News, Events and Opportunities
December 2024
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"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” In the opening sentence of his novel A Tale of Two Cities, written in 1859, Charles Dickens was referring to the time before and during the French Revolution, in the late 1700s…but his words ring true today.
The best of times is the amazing work that our League, Leagues in North Carolina, and Leagues across the United States did—informing voters about the complicated logistics of voting, providing information about candidates and issues on the ballot and observing Boards of Elections and polling places. We gave our all and did not let opposition groups or hurricanes dampen our efforts. Seven states passed laws that protect a woman’s ability to make choices about her body and her reproductive health. There was abundant proof that our elections are fair, safe, and secure and that patriotic Americans do not resort to violence when the results are not what they had hoped for. There will be a peaceful transfer of power in 2025.
Despite all the efforts the overall voter turnout was down and we have serious concerns about threats to women’s rights, the safety of LGBTQ+ individuals, what will happen to immigrants, the rights of people of color, voter suppression, adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law. Now is the time to recommit to our efforts to empower voters and defend democracy. To do this we must show up, speak up, speak out, sign up, support the League of Women Voters and our prodemocracy partners. We are not alone in our efforts and we will not give up. We owe it to future generations to keep on keeping on.
A few notes regarding our day-to-day operations...the League of Women Voters United States is transitioning to a new system for managing membership called Chapter Spot. In the short run this might be a bit confusing but in the long run it will make things easier for us, and local and state Leagues will get to keep a higher percentage of your dues! LWVUS will be emailing members about this starting in December.
Our Board meetings are open to LWVAB Members. These are held on Zoom generally on the third Thursday of the month but occasionally moved to other days. Board meetings are listed on the calendar. If you would like to attend a Board meeting, send a request to leagueofwomenvoters.ab@gmail.com and you will be sent the link the day before the meeting.
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Along with many other organizations, we usually send out an end of year donation request. This year our Board decided not to do this and suggests instead that you consider making a donation to a group that’s providing help to those impacted by Helene. The recovery will doubtless take years, but I have been extremely impressed by all the efforts from near and far to get Western North Carolina back on its feet. | |
I will be celebrating this season of many holidays with this cutie (who helped his mother vote), his brother, sister, parents, and my husband. We have lots of special traditions and foods to enjoy. I hope you too can enjoy the season with family and friends and be ready to move forward in 2025.
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Suzanne Fisher
President, LWVAB
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Watch your email for details.. Members' Winter Social
Wednesday January 8, 2025!
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Learn How Citizen Initiative (CI) Works
Join the Citizen Initiative Study Team on Zoom Wednesday Dec. 11 at 7pm, with special guest speaker, Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins (pictured), a two-term LWVUS President and the first woman of color to hold the position. She is an internationally respected educator, author and speaker on voting rights, women's rights, and racial equity. Carolyn, who currently lives in NC and is a member of LWVODC, will share the importance and practical use of CI from her earlier work with the Colorado LWV. Register to attend the Zoom session here.
To learn more about CI, go here. This informative site includes:
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video: Study Team’s Nov. talk by Justin Phillips, a Columbia University professor and expert on CI who made an important point: CI enhances the relationship between what government does and what citizens want
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video: May 2024 talk on CI by Asher Hildebrand, a professor at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, who discusses the Pros & Cons of CI
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document: LWVNC Citizen Initiative Study Team Proposal
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Election workers are members of our communities who work hard to ensure we are able to cast our ballots safely and successfully. Thank you to the people who made our elections run: the poll workers, election officials, election observers, postal workers, and volunteers.
#ThankYouElectionHeroes
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Boards of Elections Observations – October/November
What a ride this Election Season has been for our observers! LWVAB currently has observers at Board of Elections meetings in four counties – Buncombe, Madison, McDowell, and Transylvania. This is part of a statewide LWV effort to have observers for all 100 counties in North Carolina bear witness to the electoral process. LWV observers learn about all aspects of the voting process that helps them to educate community members and provide opportunities for improved access and confidence in our elections. Observers complete an online form for each meeting observed. More information, including lists of sites and meeting schedules, the reporting form, and tips about the process is found here.
As you might imagine, the General Election, combined with the effects of tropical storm Helene commanded everyone’s time and attention in October and November, and demanded a lot from everyone. Elections can neither be postponed nor delayed, which meant everyone had to figure out how to go on. En masse, the elections officials in each County rose to the occasion and reported for duty with grace and good humor. It was an humbling and inspiring experience to be with them. Elections officials in our area are true public servants who help ensure the fairness and transparency of our elections.
