LWVKC E-VOTER

Check Out Our Costume Video!

The League of Women Voters of Kent County has produced an 8-and-a-half minute video giving the history of the LWV, in costume! Our stars were Cece Trainor, Sue Caswell, Jane Hardy, Bobby Sutton, Sandy Bjork, Elisabeth Tully, Nancy Holland, Kitty Maynard, Marian Herb, Fran Peimer, Linda Applegate, and Sarah Ranney. (Which of these do you think portrayed the iconic woman above/to the right?) The video is now on YouTube, and here’s the link:

            https://youtu.be/owjsd_sUexM

Take a look; it’s really fun. Special thanks to Connie Ranney, our videographer, and Nancy Smith, our “scene setter.”

Hats off also to Linda Applegate, who put together our delightful cruise on the Chester River on August 26, Women's Equality Day. Nancy Smith and Bobby Sutton made the event even more festive by adorning the boat with appropriate banners and signs.

More Centennial Committee news:  Coming in October, we hope! (date TBD), will be a Zoom presentation by Dr. Colleen Shogan, Senior VP and Director of the David Rubinstein Center for White House History, and First VP of the U.S. Women’s Centennial Commission. Dr. Shogan, our would-be speaker for our cancelled live Annual Meeting last April, has offered to give us a talk on “Parades, Presidents, and Protests: Suffragists and the White House.” Stay tuned for more details. 

Saturdays in the Park

We will be registering voters (and handing out voting information as soon as it’s available) at the Farmer’s Market every Saturday until the election. Our “station” will be in front of the Historical Society, corner of High and Cross Sts.  Do stop by, pose behind our “Suffragist Story Board,” and check out the Historical Society’s fabulous display window about the suffrage movement and its impact on Kent County. 

We need volunteers to staff our table for the next eight Saturdays! Please contact Barb Flook, bsflook@gmail.com, or 410-703-9682, if you’d like to help. 

President’s Message

2020 has been a challenging year in so many ways. We intended it to be a year of frequent celebratory events in the company of our members. While we succeeded in having two of these, the screening of the movie “Iron Jawed Angels” at Washington College and our 100 Year Birthday Bash for the founding of LWV at Sumner Hall, the pandemic forced us to
cancel all other events. Fortunately for us, Jane Hardy, the head of our Centennial Committee, remained undaunted and converted our parade marches in costumes of the decades and our Women’s Equality Day celebration into a video on the history of U.S. women (and the League) for the last 100 years and a “socially distanced” cruise along the Chester on the Packet. LWVKC thanks Jane and her faithful helpers, Nancy Smith, Bobby Sutton, Linda Applegate, Barb Flook, Sandra Bjork, Peggy Markman, Linda Reed, and Connie Ranney for their efforts. Please check out the Historical Society’s window display commemorating the Centennial, which will be in place through October. Most importantly, make a plan to vote in our 2020 general election. Look for our online Voters’ Guide, which is “going live” on September 19: Just enter VOTE411.org into your internet browser for more information. 

Our League has continued our tradition of presenting an award to a Kent County High School Senior who has shown leadership in promoting citizen participation in government.   The recipient of the 2020 Corr scholarship was Mr. Nathan Brice. Nathan was involved in the National Honor Society, Student Government and Kent and Queen Anne’s Rescue Squad. He is attending UCLA. Our thanks to Corr Award Committee chair Linda Reed and committee members Margie Baker, George Shivers, and Barb Flook for making this award happen during these unusual times.  

In solidarity,

Cece Trainor, President, LWVKC

Welcome, New Board Members!

Our board is delighted to welcome two new members. Director Linda Applegate and her husband moved to Chestertown over two years ago after living in Oriental, North Carolina, for ten years and previously in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, for 35 years. Admiring the work of the LWV, Linda joined the Kent County League, often assisting as a timer at forums for candidates. It was a great opportunity for a new member of the community to learn about the candidates running for office and issues facing this area. Linda worked as a social worker for the Division of Youth and Family Services prior to having children and then as a church secretary while raising a family.  Finally she was the Director of Alumni Relations at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.  Over the years Linda has been a member of various boards and fund raising for day care programs, a shelter for women and church social service efforts

Second Vice President Marian Herb, a Pennsylvania native, retired from a 40-year career in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education as a teacher and administrator. Her professional career and residences spanned 5 states. 
Marian earned a B.S degree from Pennsylvania State University, a M.Ed. from Loyola College, and did post graduate coursework at the University of Delaware, Susquehanna University, and Texas Christian University.Most recently she directed a student support program for first generation students at Chesapeake College and before that was Coordinator of Disability Services and Adjunct Instructor at The Community College of Baltimore County. She has successfully written both federal and state grants and served on the Maryland Governor’s Taskforce on Transitioning High School Students with Learning Disabilities and the Maryland Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Marian continues to advocate for the disabled in Maryland as a Board member of Emerge, Inc. a nonprofit agency that supports more than 450 disabled adults in the community. She has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for CASA of the Mid-Shore and has volunteered for Your Vote Your Voice. Marian lives with her husband, Bill, on Fairlee Creek. She has two sons and a granddaughter, and enjoys the outdoors, gardening, reading, and baking.

For a complete listing of our board, click on our website link – at the bottom of this publication. 
About Voting in the Upcoming Election

Because of the pandemic, Governor Larry Hogan has declared that this fall Marylanders will vote at prescribed Voting Centers– which may or may not be voters’ regular precinct locations.  The number and location of these centers for Kent County has not yet been confirmed. Early Voting will take place from October 26 through November 2, the day before Election Day. And, a recent change in the law requires the State Board of Elections and each local board of elections to refer to absentee ballots as "mail-in ballots" and absentee voting as "mail-in voting." Please note that this change in terminology does NOT change the process of mail-in voting. 

3 Ways to Vote in Maryland’s 2020 Presidential Election

  • Vote by mail-in ballot -- see below. 
  • Vote in person and “early” at Voting Centers during Maryland’s Early Voting period, which is from Mon, Oct. 26 through Tues, Nov. 2, from 7 am to 8 pm each day. 
  • Vote in person at any county Voting Center on Election Day, Tues, Nov. 3, from 7 am to 8 pm.

Voting by Mail 

  • You must submit a mail-in ballot application (either by mail or online) in order to receive a ballot in the mail. Your request for a mail-in ballot must be received by October 20. 
  • You should have received an application to request a mail-in ballot via the mall. The Maryland Board of Elections was supposed to have mailed each registered voter an application for a mail-in ballot around August 28. 
  • You can fill out the application and mail it back OR you can submit an online application online now at https://voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/OnlineVoterRegistration/VoterType
  • Note: If you request a mail-in ballot and then decide to vote in person, your in-person vote will be considered “provisional” and will be counted later, once certified.
  • Once you receive and fill out your ballot, you can return it by mail or deposit it in one of the official Ballot Drop Boxes located at sites in Kent County. The number of and sites for these Ballot Drop Boxes has not yet been determined. 

Registering to Vote


Jane Hardy