Every month, we give the Amicus Mundi Award to an outstanding lawyer in our community who exemplifies our shared values of service and dedication to building a more just and equitable society. Today, we’re ending National Volunteer Week by celebrating a lawyer who used her expertise to make the electoral process more accessible for all Floridians.
Join us in saying…
Congratulations, Roshelle Nagar
A Voting Rights Warrior: For over 20 years, Roshelle Nagar has dedicated her time to Election Protection pro bono efforts, engaging in both fieldwork and voter hotlines.
As a corporate lawyer and litigator by day, Roshelle views volunteering beyond her expertise as an enriching learning opportunity.
In addition to the projects that Roshelle finds through We The Action, she continues her active volunteer engagement by serving on the boards of a nonprofit microlending organization and a Jewish theater company.
Accessibility at the Polls: A study of the 2020 elections found that 11% of voters with disabilities reported that they faced some type of difficulty casting a ballot. The Florida Election Protection Coalition is working to improve voting access to ensure equitable voting processes for all Floridians.
On March 19, during Florida’s special election, Roshelle served as a volunteer legal monitor, traveling to 11 polling locations to ensure citizens were able to cast their ballots.
In addition to serving as a legal monitor, Roshelle evaluated polling locations for disability access, using a survey created by Disability Rights Florida.
Making an Impact: The work that Roshelle completed will carry over to the elections happening in Florida later this year, which is vital to the fight to make sure everyone has equal access to voting.
“Poll workers wanted to make sure everyone was able to come and vote,” Roshelle says. But they also shared how improvements could be made. The process was not perfect everywhere.
Disability Rights Florida is currently analyzing the information collected by volunteers and will engage with counties and jurisdictions to make improvements.
Flose LaPierre, Election Protections Manager at Common Cause Florida, says, “Roshelle’s participation in this program was invaluable. Her work will allow Disability Rights Florida to understand accessibility needs at polling locations and advocate for improvements. The quality of work she produced will make the electoral process more accessible for all Floridians.”
Roshelle continues, “Since my experience volunteering, every time I go to the store, I'm looking to see if there is proper disability access. It certainly is something that's going to be more important to me moving forward because my awareness has increased so much as a result of the project.”
The Work Continues: This year, voters will continue to face obstacles, and this is especially true for voters with disabilities. Florida lawyers, please consider following Roshelle’s example and sign up to be a voting rights monitor on August 20th.
For lawyers nationwide, We The Action’s Voter Vanguard will identify and address election administration problems, combat voter purges, educate voters about their rights, and protect the vote at polling places and call centers across the country. Join here to be notified about opportunities to protect democracy in your community.