I was opening the voter protection boiler room — a small, windowless area that would soon be filled with lawyers on phones talking to on-the-ground voter protection volunteers at polling places across the state and helping troubleshoot questions in real time.

Throughout that Election Day, hundreds of lawyers volunteered their time, working for hours to help voters. Some of the voting issues we encountered were simple and could be solved in minutes: What kind of IDs are valid? Can voters still register to vote on Election Day? How do voters prove their places of residence?

But sometimes we got more complicated — and often nefarious — questions. We saw voter intimidation, purposefully confusing election laws or even outright lies aimed at turning away voters from exercising their constitutional right to vote. We worked late into the night, fueled by caffeine and donuts, answering thousands of questions from voters until the polls closed.

I left that voter protection office late that night exhausted, but exhilarated. I had been part of a community of lawyers working on the front lines of the fight to ensure every person — regardless of race, age, ZIP code or any other factor — could make their voice heard at the polls.

But seeing how many challenges voters faced when trying to cast their ballots also gave me pause. It was clear that language barriers, information gaps and other systemic challenges still made voting too difficult for many, especially people from underrepresented communities.