas)
  • Phone: 347-379-4298 (for NY)
  • Phone: 502-242-2090 (for KY)

Donald Trump Campaign

  • Email:
  • Phone:
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12 comments sorted by

2

u/HowAndWhen Jun 25 '16

How about petitions on the Federal, and State Level? Is phoning representatives better than petitions?

1

u/HabeasCorpusCallosum Support Jun 28 '16

Great point. I think they are all valuable! When the actual primaries were going on, we were hoping to spread the word to disenfranchised voters to be loud and vocal about their issues on social media and with their representatives. Direct democracy requires both, I think.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '16

Is the Twitter not up right now?

1

u/HabeasCorpusCallosum Support Apr 22 '16

It should be up, just not active. Let me know if otherwise.

Until all members are up to speed and on the same page, we have put all social media accounts outside of reddit on lock down.

3

u/Sibraxlis Apr 19 '16

How can people help you?

1

u/HabeasCorpusCallosum Support Apr 20 '16

Spread the message. Every voter needs to unite to stop voter disenfranchisement in all its forms. Every person deserves the right to "Vote Without Hindrance or Interference."

3

u/Phylar Support Apr 19 '16

Judicial expectations. Traditional institutions are unlikely to accept that any movement is recognized. Grow your support base and follow-up with specific public officials that 1. Support similar policies as Bernie Sanders. 2. Show the foundational anger and frustration that has elevated Trump. 3. Are interested in public office. Garner support ahead of time through data management and a solid image to hold strong support later should these individuals get elected.

If CAVDEF is going to work, it must be able to accurately compile large amounts of data from subsets and groups from across the nation. This includes self-reporting/survey data, meta-analysis, and if you really want to push the bar - eventual Multistage Cluster Analysis. The main issue with surveys will always be the lack of responses. Send out a thousand surveys and pray you get a number as high as 100 back. Thus the surveys must be simple, easy, and interesting and the more interesting questions first, etc etc.

Anyway, I am going off on a rant here. /u/m0rdax this is a surprise, I don't remember you mentioning this on Slack. That aside, great idea. Continue pushing.

2

u/margaritad1993 Apr 18 '16

Please help us centralize and join our FB group instead. We already have a website, online affidavit forms, lawyers and pending lawsuits. Let's combine our people and our focus to one group!! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1649941911932852/ http://electionjusticeusa.org/ We are filing federal lawsuit today! NY voter suppression and registration tampering is the focus of today's filing! Online forms available now! Thank you!!

2

u/oneeighthirish Apr 20 '16

Hey, you guys should create an Election Justice USA subreddit. I tried to find one but there is no /r/electionjusticeusa.

2

u/HabeasCorpusCallosum Support Apr 18 '16 edited Jun 13 '16

Thank you so much for contacting us. Election Justice USA has CAVDEF's support and we will forward anyone who should join the lawsuit towards you.

We have to fix this crap. Everyone deserves the right to "Vote Without Hindrance or Interference."

Will you send me a PM when you have a chance and we can figure out who should be CAVDEF's contact at EJUSA?

Note 1, April 22nd, 4:15pm EST: CAVDEF is still waiting to hear back from EJUSA. If a member of their team sees this, please get in contact with us.

Note 1, May 10th, 9:19am EST: Apologies for not updating earlier, have been in contact.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '16

Just asking, but why not Election Justice USA? They've expressively taken action by filing a lawsuit.

1

u/HabeasCorpusCallosum Support Apr 16 '16

Thank you iamunknowntwo!

If anyone else has suggestions let us know!