 | | | | Free and Fair Elections Won't Happen Without YOU
If you've had the opportunity to listen to various public comments at government meetings or have listened to public comment on the Florida Channel during legislative sessions related to elections, you are aware that there is work in our state to change voting as we know it today. There are people who have come to Florida from other states to convince local voters that their vote will not be counted for a number of unfounded reasons: hacked voting equipment, invisible ink on ballots, nefarious online spreadsheets where votes for candidates can be hacked, and then there is the ballot stuffing and "dead people" are voting. Secretary of State Cord Byrd has gone on record about the stringent testing process of Florida's election equipment, software checks and vendor checks. You can review the various types of integrity checks for yourself at the Florida Division of Elections website: https://dos.fl.gov/elections/voting-systems/.
If you have not met with your own county's Supervisor of Elections or taken a tour of your local election facility, I highly recommend that you do so. This allows you to see the equipment that is used during elections, hear the process of how the equipment is prepared and tested before it goes out into the voting precincts and ask questions about how your vote is counted and protected. There are local organizations who are now working to convince voters that we should only use paper ballots and should not use any election equipment, that we should not be allowed to offer early voting or vote by mail (unless under stringent criteria), and that all ballots should be hand counted. Supervisors of elections do not support the extreme proposals of these groups as they invite human error, greatly delay the election results process and would be extremely costly to the taxpayer. Much of their work is less about election integrity or accurate outcomes and more focused on creating doubt and fear as it relates to your vote.
How do we combat the work to restrict voting and voting access in our state? Each of us needs to take an active role in voter registration and voter education. If you are not part of our voter registration committee, I encourage you to join so you can assist in registering voters, update voter registration and request vote by mail ballots but also to discuss the integrity of our election systems and process. |  | If you are able to become an election worker, I ask that you contact your county's Supervisor of Election and find out how to become a trained poll worker so you can help ensure we have free and fair elections. If voter registration and poll worker is not your particular interest, consider becoming a poll watcher with a candidate or political party or join the League's Election Protection Group (see separate article in this newsletter).
When you see misinformation in print or online, do not repeat it but report it to the Common Cause's Education Fund Website https://reportdisinfo.org/ so it can be addressed. Simply reporting things to the platform (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) only addresses that one post. Reporting it to the Common Cause allows them to address the disinformation across the platform itself. When you hear someone spreading disinformation about our elections, help them better understand how our elections process actually works and encourage them to join the League or contact their Supervisor of Elections who is the expert on elections in their community.
As we move closer to the August primary elections, there will be an increased effort to make voters feel that their vote will not count or that the outcome of the election is rigged. The League of Women Voters not only works to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy, we also empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation, at the local, state, and national levels.
I am asking each of you to join me in this work to protect our voting rights by engaging in our local work.
Lanelle Phillmon, President
LWVJFC | | |
Personal Voter Concierge Pilot Program
The League of Women Voters of Florida is a pilot for a new "voter concierge" program. Vote With Us’s "Personal Voter Concierge Service" is a part of a series of Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA) supported works that protect the freedom to vote with creativity and innovation. C4AA invited friends and family across the country to reach out if they needed help researching their ballot or figuring out their voting logistics game plan for the 2022 midterm elections.
Now in 2024, their work is expanding and the League has been selected to help!
By walking a voter through their voting plan, a "Personal Voter Concierge" helps avoid common pitfalls and identify roadblocks before they happen.
By bringing positive energy, jumpsuit silliness, dance moves, and unbridled enthusiasm for issues on the ballot a Personal Voter Concierge offers a breath of fresh air. Voters reported walking away from the experience with a tangible shift in energy from negative to positive. By breaking down ballot jargon and explaining the issues in easy-to-digest soundbites, it helped the voter become less confused about what they are voting for, and how to cast a stress-free vote.
Click on the link below to learn more in a live session about LWVFL's Personal Voter Concierge Pilot Program.
| Ensure the Constitutional Right to Abortion
"Floridians Protecting Freedom” continues the citizen-led ballot campaign to grant women the right to make personal decisions about reproductive health. They offer a user-friendly app called “Reach” with online classes for ease of use.
