The Voter: October 2020

News from League Co-Presidents Bart Henshaw and Sharon Verhoff:

League members are working to balance personal safety with our mission to register and inform voters. For the last six weeks the concentration has been on Voter Registration which is now closed so we will move to Voter Education. Many thanks to the volunteers who registered at the Farmers' Market and Carver Community Center. We had lots of questions about absentee voting and early voting and we have answers.

Sarah Skinner, our Voter Service chair has created a voters' guide which we will share with you digitally and you can share with friends, family and FB members. This is not a guide with candidate names but with voter "how tos" including all the early voting hours and bus routes for those who need transportation which is currently free in Chillicothe, how to find your ballot, how to find information about candidates, etc.

After much conversation with the Voter Service Committee we are not attempting a virtual Candidates' Night. There is good technology out there to do this, but we do not yet have the experience to guarantee a successful event. In place of that we have purchased the right to use the National Vote 411 for local races. Vote411.org will have local, state and national information.

We will resume programming on October 27 (Tuesday) at 7:00 via zoom. Dee Stevenson has stepped in as VP Program. Voter Suppression will be the topic and we have a rare opportunity to hear from Wayne Mclaughlin who speaks from his personal experience as a black man who grew up in the south, we will also be joined by one of our state League leaders to hear what current actions are happening to end voter suppression.

In November we will move our meeting to mid-month, the 17th to hear from the new director of Community Action. As one of the founding agencies for Community Action we have a representative to that Board, Betsy Moore. This year we would like to work with the agency for November and December on a holiday project to help residents in need. Need all of you to help define that project.

The December Holiday Gathering is in the air, we have talked about using a big venue like the Armory to meet but that is not available.

Big Change in January, Annual Meeting

We have talked for a few years of moving our annual meeting to March or April. The Board decided to move the meeting to match our fiscal year which starts on Jan 1. This will probably also be a virtual meeting, so weather is not a problem. We need input from you to prepare. Actions at the meeting will include election of officers.

The following positions will be up for election:

• President

• VP Program

• Treasurer

WE NEED YOUR HELP HERE

Patrice Hussey and Sarah Skinner have agreed to work on a nominating committee and need to know if you are interested in serving on the committee or are interested in filling one of the offices. Information must be gathered in October and sent to members in November to fulfill timelines set in our bylaws. Please contact Sarah no later than November 1st at wren@sharpbeak.com or call 740-779-0804 with any nominees/volunteers for office.

Meet Carrie Clifford.

Most of you remember that we had plans for a fundraising event in March which was cancelled. One of the characters in our skit is Carrie Clifford, introduced to us by Patrice Hussey. Carrie was born in Chillicothe in the mid-1800's a woman of color who became a poet, advocate for women’s' rights, civic leader and is now our entry into the Chamber of Commerce Downtown "scarecrow" contest.

Carrie is a stately figure in front of the Carlisle Building and if you visit the Chamber of Commerce FB Page you can vote for her to win the contest. More importantly look up Carrie Clifford "The Widening Light" to read some of her poetry.

We need your vote.

Public voting will begin following the setup and continue through Thursday, October 29th. Voting will take place on the Discover Downtown Chillicothe Facebook page, and winners will be announced on October 40th. Vote!

We now have a PO Box. If you need to send your dues to Dawn send a check to PO Box 751/ Chillicothe, OH 45601 or go to lwvchillicothe.org/join and use the membership form to renew and pay for your membership online to pay via PayPal.

Get your 100th Anniversary shirt or tote bag designed by our own Sarah Skinner

Go to www.hometownoh.com/lwv to view and order. Shirts are $20 and this is our current fundraising activity so think of family and friends for Christmas. This is a really nice shirt, support League!

ERA Committee

Tammy Simkins and the ERA committee have been working hard to get Senate Resolution 6 passed to remove the deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment. After meeting with our Senator Portman's representative, we were happy with his statement that he supports equality for all, but we still need his vote. There will probably not be any new action until after the election.

Natural Resources Committee

The Natural Resources Committee Chair Beth Workman has been gathering information about agricultural practices and the Soil and Water agency. The Paint Creek Cleanup plan in on hold until face to face meetings can start again but Beth is looking at some projects that we might do at Ross Lake to improve the area.

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League members have been busy and there are many opportunities for you to help from your computer. We need members to follow legislation to be members of lobby corp.(monthly phone call and letters to representatives) Dawn has been hosting all of our Zoom meetings and we hope to have another hosting site available soon for committee chairs and meetings.

AND WE NEED YOUR HELP HERE TOO

League is never about supporting a particular candidate but about supporting the process. With so much rhetoric challenging the ability of our BOE and our Postal Service, it is important to talk to the people who know what is happening

and get that message to voters. You are the conduit to the community so in October please share good information, talk about the process and get involved. Many League members are working the polls this year, but we all have a role to play, what is yours?