Communications Associate – Voting

The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law organization. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state-sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has been transformative — to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society.

LDF’s litigation, public policy advocacy and public education programs in the substantive areas of criminal justice, economic justice, education and political participation seek to ensure the fundamental and basic human rights of all people to quality education, economic opportunity, the right to vote and fully participate in democracy, and the right to a fair and just judicial system.

The Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI), launched in 2015, is a multidisciplinary center within LDF. The Institute compliments LDF’s traditional litigation strengths and brings critical capabilities to the fight for racial justice, including research and targeted advocacy campaigns. Among those campaigns are TMI’s Prepared to Vote (PTV) and Voting Rights Defender Project (VRDP).

For more than a decade, PTV has disseminated non-partisan public education materials to prepare voters for elections and engaged volunteers around Election Day in targeted jurisdictions, primarily in the South, to work on the ground at polling places answering questions and providing voters with important information about how to comply with election laws. PTV also provides support to identify and respond to instances of voting-related discrimination. VRDP will broaden LDF’s monitoring and tracking of voter suppression efforts in targeted jurisdictions months in advance of Election Day to identify as early as possible those suppression measures (e.g. polling place changes, voter purges, local practices that result in long waits to vote on Election Day) that warrant a responsive action, and connect local partners with a resource team to combat suppressive measures using public exposure/media coverage, advocacy efforts with local actors/decisionmakers (e.g. calls, letters, petitions), and, if necessary, litigation.

Together, PTV and VRDP help fill the gaps left by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, which gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA)—an essential protection for the right to vote. Section 5 required certain jurisdictions with a history and ongoing record of racial discrimination in voting to preclear voting changes through the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal court prior to implementation to ensure that they were non-discriminatory. PTV and VRDP help fill the void left by the elimination of this preclearance protection by engaging multi-tactic strategies to identify and address voting rights barriers before the 2020 elections and in real time on and after Election Day. These efforts will also extend to issues pertaining to the 2020 decennial Census and post-Census redistricting.

The Communications Associate – Voting (CA-V) will split their time between the Editorial and Digital Divisions of the Communications Department, producing content for both areas. The CA-V reports to LDF’s Editorial Director with a dotted-line reporting relationship with the Director of Digital Strategy. The CA-V will also work very closely with all members of the Communications Department and the Manager of the PTV/VRDP.

Responsibilities:

Editorial

• Develop communication strategies to amplify PTV/VRDP;
• Draft press releases, media advisories, and press pitches;
• Draft talking points and messaging on PTV/VRDP topics and the Census;
• Draft op-eds to national and local publications;
• Ability to develop proactive, journalistic content on issues related to PTV/VRDP.

Digital

• Develop digital and social media content in partnership with the Director of Digital Strategy and Graphic Designer;
• Update PTV/VRDP content for voting microsite;
• Provide rapid response support to real-time threats to the right to vote leading up to, on, and after Election Day;
• Collect, organize, and ensure archiving of digital content related to PTV/VRDP.

Other Duties

• Participate in all related PTV/VRDP team meetings;
• Serve as a member of both the Editorial and Digital Divisions of the Communications Department;
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Commitment to LDF’s mission and a record of engagement with issues of racial justice;
• Bachelor’s degree in either communications, political science, journalism or pre-law or policy related field;
• Minimum of 3 years of written and digital communications experience, preferably with a non-profit organization or entity;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with diverse groups that help to drive LDF’s mission;
• Experience working in digital media, including drafting and disseminating social media content;
• Experience managing digital communities and website content preferred;
• Knowledge and familiarity with a range of social and economic justice issues and comfort level promoting its ideals;
• Familiarity with social media platforms and analytic tools, including Sprout Social;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including a commitment to teamwork and ability to collaborate with diverse groups;
• Demonstrated ability to work both in a team structure and independently, as required by different circumstances;
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects simultaneously and in a timely manner;
• Ability to work well under pressure with attention to detail;
• Demonstrated ability to adhere to a flexible and sometimes demanding schedule.

This is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts or requirements or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned. This description does not constitute a contract of employment and LDF may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.

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