Each County held a mandatory series of Absentee Ballot review meetings, at least one per week beginning October 8, just a week after the storm. Buncombe County had two such meetings per week, some of which lasted over 9 hours. The review of Absentee Ballots continued Monday, November 4. By law, the reviewed ballots could not be counted until 3 pm on Election Day Tuesday, November 5.
By design, no election ends on Election Day. Election officials apply state and federal laws to ensure that election results are accurate, according to the State Board. This has always been the case. In the days following each election in North Carolina, the county BOEs count provisional ballots and certain absentee ballots cast in the election, conduct post-election audits, and complete any necessary recounts, all of which are open to the public. The State Board of Elections conducts additional audits to help ensure an accurate count. These processes culminate in the final certification of results. County boards of elections held their canvass meetings at 11 a.m. Friday, November 15. The State Board met on Tuesday, November 26, to certify the election.
In this election, the state-wide race for Associate Justice on the Supreme Court was close enough that the candidate with fewer votes requested a recount, which occurred in each county this week. Several local races across the state also resulted in recounts. Bipartisan teams of election officials at all county boards conduct the recounts, with the associated costs paid through county funds. As part of the recount, bipartisan teams insert every ballot cast in the election into a tabulator, counting only the contest or contests eligible for the recount.
State law provides that after the initial recount by machine, the candidate with fewer votes may demand a hand recount in a random sample of Election Day precincts, early voting sites, or absentee ballots. Such a hand recount would be conducted in a sample of precincts, drawn at random by the State Board. If a hand count is necessary, it would begin the week of Dec. 2, 2024.
If results of the hand-to-eye recount differ from the previous results within those precincts to the extent that extrapolating the amount of the change to the entire jurisdiction (based on the proportion of ballots recounted to the total votes cast for that office) would result in the reversing of the results, then the State Board of Elections would order a hand recount of all ballots statewide. The counties would bear the costs.
Our folks on the ground – Elaine and George Elam, Aiden Carson, Kelly Gee, Suzanne Fisher, and Cheryl Williams – put in over 200 hours watching elections officials safeguard the fairness and transparency of the 2024 General Election. In one county, an observer noted that elections officials were so scrupulous in safeguarding paper ballots under review that they thought a dropped gum wrapper might be carefully scrutinized by a bipartisan team! A million thanks to our observers, who may still have meetings to observe. Find notes from Buncombe County meetings at the bottom of the page on our website here.
Voter Outreach – Registration Events in October/November
Hurricane Helene cancelled our plans for October but she could not stop our folks from handing out voting information at disaster relief centers as folks began putting their lives back together. Our volunteers are like the Post Office – nothing stops them. Elaine and George Elam, CJ Breland, Rebecca Harris, Melissa Murphy, Meg Word Sims, and others continued to offer voting information in our community as people began reassembling their lives while they themselves were without potable water and often power as well.
No Upcoming Registration Events
With the Presidential Election in the rearview mirror and the holidays ahead, we will not have any voter outreach activities until the new year. However, if you have ideas, please share at the link below.
Next Meeting
We will take a break until February to let everyone catch their breath and enjoy the holidays. Look for a meeting notice in the January Newsletter. Please contact us here with any questions or concerns.
Want to brush up on your skill set and see the new registration application form? Go to our website, review the materials, and take the quiz at the bottom on the page. Watch this newsletter and/or attend our Voter Outreach team meetings, then sign up for registration events as we get them scheduled. Find our schedule of events here. Find the new training materials here. The quiz is at the bottom of that page. If you would like to be on our list of volunteers, or have an idea about an event we should attend, contact us here and let us know.
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On Saturday, November 16, the ERA-NC Alliance held its annual meeting at the Parkway United Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, featuring two exceptional speakers.
Michele Thorne, Esq., spoke on “The ABA and the Future of the ERA”. Michele was instrumental in Illinois’ ratification of the ERA. She is a recognized Constitutional scholar. There is video available to watch on our YouTube channel, here. The ERA-NC Alliance Annual Meeting begins at 28:31.
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Also presenting was Dianna Wynn (pictured), President of LWVUS, who entitled her talk “Women Power the Vote”. Ms. Wynn also served as President of the Wake County LWV and spoke about our local scene as well as national. Dianna Wynn has been an ERA Shero for a long time. In her new role as national League president, she has injected exciting new energy into the fight for equality and we are grateful! You can watch her presentation on the same YouTube link, shortly after Michele.
