The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Legal Hotline and Election Legal Guide are available for journalists covering the 2022 midterm elections who have questions about their newsgathering rights or encounter legal issues while reporting.
The free Legal Hotline will be staffed on Election Day by Reporters Committee attorneys in Washington, D.C., to help journalists nationwide who may face issues while reporting at the polls. A network of volunteer media lawyers in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas will also be on call to assist journalists.
Contact the Reporters Committee Legal Hotline at 1-800-336-4243, hotline@rcfp.org, or submit a request through our online form if you have questions about reporting on the midterm elections or run into issues while covering the elections.
Journalists can also consult the Reporters Committee’s Election Legal Guide, available in English and Spanish. The guide, which Reporters Committee attorneys updated in advance of this year’s midterms, covers exit polling, newsgathering in or near polling places, ballot selfies, and access to ballots and election records. It also includes more detailed information about election laws in battleground states.