Tell Patch If You See Election Shenanigans In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The high-stakes 2020 presidential and general election is two months away, but voting is already underway in some parts of the country. The coronavirus pandemic is increasing interest in mail-in balloting — something Virginians are now eligible to do 45 days before an election without giving an "excuse" or reason. Voters have started to request vote by mail ballots, and the ballots will become available starting on Sept. 18.

Because of the surge in absentee balloting in Alexandria and elsewhere, the nonprofit investigative news organization ProPublica has launched its Electionland tip lines early this year. Patch has joined the coalition of newsrooms participating in the Electionland project to discover problems that prevent eligible voters from accessing or casting their ballots during or ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

Patch participated in the Electionland project in the 2016 election, working with ProPublica to bring you information on broken scanners and long lines at the polls in Brooklyn, the extension of voting hours in Durham County, North Carolina, due to technical issues, voting improprieties in Texas, an election day shooting in Azusa, California, and much more.

ProPublica wants to hear about any problems that may prevent people from voting — for example, mail ballot delivery problems, voting location changes, long lines, registration problems, purged voter rolls, broken machines and voter intimidation.

SEE ALSO: Alexandria November 2020 Election: Deadlines, Early Voting

Our journalists and those at other newsrooms taking part in the Electionland project will do what we can to document and verify what readers tell us about voting and Election Day experiences. One of the most important parts of the Electionland project is to hear directly from voters. There are several ways to do that:

• SMS: Text the word VOTE, VOTA (for Spanish) or 投票 (for Chinese) to 81380 (standard text message rates apply).
• WhatsApp: Send the word VOTE, VOTA (for Spanish) or 投票 (for Chinese) to 850-909-8683.
• Facebook Messenger: Go to m.me/electionland.
• Submit the form below.