VOTER UPDATE | JUNE 2020
Ready to be part of the VERY FIRST Virtual Lobby Day, Thursday, June 25, for the 2020 League of Women Voters Virtual National Convention?

Focus of the lobbying: The National Voting Rights Advancement Act t o restore the act's provisions. Sponsor is Senator Patrick Leahy. Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is a co-sponsor. Join a Zoom session at 9:30 am with Amie Cajka to learn how to use social media tools prepared by LWVUS to ask Ohio Sen. Rob Portman to support passage of the VRAA. You can also communicate with Sen. Brown and thank him for the sponsorship..

See Zoom invite below.

Here is Senator Leahy's summary of the VRAA:

THE VOTING RIGHTS ADVANCEMENT ACT OF 2019

The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 responds to current conditions in voting today by restoring the full protections of the original, bipartisan Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was last reauthorized by Congress in 2006, but gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.
  • Following the Shelby County decision four years ago, several states passed sweeping voter suppression laws that disproportionately prevent minorities, the elderly, and the youth from voting.
  • The bill provides the tools to address these discriminatory practices and seeks to protect all Americans’ right to vote. The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 creates a new coverage formula that applies to all states and hinges on a finding of repeated voting rights violations in the preceding 25 years.
  • Significantly, the 25-year period “rolls,” or continuously moves, to keep up with “current conditions,” so that only states that have a recent record of racial discrimination in voting are covered.
  • States that have repeated and persistent violations will be covered for a period of 10 years, but if they establish a clean record moving forward, they can come out of coverage.
  • Read the rest of the summary at: leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/VRAA%20of%202019%20one%20pager.pdf


Topic: LWV Virtual Lobbying Day Tutorial
Time: Jun 25, 2020 09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 788 0454 9437
Password: 7rrePd

Questions? Email lwvkent@gmail.com

For those of you who can't attend but would like to be part of this all day social media blast--including a Twitter Storm at 2 pm-- you can find the tools you need at:

Head here for more information about the 2020 Convention.

______________________________

Help register voters on June 27 at this event in DT Kent

Sign-up here: signupgenius.com/go/60B0B4BADAD23A0FA7-kent11 by Sat., June 27, at 9 am to help out the VOTER SERVICE COMMITTEE!

We understand if members are hesitant to volunteer. If you are able to participate, someone will be in touch!


July & August Virtual All Member Meetings


July 20 All Member Meeting
Speaker: Terrie Nielsen, Deputy Director of the Portage County Board of Elections

Terrie, who is a long-time Kent League member, will talk about the work of the Board and its staff for the challenging 2020 Primary and how plans are going for the General Election. Here is your Zoom information. LWV Kent friends and persons interested in membership are welcome. There will be time for questions through a moderator.

Topic: The Good The Bad and The Ugly of the 2020 Elections
Time: Jul 20, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 870 7704 3930
Password: 311462
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,87077043930#,,1#,311462# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,87077043930#,,1#,311462# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location
    +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
    +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
    +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
    +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
    +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
    +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 870 7704 3930
Password: 311462
Find your local number:


August 4 All Member Meeting
Speakers: Joan Seidel, Commissioner, Kent City Health Department, and Joe Diorio, Commissioner, Portage County Combined General Health District

The health commissioners will talk about their agency's work during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Kent and Portage County.  LWV Kent friends and persons interested in membership are welcome. There will be time for questions through a moderator.

Topic: LWVK All Member Monthly 
Time: Aug 4, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 839 6459 6274
Password: 974028
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83964596274#,,1#,974028# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,83964596274#,,1#,974028# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location
    +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
    +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
    +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
    +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
    +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
    +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 839 6459 6274
Password: 974028
Find your local number:

Coming in September...
Mark your calendar for Sept. 10, 2020, for our annual Fall Kick-off Meeting! Planning is still underway but it will most likely be online.
KSU Townhall recording on how to
become an effective ally


Topic: How to Be an Ally Townhall
Start Time: Jun 18, 2020 04:41 PM

Meeting Recording:

Access Password: 4JD3L21!


This Zoom townhall event was hosted by the Kent State University Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

TIME FOR ACTION TO PROTECT
VOTERS AND VOTING
Urgent: Help Defeat Bad State Elections Legislation

Take action TODAY against HB 680! Click here: bit.ly/defeat-bad-elections-legislation. It may be voted out of committee as early as tomorrow, June 4.

HB 680 will damage our election system by:

  • Eliminating early voting days;
  • Making it harder to vote by mail; and
  • Putting Ohioans at risk with less safe conditions on Election Day

HB 680 eliminates the last weekend of early voting. It also forbids the Secretary of State from mailing absentee ballot applications to voters, which has happened in every even-year general election since 2012, or providing pre-paid postage for ballot returns. It bans health standards like social distancing and sanitization at the polls on Election Day.

The link takes you to a form to send to your state senator and state representative. It asks them to:

  • Support Senate Bill 191 to allow for online applications for an absentee ballot
  • Allocate funds for prepaid postage for applications and ballots
  • Permit multiple early vote centers and drop boxes in each county
  • Maintain and improve in-person voting in ways that are safe for voters and poll workers
  • Provide funds for BOE staffing, supplies and capital expenses
  • Improve poll worker recruitment, and more. support HB

Then call Speaker Larry Householder at (614) 466-2500 and let him know HB 680 damages our democracy. You can also contact the members of the State and Local Government Committee here that is hearing the bill. Share this email with your friends and family and ask them to do the same.