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70 years young and growing!

Join us to celebrate July 22

RSVP extended to Friday, July 19

Thanking our friends! A signature drink! Raffling Brimfield Bread Oven gift certificates! Sounds like a party...


Please join us to celebrate 70 amazing years of the League of Women Voters of Kent on Monday, July 22, 7 p.m., at Hobbs Hall, 217 N. Mantua St., Kent, for hors d’oeuvres and cake to celebrate. Didn't RSVP? Come anyway!


If you know you are coming, please let us know by filling out the RSVP here. There is no cost to attend. Dress is casual, and there will be a program.

League of Women Voters then . . . and now!

Former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, center front left, speaks at the Citizens Not Politicians rally in Columbus after more than 700,000 signatures for a redistricting reform amendment were delivered to the Ohio Secretary of State.

Can we count on you?

Help LWV Kent meet the challenge!

Several LWV Kent members have pooled their donations to the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment campaign early to challenge Kent League members to help them raise at least $7,000 to $8,000. So far, $4,500 has been raised. Can you help with a donation?


Jen Miller, LWVO director, wrote recently, “The only way we can continue our fight for fair representation is to raise at least $157, 910 (link to online pay portal) immediately to be placed into this brand new bank account. Without these funds, our work on Citizens Not Politicians will have to stop completely. We will also be unable to pay our indispensable campaign staff who work tirelessly to support local Leagues, organize volunteers, and urge voters to VOTE YES through earned media.”


Last month, the Ohio legislature changed campaign finance laws. We now have to start from scratch with a whole new financial system to meet the complicated new regulations. 


Miller goes on to write, “Our participation in the campaign is not only vital to the passage in November, but to our collective futures, long after this election is over. Our resolve to defend democracy is unshakeable and our commitment to our members and local Leagues will never waver.” 


To donate, you can write a check or pay online. In either case, send an email here letting us know what amount you have donated as we work to meet this challenge. 


We will be collecting checks and paperwork at the 70th LWV Kent birthday celebration on July 22 at Hobbs Hall. 


If you choose to write a check, print and complete this form and include it with your check payable to League of Women Voters of Ohio. Print “CNP911” on the memo line. If you do not include the required form, LWVO cannot deposit your check. Mail the form and your check to:


LWVO

471 E. Broad St.

Suite 1630

Columbus, OH 43215


To donate online, click here. THANK YOU!

WE DID IT! Leagues in Ohio, CNP, Common Cause, ACLU submitted more than 700,000 signatures

for redistricting reform!

Ohioans submitted 731,306 signatures from every county in Ohio to put the Citizens Not Politicians amendment on the ballot in November! Together, we can end gerrymandering in Ohio. Pledge to vote yes on November 5 by clicking here. Read more about the amendment here


LWV Kent collected more than 5,300 signatures, the third highest for a local league. Thanks again to our co-leaders, Anne Reid and Iris Meltzer.

Your new LWV Kent Board of Directors, 2024-2025

The new leadership team for the League of Women Voters of Kent 2024-2025! Sitting, left to right: Amie Cajka, Sherry Rose (president) and Karen Carmany; second row: Renee Ruchotzke, Bill Wilen, Marianne Martens (secretary), Jane Preston Rose, Brian Bialik (treasurer), Rhonda Richardson and Jackie Peck (vice president). Not present are Kate White and Jill Hazelton.

Voter registration volunteers needed

in August and September

Please help us register voters this summer. Choose one or more dates from the options below. Click on the image to sign up.

Outreach Committee is really reaching out!

Several opportunities for you to help register voters!

For members interested in diversity, equity and inclusion, please consider helping with our growing community outreach efforts. Some of our partner agencies have invited us to participate in their summer events. 


We will be registering voters, answering voting questions and distributing a simple survey to gather information about barriers to voting. 


Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority has farmers market dates available on the following dates: 


July 11, Aug. 8 and Sept. 12 at Community Estates, McElrath neighborhood, Ravenna. Click here to sign up.


Aug. 14 and 15 at two public housing sites in Kent. Click here to sign up.


King Kennedy Community Center in Ravenna has invited us to set up our booth at their back-to-school event on Aug. 17 from noon to 4 p.m. They expect a large attendance at this event, so we hope to have all of our volunteer slots filled for this one. Click here to sign up.


