Join Us via Zoom!
Free and open the public.
There’s a lot of controversy about how we elect our president. Abolishing the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment. But there’s a workaround: a state-based approach called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Join us as we delve into the benefits and disadvantages of both and how to ensure equal representation.
Panelists:
- Dr. Paul Schumaker, professor emeritus, political science, University of Kansas
- Dr. Burdett Loomis, professor emeritus, social and behavioral sciences-political science, University of Kansas
Moderator:
Dr. Andrea Vieux, associate professor, political science, Johnson County Community College
9-10:30 a.m.: Panel discussion followed by Q&A
10:30-11:00 a.m.: Redistricting workshop on community mapping. Presenters will be Connie Taylor, Marie Hernandez, Nancy Allen and Juliet Sinclair.
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2021 JCCC Board of Trustees Candidate Forum
Thursday, September 2, at 7pm via Zoom Webinar
This is a public event co-sponsored by the JCCC Faculty Association and the League of Women Voters of Johnson County. All candidates have been invited.
Dr. Terri Easley-Giraldo, JCCC Professor of Communication Studies will moderate the forum.
Register at www.jccc.edu/CandidateForum
Your email confirmation will include a link to submit questions before and during the forum.
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Watch for Updates: The board will decide at its September 14 meeting whether the October meeting will be in person or virtual. |  |
Mapping Out Our Future
Most effective organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit, have a strategic plan that outlines their direction. Strategic plans are often based on an organization’s purpose and aspirations—what it does and the difference it seeks to make in its community.
Member-approved roadmaps help organizations stay focused on priorities and commitments. They can also be effective tools to maintain continuity and to keep organizations moving forward, especially groups like LWVJoCo that are led by volunteers.
LWVJoCo’s most recent strategic plan ended in 2020. As president, helping LWVJoCo create a three-year roadmap is one of my main priorities. This summer, Vice President Janet Milkovich and I interviewed and corresponded with four consultants, and with our recommendation, the board hired Elevate Agency to guide us in this process.
Elevate Agency is a coaching, organizational development and training company that led LWV of Kansas in its strategic-planning process in 2019. Elevate’s founder, Dr. Jason Bosch, has more than 15 years of experience with leadership and organizational development. He also serves as an associate with the Center for Organizational Development and Collaboration at Wichita State University’s Community Engagement Institute. The team at Elevate includes two other organizational development professionals as well.
The plan will focus on three to five key priorities determined to be most important to the organization and include the following:
- Strategic Priorities: These are the three to five high-level, mission-critical focal areas in which the organization will invest its time and resources over the next several years.
- Goals: Each strategic priority should have two to four ambitious but achievable goals. Goals will provide tangible benchmarks for making progress on each strategic priority.
- Strategies: Each goal will contain a number of specific and measurable strategies for meeting the goal. Strategies answer the “who, what, when, where, and how” questions.
Work is already underway and will continue throughout the remainder of the year. Stay tuned for updates as we progress on this journey. As members, you’ll have an important role to play in shaping our strategies and meeting our goals. We can create the road map, but only our members can move us forward.
Amber Stenger
President
913-620-5172 | jocoleague@gmail.com
|  | El Movimiento Por el Sufragio Femenino
The Women’s Suffrage Movement
This month we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month and the suffragistas who continue to lead the way. Interestingly, before the United States annexed the border territories in 1848, women under Spanish and Mexican law “held the status of ‘persons’ and were entitled to inherit and own land and property, to work and earn money, to fight in court, and to keep their maiden names when married. Under English common law, married women became feme covert (dead in the eyes of the legal system.”(1)
Early suffragistas included Maria Guadalupe Evangelina de Lopez, UCLA instructor in California who led rallies, gave speeches and translated pamphlets into Spanish. California granted women the right to vote in 1911. Suffragistas in New Mexico, including Aurora Lucero-White Lea (author), Dolores Armijo (state librarian), Adelina Otero-Warren (first female Santa Fe school superintendent) and Arabella Romero (civic leader), organized for a national suffrage amendment after losing their state suffrage battle in 1915. Jovita Idar Vivero (1885-1946) was a Texas journalist, activist and League of Mexican Women leader who worked tirelessly for equal protection and education.
We lift up the lives and voices of all suffragistas, then and now.
(1) https://www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/representation-hyphen-latinas-fight-womens-suffrage
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/suffrage-in-spanish-hispanic-women-and-the-fight-for-the-19th-amendment-in-new-mexico.htm
https://iglatino.org/2020/commemorating-latina-women-in-the-womens-suffrage-movement/
Submitted by Kay Heley
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In-Person Voter Registration Update
The moratorium on in-person voter registration events for Leagues throughout the state continues as we await a ruling from the Shawnee District Court. The League of Women Voters of Kansas, Loud Light, Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center filed the motion for a temporary injunction, asking the Court to bar the state from enforcing its newly enacted “Voter Education Restriction.”
The new law makes it a felony to engage in conduct that “gives the appearance of being an election official” or “that would cause another person to believe a person engaging in such conduct is an election official,” effectively chilling the ability of organizations like the plaintiffs to provide voters with information and assistance in casting their ballots. Our hope is that a temporary injunction is granted quickly so we register as many voters as possible before Oct. 12, the last day to register for the general election. | |
Harness Your Superpower - Get People To Vote
Even though a new Kansas law prevents Leagues throughout the state from registering voters, you still can make a difference through a get-out-the-vote program that works!
Voter to Voter is a program that leverages your personal connections and your influence (one of your amazing superpowers!). Volunteer ambassadors reach out to people they already know—family, friends and coworkers—to encourage them to vote.
Studies have found that this is much more effective than hearing from strangers, and our results prove this. Voter to Voter launched in 2018 and the voters we connected with turned out at a stunning 25% higher rate than the general public. In last year’s elections, it happened again.
In 2021, we want you to be a part of LWVJoCo’s Voter to Voter team. Learn more here, and direct any questions to Spencer Smith. Spencer has offered to personally take you through the process step by step to get you going. Don’t sit out of 2021. Join today.
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Joan Carter
Susan Friedrichsen
| Member Spotlight: Annette Becker
Fighting voter suppression inspires this League member.
| Observer Corps Reports
Catch up on the actions, decisions and proposals of our local public officials.
- Which city councils are beginning to study housing affordability?
- When is the Vote Canvass for the August primary?
- When is the public forum for the Charter Commission?
Read the latest summaries by League members who attend several public meetings in our area.
| Board and Committee Briefs
🙌 Redistricting update: Kudos to the dozens of members who showed up to the Kansas redistricting committees’ town halls in Overland Park and KCK in August to fight for fair maps. A special thanks goes to LWVJoCo's Redistricting Champion Connie Taylor, who was featured in a TV spot about the redistricting hearings this week. Watch her shine!
🔥 For the People Act: Keep up the heat on Senators Moran (202-224-6521) and Marshall (202-224-4774). The U.S. Senate failed to advance the For the People Act (S1) before the August recess. Contact our senators to urge them to support this vital voting rights legislation. You can also email them here.
☀️ Summer Social postponed indefinitely. Because of the surge in COVID cases in our area, the board decided to postpone the Aug. 26 social. When it is safer to gather in person, we’ll reschedule. Thank you for your support and understanding.
✔️ Charter Commission update: The first public hearing will be Sept. 13. See more in the Observer Corps Report.
 Stay Current: Read about the work of Leagues throughout the state in the latest issue of LWVK’s VOTER Notes newsletter.
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