PEEP’s mission is to strengthen democratic norms and voting rights in the United States.
Voter suppression and threats to our democratic process are increasingly prevalent in the United States. The Political and Election Empowerment Project (PEEP) supports nonprofit organizations in California and across the nation fighting for voting rights and democracy reform. We focus our efforts on historically marginalized and oppressed populations, recognizing that structural racism is inherent in the systems of American democracy. Only when all citizens have equal and easy access to the polls will politicians represent community interests and the government represent the people. Over the years, PEEP students have worked towards this goal with Campaign Legal Center, Demos, and the Asian Law Caucus. Our projects have included strengthening electoral language-access, supporting redistricting efforts to better represent Asian American communities, impacting campaign finance laws, researching potential policy reforms for the voting process, and fighting for judicial election reform.
For the last four years, PEEP has worked with the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF). PEEP students research redistricting laws, legal precedents, and recent legal developments. This year, we will analyze, write up, and present data to the NRF attorneys to help inform their pro-voting rights litigation strategy. This year, PEEP is also excited to launch a new project, in partnership with Berkeley Law’s Edley Center on Law & Democracy. PEEP students will conduct research on state-level civil rights infrastructure across the country, informing the Edley Center’s pro-democracy work and mission. PEEP complements these research projects with hands-on opportunities to advance voting rights and access and a variety of guest speakers throughout the year.
Supervision: PEEP students engage in legal work under the supervision of attorneys at the National Redistricting Foundation.
Time Commitment: We estimate PEEP participant’s time commitment to be 2 hours per week. This year, we will likely hold bi-weekly lunch meetings, sometimes with attorneys and sometimes with the research team. The specific day will depend on scheduling.
For more information, please contact the student leaders at peep@berkeley.edu.