November 4, 2008 12:13 PM

ELECTION PROTECTION 2008: Live Blogging From DLA's Election Protection Central

Posted by David Bario

Well, election day is finally here. After 22 months of campaigning, there's nothing left to do but vote--at least as long as the voting itself goes smoothly.

If things do get more complicated--a la the 2000 election--voters can rest assured that a veritable army of lawyers is standing by to try to sort things out. Unprecedented numbers, including dozens of partners from  Am Law 200 firms, have volunteered as nonpartisan election monitors or have signed on with the McCain or Obama camps.

The nerve center for the nonpartisan monitoring effort this election is in Washington, D.C., in the sleek offices of DLA Piper. DLA is hosting Election Protection, a nationwide monitoring network led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Election protection has 10,000 volunteers nationwide and 45 legal teams in places where problems are anticipated. In D.C. alone, more than 40 lawyers and law students are fielding calls, advising voters, and feeding reports of abuse to Election Protection officials whose contacts in the field can investigate.

By 11:30 this morning, Election Protection was reporting over 38,000 individual calls from precincts throughout the country. In terms of significant problems, National Campaign for Fair Elections director Jonah Goldman said that more than two dozen polling places in Florida were reporting malfunctioning optical scanning machines. Despite expectations of record turnout, polling places in Virginia were being overwhelmed by voters. And minority precincts in several states were reporting "robo calls" telling voters that the polls were open Wednesday or otherwise spreading misinformation.

"We can do so much better," Goldman says. He says that regardless of the results of the election, his organization "may seek relief from the Justice Department" if significant problems persist.

We'll be filing updates throughout the day. Stay tuned!

Illustration by Serge Bloch

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