Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund - Defend Asian American Voting Rights

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) promotes and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, and community education. Fall internships are available for undergraduate, graduate, and law students in AALDEF's Voting Rights Program.

In prior elections, Asian Americans faced a series of barriers in exercising their right to vote; for example, ballots have been mistranslated, listing Democratic candidates as Republicans, and vice versa; lack of interpreters; denial of language assistance; rude and hostile poll workers. Then, when the news media reported on election returns and the vote by specific groups, Asian Americans were overlooked. AALDEF's Voting Rights Program aims to enhance the political participation of Asian Americans and guard against anti-Asian voter discrimination.

Voting Rights Interns work on the following:

• Election monitoring to ensure Asian Americans are treated fairly at the polls and to document violations of the Voting Rights Act and federal Constitution. The Voting Rights Act mandates the availability of Chinese and Korean language assistance and forbids anti-Asian voter discrimination.

• Work with pro bono lawyers at corporate law firms and volunteer law students to inspect poll sites for compliance with the Voting Rights Act and Help America Vote Act.

• Coordinate a survey of Asian American voters to document the use of bilingual ballots and report on Asian American voting patterns. The survey will be taken at poll sites in several poll sites across the nation. Interns will recruit, train, and supervise volunteers, as well as coordinate logistics at three dozen polling sites.

• Register new voters after citizenship swearing-in ceremonies.

• Conduct research and advocacy on local, state, and federal election reform proposals

Interns are supervised by attorneys through regular meetings and trainings. 

These internships are not paid positions, but academic credit, college work-study, or a clinical placement can be arranged. 

Interns work anywhere between 12 to 25 hours per week in the office.

The internship usually follows the semester, commencing with the start of classes or (end of August/ beginning of September) and goes to the first or second week of December.

Bilingual ability is helpful but not required, and languages (if any) should be stated in resume.

Applicants should also state the number of hours they are looking to contribute per week, and a possible schedule.

Send a resume and cover letter to:

Voting Rights Fall Intern Search

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)

99 Hudson Street, 12th Floor

New York, NY 10013-2815

Fax: (212) 966-4303

Email: info@aaldef.org

For more information, please contact Glenn Magpantay at (212) 966-5932 (ext. 206) or gmagpantay@aaldef.org