First the American Bar Association and now …. in a news release dated October 9, 2024, the following professional health organizations urged the administration and United States Congress to do everything in their power to finalize the Equal Rights Amendment so that the promise of equal rights under the law, including the right to access comprehensive reproductive health care such as abortion, may be realized.
The release went on to say that the organizations listed below have long recognized the significant interplay of human rights and the overall health of society.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
American Urogynecologic Society
Society of Family Planning
Society of Gynecologic Oncology
Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
The release stated: As organizations representing ob-gyns nationwide who care for patients across their life span, including adolescents, those with high-risk pregnancies, those experiencing infertility, and those with gynecologic cancer and other serious conditions, our vision is an equitable world in which exceptional and respectful obstetric and gynecologic care is accessible to all. The Equal Rights Amendment, which guarantees equality of rights and forbids states from denying or abridging those rights on account of sex, is an important step toward realizing this vision.
LET’S TAKE ACTION TODAY
- Call the White House at 202-456-1111 and urge President Biden to have the U.S. Archivist publish the ERA.
- Email the White House at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and urge President Biden to have the U.S. Archivist publish the ERA.
- DO BOTH!
Join us! The ERA and Gender Equality team meets via Zoom on the second Monday of the month at 12:30 pm. If you are interested in learning more about the ERA, contact Lynne Joshi (302-521-7741) and she will send you the Zoom login link.
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Election of the President by Popular Vote | |
There are four sources of inequality in the value of a vote for President under our Electoral College:
- Each state receives two Electoral College votes – one for each US senator, despite vast differences in population. In the 2020 census Wyoming, the smallest state had 576,851 residents and California, the largest state, had 39,538,223 residents.
- Each state also receives one Electoral College vote for each Congressional District. But the process used to apportion U.S. House seats among the states is not precise. Each state automatically gets one Representative. Thus, for Wyoming (three Electoral College votes) the population per Electoral College vote is 192,284 residents. For California (54 Electoral College votes) the population per Electoral College vote is 737,745 residents. For North Carolina, with a total population in 2020 of 10,439,388 and 16 Electoral College votes, it is 642,461 residents per vote.
- Intra-decade population changes do not get reflected in the Electoral College until the next census.
- Voter turnout differs from state to state and is about 10% higher in battleground states.
That's why LWVUS has launched its Moonshot program to abolish the Electoral College, the first step being to enact the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact by 2028. At the state and local levels we're committed to this effort.
The LWVAB Election of the President by Popular Vote offers presentations which deal with both the problems inherent in the Electoral College and the solutions provided by the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Presentations can be arranged for groups of any size, via Zoom or in-person. These can be short or long, a PowerPoint or a more informal presentation such as a trivia contest! Contact Suzanne Fisher if you are interested in arranging a presentation or have an idea for one.
It's important that all League members understand this effort and help make it part of a national conversation. Therefore, LWV North Carolina has established an Election of the President by Popular Vote Action Team and there are monthly presentations on the Moonshot effort for League members. Please try to attend one of these! Dates for 2025 will be announced soon.
Last presentation for 2024:
December 12 – Thursday, at noon Zoom Link
The next meeting of our LWVAB Election of the President by Popular Vote action team is January 7 at 5:30pm via Zoom. Contact Suzanne Fisher If you want to join our group that is committed to this effort!
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December
9 ERA mtg 12:30pm via Zoom
11 CI Zoom 7pm
12 Moonshot Zoom 12pm
17 LWVAB Board Mtg Zoom
January
7 EPPV mtg 5:30pm Zoom
8 LWVAB Members' Winter Social in-person!
16 LWVAB Board Mtg Zoom
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Instagram: Follow us at lwv_ab!
Facebook: The LWVAB Facebook page has a variety of items specific to our chapter as well posts shared from the LWVUS, LWVNC, and other sources. Suzanne Fisher would love to have your story about voting and a picture to share. Please keep your story nonpartisan. And please Like and Share! Sharing our posts with your Facebook friends helps let people know about our efforts.
LWVAB is on Bluesky! Follow us @lwvab.bsky.social. If you have recommendations for items to post, let Suzanne Fisher know.
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In 1968, Shirley Chisholm was elected the first Black U.S. Congresswoman. In 1972 she became the first Black major-party Presidential candidate and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. | |
“I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate sheer will and a refusal to accept the status quo. The next time a woman runs, or a Black, a Jew, or anyone from a group that the country is 'not ready' to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start." ~ Shirley Chisholm | | | | |