Voting Rights Coordinator

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters (LCV) — one of Michigan’s largest, most impactful political advocacy organizations tackling drinking water contamination, the rapidly-worsening impacts of climate change, and efforts to undermine our access to the ballot — is seeking a full-time Voting Rights Coordinator to lead voter education and election protection work within our organization’s exciting and fast-paced Democracy For All team. This position also supervises our voter turnout work and leads partner engagement, youth programming, and voting rights communications. The Voting Rights Coordinator additionally manages day-to-day activities necessary to successfully accomplish program-wide goals.

The ideal candidate will be an experienced community organizer. This position offers the opportunity to cultivate and maintain community relationships and manage a small team of organizers and/or interns. This position, alongside a team of tenacious colleagues, will advocate for strong environmental and voting rights protections, and build and amplify the voices of communities of color and other key constituencies who are disproportionately impacted by environmental issues and voter suppression.

About the Michigan League of Conservation Voters

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters is a statewide political organization whose mission is to elect pro-conservation candidates to office and to hold all decision makers accountable for protecting Michigan’s drinking water, attacking climate change, and expanding access to the ballot. We work closely with elected officials, business leaders, partner organizations, and advocates from across the state, and we have built a reputation as the leading, non-partisan political voice for Michigan’s land, air, and water.

Michigan LCV is an equal opportunity employer. We assure equal treatment in hiring selection, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, training, discipline, and other personnel practices and terms or conditions of employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, height, weight, marital status, genetic testing status, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender status, or any other protected class established by all applicable federal, state and local laws and ordinances.

Job Responsibilities 

This position reports to the Voting Rights Manager, is ideally based in the Detroit or Grand Rapids metro area, and is responsible for the following: 

 

• Educate, engage, and empower our community to turn presidential-year voters into every-election voters in collaboration with partners, canvassers, youth interns, and volunteers.
• Manage our 313/616 Votes direct voter contact program, including staff and interns, by providing regular feedback, innovating ways to enthusiastically engage them, and holding them accountable for goals.
  
   
• Recruit, hire, and train canvassers with support from the Voting Rights Manager.
  
   
• Attend, organize, and/or lead voting rights coalition meetings across Michigan to build relationships, identify opportunities for engagement, and advance the goals of MLCV’s programs.
  
   
• Support the development of virtual engagement including social media and newsletter content and the development of the 313 and 616 Votes brand, along with the Democracy for All and Communications teams.
• Help track and report data to measure our progress related to voting rights programming.
  
   
• Ensure the program is executed with the highest standard of quality control, professionalism, and appropriate long-range perspective.
  
   
• Keep a steady pulse on the local political lay of the land and local democracy issues, sharing that knowledge with staff and key partners, and using those issues and opportunities to engage voters in MLCV’s work.
• Participating in all Michigan LCV political election work — doing the hard work of campaigning, which means door-to-door field canvassing, text and phone banking, and/or attending campaign events

Qualifications

We are seeking candidates who excel at building genuine relationships, are natural problem solvers, and are looking to become long-term community leaders. You should be/have: 

• A deep connection to your community and a commitment to addressing the local democracy, land, air, and water issues impacting the metro area.
• Creative, motivated leader with at least 2 years of experience in community, electoral, labor, or similar organizing. 
• A minimum of 1 year of experience managing staff members or volunteers who represent a rich mix of people across race, gender, sexual orientation, and other group identities.
• Highly organized, goal-driven, and detail-oriented self-starter who takes initiative, provides effective management, and can complete projects independently or collaboratively as needed.
• Excellent planning, priority-setting, and time management skills and ability to anticipate and plan ahead for potential challenges.
• Experience working with coalitions and developing partnerships to advance shared goals.
• Experience working with a variety of database systems; including Microsoft Excel and Voter Activation Network (VAN).
• Positive, self-starter, solutions-oriented attitude and a commitment to maintaining a supportive, collaborative culture.
• An ability to build genuine relationships and lead conversations with a wide-range of stakeholders — especially those most impacted by historical barriers to the ballot and environmental issues — through phone calls, in-person meetings, social media, and events.
• Ability to work 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM on weekdays during non-election seasons, 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM during election seasons, with flexibility and willingness to work other evenings and weekends, as needed.
• Reliable access to transportation for travel across the state and a cell phone to use for work purposes as well as the ability to participate in campaign activities, either phone banking or canvassing.
• Cultural Competence:
  • Demonstrated awareness of one’s own cultural identity and the ability to learn and build on varying community norms.
  • Ability to make authentic relationships across differences.
  • Understanding of how environmental and voting rights issues intersect with racism, economic and social inequality in the U.S.
  • Familiarity with the complexity of issues and obstacles facing communities’ of color participation in U.S. democracy. 
    
     
  • Commitment to equity and inclusion as organizational practice and culture.

Compensation & Benefits

The starting salary for this position ranges from $51,000 - $59,000 depending on experience. Michigan LCV offers a benefits package that includes health, dental, and vision coverage, long-term and short-term disability coverage, life insurance coverage, a retirement savings program, reimbursements for business-related travel, a generous paid time off policy, and a team of smart, funny, and kind colleagues working together to deliver on a mission that matters. 

How to Apply

Click here to apply. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. If you need accommodation or assistance with our online application process, please tell us how we can help by emailing jobs@michiganlcv.org or by calling us at (734) 222-9650.

We know not all strong candidates will have every skill we list. We still want to hear from you. Research shows that women, non-binary people, disabled people, and people of color are less likely to apply for a position if they don’t meet every skill listed. At Michigan LCV, we believe our collective differences enable us to make better decisions, drive innovation, and deliver impactful results. We are committed to creating racial justice and equity within the environmental movement, and we know that begins with us doing the work ourselves.