A top Democratic super PAC is planning to launch a multi-million dollar campaign in seven battleground states to fight back against policies that the group says disenfranchise Black and brown voters.
Priorities USA is spending $10 million on voter protection lawsuits in existing cases that the group says will help defend voting rights in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan and New Hampshire.
The ad buy and litigation expenses were first shared by the group with NBC News. The news will be announced later on Monday by the group.
In an interview, Aneesa McMillan, the group's deputy executive director, said that these ads would help Black and brown voters navigate how to make sure they can vote. It includes things like reminding them to check their registration and be prepared with everything they might need. A series of 15 second and banner ads will be launched on Google and Facebook in early October, McMillan said. She said they wanted to target black, Latino, young and low-income voters, and to direct them to other websites and hotlines that can help them find their polling locations, reminding them of any materials they must have on them to vote, and of their specific rights at the voting booth.
One ad directs voters to a hotline that can help them understand whether and how they can vote by mail in their state. Another spot directs voters to a hotline that can walk them through the process of knowing whether they are registered to vote and how and where to vote.
Priorities USA said it would spend money on cases in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Georgia, Nevada and Michigan.
The group, located in Pennsylvania, said it would support a suit to fight efforts by a group of Trump administration officials who have been accused of trying to restrict access to ballot drop boxes in Lehigh County. The group has proposed limiting drop box availability to business hours and requiring them to be monitored in person.
In Arizona, the group said it was devoting more resources for its challenge of a state law that criminalizes volunteers and organizations that provide voting assistance to individuals registered in another state. Senate Bill 1260 makes it a crime to knowingly help a resident of the state register to vote in a state when that person is already registered in a different state.
There are additional resources for an existing suit by the group against Georgia included in the expenditure. Priorities USA is part of a group of plaintiffs who claim that a new provision included in the state's sweeping election package from 2021 requiring absentee ballot applications to be physically printed and signed with pen and ink unfairly targets voters of color and elderly voters.
Our organization recognized early on that right-wing voter suppression efforts would only become more aggressive, and we created a dynamic team of lawyers, advocates and communicators to combat these anti-democratic efforts in the courts, McMillan, the group's deputy executive director, said in a statement.
She said that Black and Brown people, older people, elderly and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by voter suppression, and our work specifically centers on these communities when we are crafting a litigation strategy.