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Date: 12/1/2020
Subject: The VOTER Newsletter - December 2020
From: LWV of Johnson County




 

Shout Out: YOU Made the Difference! 

In 2020, neither COVID-19 nor election crises could stop JoCo Leaguers. You went the extra mile, helping protect voters’ rights. Please accept our heartfelt appreciation for your work during this election season and throughout the year! Many helped in several of our four election areas. If anyone has been omitted, please accept both our apologies and thanks.
 
Voter Registration, chaired by Deb Scott and Robyn Hart. Ann Alcasabas, Barbara Ambrose, Nancy Anstaett, Jeanne Bates, Jennifer Bauer, Carol Berey, Jan Brunks, Kimberly Bruns, Ruth Cain, Diana Carney, Lisa Carson, Benita Carter, Debbie Cox, Dorothy Crooks, Sam Dworkin, Anita Foertsch, Jean Frankel, Sandi Fried, Judy Greene, Esther Grenz, Lynn Hardy, Nicole Hastings, Kay Heley, Liz Hendricks, Gloria Hiller, Beverly Jaderborg, Linda Jordan, Hadley Kaff, Lisa Kuhnke, Sara Kurtz, Karin Leacox, Julie Lester, Jeannine Linnane, Eileen Manza, Eileen Marshall, Cathy Matlack, Anne McCleery, Janet Milkovich, Ellen Miller, Kathy Minges, Peggy Morgan, Marcia Nana, Joanie Nicholas, Ann Norbury, Jane O’Neil, Ellen Porter, Mimi Rainen, Caryn Rains, Marsha Ratzel, Patti Regan, Rose Reichert, Kristy Reynolds, Betty Rottinghaus, Cecile Schloegel, Ann Schuster, Paula Schwach, Beth Seberger, Marlys Shulda, Nancy Stone , Kathleen Strange, Phyllis Sullivan, Donna Sutton, Deb Thom, Marian Thomas, Sue Tiffany, Vickie Trott, Ernie Wildman, and Noeline Woolrich.

Voter Information, chaired by Julie Lester with Becky White. 

  • Vote411.org -- Candy Birch, Marge Gasnick, Beth Seberger, Patsy Kile, Julie Rainen. 

  • Candidate forums – Julie Lester, Becky White, Marge Gasnick, Amanda Vega-Mavec, Leslie Sullivan, Mary Lou Jaramillo, and Amber Stenger.

  • Legislative coffees before COVID -- Cathy Nix.

  • Voter To Voter direct contact – Jill Quigley. Sarah Baum, Candy Birch, Mary Grant, Danielle Keller, Deborah Kitchin, Kathleen Morrow, Ann Norbury, Mimi Rainen, Marsha Ratzel, Amber Sellers, Amber Stenger, Erica Voell, Linda Watts, and Nan Wilson.

Election Office opening mail ballots, chaired by Jan Brunks. Nancy Anstaett, Lisa Bonds, Laura Blair, Katherine Boutros, Paula Brunner, Aimee Burrow, Mary Coffman, Dorothy Crooks, Evie Curtis, Jo Dinkins, Lora Enfield, Jean Frankel, Sara Funk, Joe D. Gillespie, Judith Green, Mary Grimes, Sally Groves, Lynn Hardy, Henrietta Harrison, Robyn Hart, Kay Heley, Anthony and Barbara Hill, Gloria Hiller, Tinna Hung, Kim Kirkwood, Diane Kuhn, Sara Kutz, Donna Lauffer, Julie Lester, Bonnie Limbird, Sheryl Maguire, Leslie Mark, Royceann Mather, Patty Modig, Kathleen Morrow, Eileen Marshall, Janet Milkovich, Ellen Miller, Marcia Nana, Cathy Nix, Ellen Porter, Patti Regan, Cecile Schloegel, Ann Schuster, Paula Schwach, Deb Scott, Linda Seiner, Cindy Shriver, Lisa Tamblyn, Nancy Waters, Becky White, Bob Woolrich, Noeline Woolrich, and Patricia Wright.

Souls to the Polls, chaired by Elizabeth Ann Sanders, PhD, with Marge Gasnick and Wendy Wilson.

  •  Committee members: Edna Baginsky, Candy Birch, Margaret Gasnick, Joan Gilson, Lynn Hardy, Mary Lou Jaramillo, Karin Leacox, Julie Lester, Wandra Minor, Ellen Miller, Elizabeth Ann Sanders, Amber Stenger, Becky White, Wendy Wilson. 

  • Other members who participated in the two car caravans included Marjorie Altenbernd, Frances Bauman, Robyn Hart, Nicole Hastings, Kay Heley, Tinna Hung, Lisa Kuhnke, Sheryl Maguire, Janet Milkovich, Kathleen Morrow, Ann Norbury, Ellen Porter, Mimi Rainen, Ann Schuster, Beth Seberger, Anne Shields, and Amanda Vega-Mavec.