Florida voters want women to have the autonomy to make personal medical decisions independently. The decision to have an abortion belongs to Floridians, their families and those they trust. This campaign to place Amendment 4, the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion,” on the upcoming November ballot offers an opportunity to further protect these rights in our state constitution.
Floridians Protecting Freedom is offering training on how to use REACH on July 2nd and July 9th at 5:15 pm. You can sign up for the training at the link below.
If you are interested in working to get Amendment 4 passed, the LWVJFC Reproductive Health and Justice Committee meets the second Tuesday at 5:00pm by Zoom. Please email Wendy Snee at wesnee2010@gmail.com to join. | LWVJFC Annual Program Planning
Thank you to our members who have already provided input into our upcoming Program.
The LWVJFC encourages informed and active participation in all aspects of League work and there are many important issues on which the LWVJFC could have an impact. Program Planning is the process by which our local League members provide input on where we could be most effective and which issues deserve our time and effort.
Pursuant to our Bylaws, the LWVJFC must formulate a Proposed Local Program based on the recommendations of our voting members. Our current Program is available to review on our website at lwvjaxfc.org or click here. You can easily provide input for our upcoming Program by clicking on the link below which will take you to a google form where you can add your input on various programming elements. Please do so prior to July 5, 2024. Or you can send your input by email to Rhona DiCamillo at vp.lwvjaxfc@gmail.com.
| Get Involved In Public Education Committee
A coalition of nonprofit organizations are canvassing every Saturday to inform people about the August school board elections! You/they won’t be endorsing a candidate; you will be informing people about the August election. If you want to canvass at a different time, let our education chair know. We have less than 2 months until the Primary Election and we need all hands on deck!
If you want to receive summaries of the Duval School Board meetings, let our education chair know and she’ll add you to the Google group.
The education committee is an all county committee. We need volunteers to monitor all the school board meetings, the state LWV education action team, etc. Contact our education chair for more information at lwv.jax.education@gmail.com. | Election Protection Poll Monitoring 2024 Volunteers Needed for August Election
The League of Women Voters of Florida is participating in the Florida Election Protection Coalition’s (FLEPC) coordinated nonpartisan poll monitoring program for the 2024 August Primary. This coordinated program ensures that all Nonpartisan Poll Monitors have the same training and basic skillset, that Florida’s voting rights community has eyes and ears on the ground when and where they are most needed across the state, and that the Florida Boiler Room/Command Center can rapidly respond to issues impacting voters.
ElectionProtection/866-Our-Vote is the largest nonpartisan voter protection program in the United States and in Florida. For more information about the Election Protection (EP) coalition’s work nationwide visit 866ourvote.org. Over 40 nonpartisan organizations make up the coalition in Florida.
Nonpartisan Poll Monitors:
- Help make sure every registered voter gets to exercise their rights.
- Trained to support voters by answering questions, reporting issues and connecting voters denied the ballot to legal resources.
- Stationed outside of priority polling locations during early voting and election day (standard shift is 4 hours).
August Primary Election Coverage Dates:
Election Day August 20th
Early Voting: Both Weekends (Aug. 10-11 and Aug. 17-18)
How The Program Works:
- To Volunteer, complete this LWV Google Form.
- Be trained to be a nonpartisan Election Protection Poll Monitor.
- Complete the quiz and nonpartisan agreement after training.
- Sign up for a EP Poll Monitor volunteer shift.
Common Cause Florida will provide training for all Poll Monitors who sign up through the LWVFL Google Form. Training will be virtual via Zoom. Multiple training dates/times will be offered. Dates, times and sign-up information will be provided when available.
Trainings for the Primary will start after July 22nd. Spanish-language training is also available. | LWVUS Convention News
During the LWVUS Convention in Washington, DC the last weekend of June, our new national President was elected and our new CEO announced. Under the guidance and vision of these two leaders, we can expect opportunities to grow and shape the League and a more perfect democracy for all people.
LWVJFC Vice President Rhona DiCamillo and Director of Reproductive Health and Justice Wendy Snee attended the convention in person on behalf of our chapter and are pictured above with LWVUS President Dianna Wynn and CEO Celina Stewart. We look forward to hearing about their experience and learning from the information they gained during the convention. President Lanelle Phillmon and Director Emily Ray attended virtually.