If you have questions or need more information (including assistance using Sign-Up Genius), please email Community Outreach chair Rhonda Richardson or call her at 330-842-1936.

Get to know the King Kennedy Center

Myia Saunders, program manager at the King Kennedy Center in Ravenna, spoke recently with Rhonda Richardson, chair of LWV Kent’s Outreach Committee. Saunders talked about the center and its mission. Richardson discussed how voter services and education could be brought to the center. 


At the League’s All Member Meeting in May, League members heard from staff and volunteers from the Portage County NAACP, the Skeels-Mathews Community Center and the Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority.

Book Club going strong for summer! Don't miss out!

The LWV Kent Book Club is now meeting on the third Wednesday of the month, though the time and location are the same: 1:30 p.m., at Hudson Grande Senior Living, 5400 Darrow Road, Hudson. All are welcome to join. Email Jane Preston Rose for details about the meetings. 


Here are the selections for July and August:



July 17

Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning

by Liz Cheney



August 21 Scold’s Bridle

by Ronna Russell

The author lives in Kent and will be joining us for our discussion. Ms. Russell will be at Last Exit Books, 124 E. Main St., Kent, OH 44240  in downtown Kent on July 12, 8 p.m., for a book signing.



David Pepper, Ohio voting rights activist, to speak at Fall meeting, Sept. 18

Our speaker for the Fall 2024 Kick-Off Meeting is David Pepper. Pepper is a lawyer, writer, political activist, former elected official, adjunct professor and voting rights advocate. He is and has been an ardent supporter of redistricting and the League of Women Voters. 


More information about the Sept. 18 meeting will be in the August VOTER.


Pepper has been engaged in numerous fights and extensive litigation over voter suppression and election laws in the Buckeye State. He has written two books about voting issues, Laboratories of Autocracy and Saving Democracy, plus four novels that bridge real-world politics and fiction.


Born and raised in Cincinnati, Pepper is a fifth-generation Cincinnatian. Pepper earned his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, and later earned his J.D. from Yale Law School. Pepper was the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party from 2015 to 2021. He has served in elected positions on the Cincinnati City Council and Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.


Always good to see you at Annual Meeting!

Images for 2024 and (very inspiring) audio of speaker

In case you missed it (or want to hear it again), click here to listen to the inspiring and informative speech by ACLU Ohio Deputy Director Collin Marrozzi at the LWV Kent 2024 Annual Meeting. Below are some images from the event.

Read the latest from the LWV Kent Observer Corps. Click here. Interested in an outreach activity that puts you in the rooms where it happens? Click here.

Summer fun with the League of Women Voters of Kent!

LWV Kent delegation stops for a portrait at the 2024 LWV National Convention in Washington, DC.

Voter Girl with LWVUS Chief of Staff Kelly McFarland at National Convention where LWV Kent shared The VOTER Girl Project with other Leagues.

Parading with LWV Northern Portage in the City of Aurora 4th of July Parade.

Registering voters at the Ravenna Juneteenth event and the Kent Heritage Festival.

SAVE THE DATE . . . All events are free except where noted


July 17 | Wednesday | 1:30 p.m. | LWV Kent Book Club |Click here to email for details.

 

July 22 | Monday | 7 p.m. | All Member Meeting and Celebrating 70 years of Making Democracy Work! | Hobbs Hall, 217 N. Mantua St., Kent | Details in this newsletter above | No cost & no rsvp needed!

 

Aug 21 | Wednesday | 1:30 p.m. | LWV Kent Book Club |Click here to email for details.

 

Aug 22 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | All Member Meeting, Speaker: Matt Smith, Legislative Director for AFL-CIO Ohio | Kent Social Services, 1066 S. Water St., Kent


Sep 18 | Wednesday | 1:30 p.m. | LWV Kent Book Club |Click here to email for details.

 

Sep 18 | Wednesday | 6:30 p.m. | All Member Meeting/Fall Kick-Off | Kent Social Services, 1066 S. Water St., Kent | Details in the August VOTER


Oct 2 | Wednesday | Time to be announced | Drive-up  

Voter registration | Details to come. 

 

Oct 16 | Wednesday | 1:30 p.m. | LWV Kent Book Club |Click here to email for details. 


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