Georgetown Law Alumni Magazine - Res Ipsa Loquitur
Spring/Summer 2009 - Online Volume 1
Alumni
In the Public Interest
Seen in a McDonough Hall classroom less than one week before the presidential election — a dozen or so brightly colored signs reading “Georgetown Law students will be here on November 4th to help you vote” and “Need help on Election Day? Georgetown Law students can help.” The newly made signs were destined for various homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the Washington, D.C., area — including Miriam’s Kitchen, Bread for the City, and the Community for Creative Non-Violence shelter. It was all part of numerous nonpartisan efforts by students to help community members vote on Election Day.
Georgetown Outreach, a student-run community service organization, did much to assist the homeless to exercise their right to vote. Spearheaded by Luis Rodriguez (L’10), the campaign not only educated homeless voters and transported them to the polls on November 4 but also helped approximately 300 of them register during National Homeless and Low Income Voter Registration Week in September. A training event at the Law Center — led by Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, and Tulin Ozdeger, civil rights director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty — was featured on CNN.
“A lot of people who are out on the street, they don’t feel like they’re going to get their voices heard, they aren’t going to be represented,” said Charles Carey (L’11), who assisted homeless voters to register at the CCNV shelter. “You’ve really got to convince them that voting is their right.”
Students also got involved in Election Protection, a national nonpartisan effort spearheaded by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Students were trained to staff a hotline that voters could call with election-related questions or concerns — getting a crash course in election law and issues that are particularly relevant on Election Day. Jackie Smith (L’09), president of the Georgetown Outreach student group; Holly Eaton, director of pro bono programs at the Office of Public Interest and Community Service; and Dana Onorato, director of Student Life, were instrumental in helping organize election activities.
Maria Garcia (LL.M.’09), a criminal lawyer from Spain who is earning her LL.M. at Georgetown Law this year, rounded up a group of 15 foreign LL.M. students to monitor polls on Election Day. Though Garcia and her classmates couldn’t vote themselves, they arrived at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington County at 5:30 a.m. to help Virginians vote. “We can’t just be over here spending this wonderful year in the United States and not get involved with this crucial moment in the history of [the country],” Garcia said immediately following the election. “I thought it was a great opportunity to get involved and do something for the community, to try to give back a little bit of what we are receiving.”
Garcia, who was enlisted by a Spanish newspaper to write about her experience for readers back home, says that voting in the United States, particularly with electronic ballots, is easier than voting in Spain — even though Americans must register first. “It was really interesting, and then watching the results … it was a great day,” she said.
