LWVKC E-VOTER
“VOTE BY MAIL” CONSENSUS MEETING
December 10, 7 PM

The 2020 primary and general elections were remarkable because of the huge increase in “absentee voting,” known most recently as “voting by mail." 

Should the Maryland League of Women Voters adopt a position on voting by mail as the statewide norm for all elections? The Montgomery County League recommended a study on vote by mail in June 2019, noting that Rockville planned to use this method in its November 2019 election. A study committee began work in the fall, but by spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had made the subject more pressing. At its June 2020 Council Meeting, the LWV of Maryland determined that a state-wide study should be done instead and be completed in time to have a consensus position in place for the start of the Maryland legislative session in 2021. 

Our local League will take part in this state study on Thursday, December 10, 7 pm, via Zoom.  All LWVKC members will receive via email: 

  • (7 – 10 days before the Zoom meeting) A Fact Sheet and Consensus Questions for review.
  • (A couple of days before the Zoom)  An invitation with a Zoom link to enable you to join the virtual meeting.

If you are not a member, but would like to learn more about voting by mail, please join us!   Before December 4 contact Nancy Smith, our discussion leader, by email at Nismith@verizon.net; include the words "Vote by Mail Consensus Meeting" in the subject line. You will then be included as a recipient of the Zoom invitation and will also be sent background materials that will make the discussion more understandable. Though you won’t be able to take part in the actual consensus deliberations, you will be able to listen and learn about: 

  • How voting by mail (VBM) is conducted in other states
  • How VBM affects voter turnout
  • Effects of VBM on different populations
  • Partisan advantages
  • Procedures for implementing VBM
  • Ballot tracking
  • Ballot return options
  • Ballot tabulation
  • VBM security and costs
  • Other topics as well

Please “Zoom in” for this most timely discussion.  Questions?  Contact Nancy Smith at 410-708-5653 or Nismith@verizon.net. 
Cece Trainor
President's Letter

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This holiday season will likely not have as much camaraderie as most years, but we still have a lot to celebrate. The news that the global scientific community has created three different vaccines, which so far appear to be more than 90% effective in protecting people from Covid-19, is spectacular and allows us to see an end to the pandemic on the horizon. 

We have had an election in which voter turnout exceeded all expectations and we can hope that this level of involvement will continue.  Our dedicated election officials orchestrated a successful and fair election under extremely difficult conditions and we owe them our gratitude. We thank our League volunteers at the voter information table at the Bordley Center. They very much enjoyed seeing our community out and about on Saturday mornings in September and October.  We all became versed in multiple methods of casting our ballots and many of us voted by mail for the first time this year. We experienced both the convenience and the possible pitfalls of this method of voting during and after the general election. 

LWVMD is asking for our opinion on voting by mail and whether we would like it to become the major form of voting in our state. We hope you will join us in a virtual meeting described above, to share your experiences and opinions on this critical matter. 

Happy Holidays to all of our members and friends.

Cece Trainor, President, LWVKC
Your League in Action!

Saturdays at the Park

Starting in early September our League was a presence – parked in front of the Suffragists Tribute window at the Bordley History Center -- at the Chestertown Farmers Market.  According to Barb Flook, who coordinated this outreach, “We met a ton of people, answered lots of questions, assisted in eight new registrations and gave out many many Voters Guides and “Ballot Issues Pros and Cons” sheets.  Also over the course of these eight Saturdays sixty-two souls had their pictures taken at the Suffragist Storyboard (three of them men and two of them dogs!).”

Twelve League members – Margie Baker, Muriel Cole, Carol Droge, Barb Flook, Jane Hardy, Marian Herb, Nancy Holland, Anna Hurd, Fran Peimer, Linda Reed, Nancy Smith, and Cece Trainor– and two Your Vote/Your Voice members – Linda and Philip Dutton– staffed our table each week in groups of two or three. Most questions they encountered were about voting by mail and how to vote in person after having requested a mail-in ballot. 

Hats off also to Becky Goode, who contributed the beautiful white ruffled period dress that was the centerpiece of the Bordley History Center’s Suffragist window display.  Kent County Historical Society member and volunteer Stephanie Gosman created the display. 

Our thanks to these members and friends, and most especially to Barb Flook, who corralled these volunteers along with the  tables, chairs, and election materials we needed each week. 

Voters’Guide/VOTE411

Prior to the election a quartet of our members, Sandra Bjork, Fran Peimer, Nancy Smith, Cece Trainor, spent many hours adding local input to a printed Voters’ Guide (covering several Eastern Shore counties) and its online counterpart, VOTE411.  An expanded committee distributed hard copies of the Guide all over Kent County. Nancy Smith created a flyer outlining all the ways to cast one's ballot in this unusual election; Anne Bricker posted the flyer throughout the county as well.  Thank you, one and all.