Leaguers, we stand in awe of your energy and grit. You defended our constitutional right to cast a ballot. Thank you.
Amber Stenger and Ellen Miller, Co-Presidents
 




 

 Get recharged

 Meet Leaguers in small groups        

 Match wits on civics questions

 Ask questions at any time       

 Win prizes including a Rainy Day Books gift card, suffragist dolls and food goodies.

 
 Come as you are, grab your own beverage or snack, and then Zoom in. 

Register hereYou’ll get your notification when you register and a reminder the day before.



National Kudos for JoCo Election Office 

On Nov. 4, the Wall Street Journal’s front-page story said it all: Johnson County, Kansas had assured safe, secure elections for record-breaking numbers of voters. Congratulations to Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt, Deputy Commissioner Fred Sherman and their team for endless planning, work and attention to detail. 

Special appreciation goes to the full-time temporaries, often working 6-day weeks, 8+ hours/day. They de-flapped, opened and prepared thousands of mail ballots for camera-watched tabulation. Thanks also go to our 56 volunteers who helped with those zillions of mail ballots.


Partnership Informs Voters

For decades, the Mainstream Coalition and LWVJoCo have cooperated to get out the vote and inform voters. That effective collaboration rose to a new level in 2020. Many thanks to Mainstream’s Executive Director Michael Poppa for:

  • Overseeing and executing three candidate forums, as well as providing technical support and emcee’ing. The two Johnson County forums were for Board of County Commissioners and Johnson County District Attorney races. The Wyandotte County forum covered Kansas Senate races. 

  • Suggesting the organizations jointly sponsor a social media ad urging use of advance ballots. The ad got higher than normal views.

  • Supporting our Voter To Voter team. Special thanks go to intrepid V2V champion, Lindsay Behgam.

Thanks to Mainstream and Michael! Now let’s tackle legislative redistricting that’s fair and accurate.

 


 

 Take Action: The Census Is NOT Over

The census continues with the final processing of the data and the determination of the apportionment across the states. Congress must pass legislation to extend the timeline to process data by at least 120 days as the administration requested. Shortening the timeline to collect data and rush operations during a national pandemic is an intentional plot to sabotage the census and skew Congressional representation, redistricting, and critical funding allotments for every state in the country.

 Tell Congress to protect the Census in the next version of the stimulus bill. 

 View LWV’s “Census 2020 Update” webinar here.


Member Spotlight: Jan Brunks
 
From "all over the world" to the JoCo Election Office, Jan Brunks is keeping busy. Learn more about Jan.

 

Alan Bauman

Spencer C. Smith  



Observer Reports


Catch up on the actions, decisions and proposals of our local public officials. 

 

🔎 COVID-19 dominates discussions across our county.

 

 Read the latest summaries by League members who attend several public meetings in our area.


Board and Committee Briefs
 

🙌 Finally! A woman in the White House: Exactly 100 years after women won the right to vote, America has elected a woman to serve in the White House. Take a moment to read LWV President Deborah Turner’s reflection on this historic feat.

✅ Election results: Voters turned out in record numbers in Johnson and Wyandotte counties in the general election. The Voter turnout was 77.5% in Johnson County and  62.8% in Wyandotte County. Thank you to all of the election officials, staff, poll workers and volunteers who helped voters make their voices heard.   

🗳️ Vote411.org: More than 27,000 Kansans used our online voter guide during this election cycle to get candidate information. There were 144 contested races statewide with 318 candidates. 153 candidates participated by responding to our questions. 229 candidates did not.

🗳️ Vote411.org, from LWV: Vote411.org had a record-breaking election cycle! More than 6 million voters across the country accessed Vote411.org to get information about voting. Voters viewed more than 37 million pages in both English and Spanish. We thank the over 450 Leagues from 44 states – including DC – who used VOTE411 to upload candidate information, and we thank the dedicated staff who continuously updated the site with changes in real-time. Please read VOTE411: Helping Millions Find Nonpartisan Election Info in 2020 if you would like more detail about how we served voters this year.   

📧 Eblasts move to bi-weekly schedule: As things slow down a bit through the holidays, we think we can keep you up-to-date about League happenings without sending weekly emails. At least through January, we’ll be sending out email updates every other week instead of every week. You can always visit our website and our FacebookInstagram and Twitter pages to stay connected as well.

📅 January Planning Meeting: Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, 9:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. When you register, you'll get an event confirmation email with the link to join the meeting on Jan. 9. The email will be sent by LWV of Johnson County and the subject line is: Review, Renew, Refine: 2021 Planning Meeting Confirmation.

📰 LWV of Kansas news: Read about how Leaguers worked to GOTV throughout the state and other important efforts in the November/December issue of LWVK’s VOTER Notes newsletter.

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