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Democratic-backed group launches 'massive' voter protection effort

Iowa voter in 2018

The Voter Protection Corps, a new group aimed at protecting voting rights, launched this week.

Joshua Lott/Getty Images

The accelerating 2020 campaign is sure to produce an alphabet soup of new groups hoping to sway the outcome — and one of the newest, unveiled this week, is the Voter Protection Corps.

The fledgling organization, the brainchild mainly of some Democratic political veterans in Massachusetts, plans to assemble a team of election law attorneys, campaign strategists and voting technology experts who can create a state-by-state playbook for combatting efforts to suppress turnout.

"We have to be clear-eyed about the reality that voter suppression efforts are likely to hit new extremes in 2020, and that many of the legal and judicial checks that helped protect the vote in the past have been badly eroded," said the head of the operation, Quentin Palfrey. "Voter Protection Corps will start laying the groundwork, immediately, for what is going to have to be a massive effort to protect the rights of all eligible voters."


The group plans to create a database of past incidents of voter suppression across the country as a way to prepare for a repeat of similar tactics next year. It will also develop strategies, trainings and materials to help voters overcome efforts to steer them clear of the ballot box, and will seek to create a nationwide roster of poll watching volunteers for next November.

Palfrey worked to produce the turnout that helped Barack Obama carry Ohio in 2008 and lost as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts last year. The Voter Protection Corp advisory board includes prominent Boston-based party strategist Charles Baker III, Rep. Jim McGovern of Boston and half a dozen other House Democrats.

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Similarity Hub Shows >700 Instances of Cross-Partisan Common Ground

Two coloured pencils one red and one blue drawing a reef knot on a white paper background.

Getty Images, David Malan

Similarity Hub Shows >700 Instances of Cross-Partisan Common Ground

It is a common refrain to say that Americans need to find common ground across the political spectrum.

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Royal Moroccan Armed Forces service members and U.S. Army Soldiers hold an African Lion banner during a Moroccan F-16 flyover at the closing day of African Lion 2025 (AL25) at Tantan, Morocco, May 23, 2025.

By Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Mallett/U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

U.S. Refines Military Strategy in Africa As Development Programs Face Cuts

WASHINGTON – Both the Trump administration and its critics agree the U.S. risks losing influence in Africa to rivals like China and Russia. But while the administration argues its commercially driven foreign policy will reverse the trend, critics warn that retreating from development and diplomacy could deepen the problem.

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. plans to consolidate embassies, scale back USAID operations, and pivot towards a security and commercial driven approach on the continent. While U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) defense officials insist their core missions within Africa will remain intact, civilian experts and lawmakers argue that abandoning diplomatic and development tools opens the door for strategic competitors to fill the void and fails to take into account what would best benefit African countries.

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