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, fair electoral maps, 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 the 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.
Last year, PEEP worked with the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF). Over the course of the year, PEEP students researched redistricting laws and legal precedents, and wrote up their findings in a report that they presented to the NRF attorneys at the end of the year. This year, PEEP students will continue to work with the NRF, and will conduct additional legal research and policy work related to redistricting.
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 1.5 hours per week, with a research meeting every other week.
For more information, please contact the student leaders at peep@berkeley.edu.