The new LWVUS President is Dianna Wynn from North Carolina. She was elected to the LWVUS Board in 2022 and appointed vice president in 2024. As an LWVUS Board member, she co-chairs the Governance Committee, is a member of the Framing the Future Leadership Team, and serves on the Executive Committee. She is the former president of LWV-Wake in North Carolina where she chaired the Strategic Planning, DEI, Communications, Redistricting, and 100th Anniversary committees. Dianna is also a past president of the ACLU of North Carolina. She is a communication consultant, a former college professor, and the co-author of several college textbooks.
Our new CEO Celina Stewart joined the League of Women Voters as Senior Director of Advocacy and Litigation in April 2018. In this role she developed and implemented League political strategies and policy positions around election reform and voting rights issues; oversaw prospective litigation for the national and state leagues; worked closely with League grassroots staff in implementing national agenda; and served as lead lobbyist and liaison with Congress and the Administration for the League. She was promoted to Senior Director and then to Chief Counsel in April 2019 and July 2020, respectively. In her new role, she continues the work she started and works to build stronger relationships with legal partners, strengthen relationships and visibility of the League at the Hill, and continues oversight of the People Powered Fair Maps™ initiative.
Prior to joining the League, she was acting Chief Operating Officer and Director of Philanthropy at an electoral reform nonprofit where she split her time between managing a small, but mighty development team and managing the day-to-day operations of the organization. Celina’s experience also includes serving as a litigation consultant to several Am 100 law firms handling complex merger and acquisition transactions; legislative aide at the Michigan legislature handling the public interest portfolio for the House Tax Chair; and as Legal Counsel to the Minority Leader Stacey Abrams at the Georgia House of Representatives. As Legal Counsel, she assisted in developing and implementing the Caucus’s legislative agenda and was appointed to Reapportionment Counsel where she led a team of technical mappers and legal assistants to draw alternative redistricting maps in compliance with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Upon returning home to D.C. in 2012, she served as Director for the Congressional Black Caucus Institute’s 21st Century program, where she oversaw all quarterly conferences and worked with corporate giants and Members of Congress to produce the Annual Report, a policy recommendation manual presented to the President of the United States.
Celina earned her J.D. from Western Michigan University Law School and her B.A. in Sociology from Spelman College. She has served on the Boards of the Bar Association of DC; the Women’s Bar Association of DC; the National Association of Advancement of Colored People (NAACP-DC); and was an American Bar Foundation Law Practice Fellow. Beyond her professional and social accolades, she authored an event planning guidebook, the Pocket Planner, and is an avid traveler and foodie and wine-tasting enthusiast. | New Members - Welcome aboard!
Debra Billard
Mary Beth Doornbos
Interested in being part of the League? Click JOIN TODAY | Donations are always appreciated!
We wish to acknowledge and thank those who made donations this month:
Elaine Furman
904ward honorarium for Lanelle's Speaking engagement
Gifts in honor of Lanelle's birthday, for the returning citizens postcarding:
Michelle Charron Hollie
Jennifer Cowart
Amy MItchell
Stefanie Levine
Bernadette Miron
Donna Padgug
Juanita Powell-Williams
Our website lwvjaxfc.org offers an easy way to make donations to LWVJFC, even if you prefer to pay by check. Click on the red "Donate" button at the top of the Homepage. | | Volunteers are needed!
Quite often, our League needs volunteers to help with small tasks that are not time consuming but vital to our leadership and membership.
If you are willing to help make phone calls, be trained to send text messages, or assist in other ways, please contact us and let us help you figure out how to invest your time in our League and our democracy.
For more specific volunteer tasks, click HERE.
| | | | Local
Stay up-to-date on all local upcoming events on the LWV of Jacksonville / First Coast:
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
Regional
The Regional Facebook Group, LWV Florida North Region Leagues, includes Alachua, Bay, Jacksonville/First Coast, Okaloosa & Walton, Pensacola Bay Area, and Tallahassee.
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Contact Us!
Phone: 904-355-8683
Email: LWVJAXFC@gmail.com
Postal Address:
League of Women Voters of Jacksonville First Coast
PO Box 330353
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233 | | | | The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging informed and active participation in government. We influence public policy through education and advocacy. | | |
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