Gear Up to VoteSafe

Gear Up to VoteSafe is a non-partisan effort to support safe voting during the pandemic.

During national elections, nearly 1 million people in the U.S. serve as election officials and poll workers managing the places Americans vote. Despite the upcoming election occurring during an historic pandemic, many polling stations, including Election Super Centers, lack sufficient PPE. This means voters and poll workers will face additional risk – especially those who are older or who have underlying health conditions.

RESOLVE, VoteSafe, and Mission for Masks have joined forces to launch Gear Up to VoteSafe, a new non-partisan initiative to get personal protective equipment (PPE) into the hands of election officials, poll workers, and volunteers.

VoteSafe is a non-partisan coalition of election administrators and organizations co-chaired by former Governors Tom Ridge (R-PA) and Jennifer Granholm (D-MI) that endorses the simple principle that every American has the right to vote safely, even amidst the pandemic. Mission for Masks, an initiative to connect medical workers, essential workers and non-profit organizations to PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, was co-founded by actress, producer, and advocate Jess Jacobs and critical care nurse and author Sonja M. Schwartzbach.

Together, RESOLVE, VoteSafe, and Mission for Masks are working with election officials, polling sites, and other interested organizations to provide Gear Up to VoteSafe PPE kits at scale and initiate a communications effort to support safe in-person voting.

Through our COVID-19 response initiatives, RESOLVE has sought to design innovative projects that fill needs and find common ground. Our Open Source Medical Supplies (OSMS) team has performed rapid, expert review of open-source PPE designs, while our Makers Respond team has put PPE in the hands of first responders. Gear Up to VoteSafe expands on this success.

Our OSMS team is advising on kit content and has prepared safe voting guidance for sites and voters, and our Makers Respond team is helping us develop a low-cost, comprehensive PPE kit. The typical Gear Up to VoteSafe PPE kit includes a face shield, N95 or equivalent face mask, hand sanitizer, and a voter safety guide (content may be adjusted based on availability of supplies). This PPE is essential for workers and volunteers who will interact with voters for many hours. We are working with the National Vote at Home Institute to deliver these materials to polling stations across the country, including Election Super Centers.

We are raising money to produce and deliver PPE to those who make our elections run. Our initial goal is to outfit at least 250,000 poll worker and volunteers with PPE.  This will help protect them and the millions of voters they interact with. Your donation will pay for Gear Up to VoteSafe PPE kits. We will produce these kits and get them to polling sites and volunteers before Election Day. Your support will help make this possible.

Here are other ways you can help.

HELP GET PPE KITS TO YOUR POLLING STATIONS, EMPLOYEES, OR VOLUNTEERS

With a minimum order of 300 kits (a “Voting Center Pack”), at a cost of $8/kit, we can provide kits directly to polling stations or other organizations interested in protecting their employees or volunteers during the voting process. We can also help connect polling stations with little or no budget for PPE to donated supplied. Please contact us to place an order, tell us about PPE needs at your polling location, or to donate PPE to Gear Up to VoteSafe to distribute to polling places.

ENHANCE YOUR OWN SAFE VOTING GEAR

If you are a poll worker or voter looking to Gear Up for Election Day and want to enhance your PPE ensemble, Makers Respond face shields can be purchased in 5-packs or 25-packs. The Makers Respond face shield is the least expensive, high quality, medically reviewed product of its kind of the market.

SHARE INFORMATION ABOUT GEAR UP TO VOTESAFE

Many poll workers and voters are seeking information about how to stay safe during the election. In addition to any PPE you may be able to donate, you can share information about good practices to stay safe, as well as how they can access complementary support. OSMS has compiled a collection of best practices, extracted from multiple guiding agencies, to create a series of interactive and informative safety guides for poll managers, poll workers, and voters.

Please help us to get the word out – share Gear Up to VoteSafe with your networks today!