By Lynn Frazier
Dear Alachua County,
Autumnal Equinox has come and gone, and fall has taken off with a bang. In order to replace a vacancy in the Gainesville City Commission At-Large, Seat B, a Special Election is being held on November 16. All voters registered within the city limits of Gainesville are eligible to vote in this election. The voter registration deadline is October 18, and the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is November 6. Currently registered voters do not need to re-register but are encouraged to check and verify their registration status on the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections website or by calling 352-374-5252.
The LWVAC Candidate Forum for the Special Election is October 23rd at 1:00 p.m. Many thanks to Courtney Pyche and her Voter Service committee for pulling this Candidate Forum together with such short notice. Election day is Tuesday, November 16th. Voter turnout is always low in off-cycle elections so, if you are a city resident, please be sure to vote, and encourage all your friends to vote. Let’s break the cycle of low voter turnout.
I hope you saw President Scoon’s release of the State legislative priorities. The top six are Voting, Redistricting, Reproductive Health & Justice, Education, Health Care, and Natural Resources. The selection of the annual legislative priorities means State will focus most lobbying efforts in the top six but will also address other areas as needed. The October 8th LWVFL Lunch & Learn webinar featured a conversation surrounding the 2022 legislative priorities. I hope you were able to join the discussion. If not, watch for a link to the recording published in the LWVFL biweekly newsletter: The Florida Voter.
See you at the Candidate Forum!
Lynn
elgfrazier@gmail.com
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Virtual Candidate Forums | |
Gainesville Sun Virtual Candidate Forum - 10/20 @ 6 p.m.
The Gainesville Sun’s virtual City Commission candidate forum will be held Wednesday, October 20, at 6 p.m. The forum will be streamed live on The Sun’s Facebook page. After the event, the video will be shared via social media. Questions for the candidates should be emailed to letters@gainesville.com.
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LWVAC Virtual Candidate Forum - 10/23 @ 1 p.m.
The League of Women Voters of Alachua County (LWVAC) is hosting a virtual City of Gainesville Special Election Candidate Forum to be live-streamed to the League of Women Voters of Alachua County Facebook page on Saturday, October 23, beginning at 1 p.m.
All candidates for the City of Gainesville At Large Seat B have been invited to participate in the forum. Election Day is Tuesday, November 16, 2021. Come “see” your local candidates and hear their positions.
This program is free and open to the public. The forum will be available for post-event viewing, on both the League of Women Voters of Alachua County Facebook page and YouTube channel.
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that does not endorse candidates or support political parties.
The forum link is https://fb.me/e/2C0YGoWaw.
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Volunteer Opportunity Available
We're currently looking for a volunteer to serve as Voter Services Co-Chair, along with Courtney Pyche.
Be in the heart of the League with:
- Voter Registration Drives
- Election Protection Efforts
- Local Candidate Forums
- and much, much more!
Email Courtney to learn more today!
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OutreachCircle
is a fun way to follow LWV and get involved with regular action items on the most important issues of our day. Just scan the QR code with a QR reader or iPhone camera or use this link.
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Introducing the Rest of Your
Administrative Committee Chairs
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Retired lawyer. Love to travel.
Me in Iceland holding a chunk of iceberg fresh off the glacier.
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I consider myself a native Floridian. After my family moved to Hollywood in August 1947, I grew up there- some 10 years - without air conditioning. and with many mosquitoes bites every summer. I am a beneficiary of Florida’s support of inexpensive higher education. Tuition at UF in 1958 was $75 a semester. After great difficulty with chemistry and calculus, political science and liberal arts became my major. Thus, I became a lifelong political junkie. After, graduation, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, attended Officer Training School, becoming a 90-day wonder, a gentleman and eventually a Captain with service in SE Asia and Vietnam. With the GI BILL, I attended and graduated UF Law School. After service as an assistant state attorney, I was elected Miami Dade County Judge, serving 24 years. My career was cut short by a lost election, partially due to the change in demographics and my mistaken belief that newspaper ads would be as effective as TV commercials. After my marriage ended, I retired to Gainesville in 2006 and quickly rejoined the League of Women Voters.
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I joined the League to become more involved in my community. As chair of the Local Issues Committee, I worked with a wonderful group of smart, dedicated League members on issues of home rule and housing. We also collaborated with the ACPS to create the Civics Challenge, a contest held annually now among public school students. I teach communications at UF in the Business School and I look forward to traveling when COVID calms down.
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I rejoined the League in 2021 to help update the Speaker’s Bureau. I think it is important that community groups have access to speakers knowledgeable about the important issues the League addresses. I think of this as a continuation of my 25 years as a political science professor at UF where I had the joy of working with grads and undergrads on issues like public leadership and ethics, immigration, and gender. Before coming to Florida, I worked in government in Washington, DC and Austin, Texas. I have just started as a volunteer for the Guardian ad Litem program.
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Fifth-generation Floridian. Former LWVAC Board Member, VP, and Solar Cooperative Coordinator. Degrees and careers in classical music, environmental planning, estate planning and business law, and agriculture. Leadership role in multiple state-wide UF leadership organizations. Semi-retired (getting there) solo attorney. Married, with two step-daughters and one grandson.
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Redistricting in Florida
Learn about redistricting in Florida. LWVAC has put together a webpage with an ongoing series of articles on the redistricting process in Florida. Here you will find articles ranging from introductory terminology to in-depth updates on the process, including maps, dates, and more. Below is a link to Part 3 in the series.
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Make Your Vote Count: State and Congressional Redistricting
by Diane Dimperio
The Legislature is gearing up to draw state and congressional districts that will define our voting options for the next decade. So, we should be starting to think about the process and let our policymakers know that we expect them to draw them fairly.
Read more
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352 Area Code: Switching to 10-Digit Dialing on 10/24
Anyone with a telephone number within the 352 area code will need to change from 7-digit local dialing to 10-digit local dialing. If you forget to use 10-digit dialing, your call will still be connected through October 23, 2021. After October 24, 2021, calls using 7-digit dialing will hear a recording informing you that your call cannot be completed as dialed. Why? The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) recently adopted a 3-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Lifeline. For that number to work, all providers will implement mandatory 10-digit dialing nationwide. The National Suicide Hotline will be available in July 2022.
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Add Our Address to Your Email Safe Senders List
Email newsletters can be blocked or filtered into the bulk folder or spam, especially now that email filters are focusing more strongly on “grey mail” or commercial mail. As a result of these changes, you may be unable to read certain email communications even if you have subscribed to receive them.
To avoid these situations, please add our email address to your Safe Senders List or add the From address (lwv@lwv-alachua.org) to your Address Book or Contacts to ensure you receive your LWVAC email in your inbox.
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President: Lynn Frazier
Vice-President: Deb Shimon
Secretary: Carole Fernandez
Treasurer: Fran Towk
A full list of LWVAC Board Members and Committee Chairs can be found here.
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