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Date: 8/1/2022
Subject: The VOTER Newsletter - August 2022
From: LWV of Johnson County




Election Day is Tomorrow, August 2
Today is a good day to check in with friends and family who may not have voted yet.
Three advance voting locations are open 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. today - Hilltop, JoCo Election Office and Arts and Heritage Center.

Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for the August 2nd, 2022 Primary Election. View a listing of polling places for the 2022 Primary Election here.


It’s Celebration Time!

Come celebrate our members who work undauntedly during this election season AND all our members working to keep our democracy strong!

On this National Be an Angel Day, Be an Angel and join us!
Monday, August 22 | 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Event Space | Olathe Indian Creek Public Library
16100 135th Street, Olathe

Let’s Get This Party Started! Mark the Date! Invite a Friend!

Light Refreshments - In-Person Conversation - Surprises - Prizes 
(Follow weekly League emails and social media for updates.)

Stormwater Management: Preventing Runoff and Flooding

Wednesday, September 7 | 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
JCCC Cap Fed Room (RC 101)

Featuring guests from JCCC’s Center for Sustainability, the Mid-America Regional Council, and Climate Action KC, this program focuses on how communities and individuals can capture stormwater, slow water runoff, and prevent flooding.

Presented by the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, KS, and co-sponsored by JCCC’s Center for Sustainability and Department of History and Political Science.

Parking info:

The Regnier Center is located on the east part of campus. There is a parking garage with elevator access underneath the building. There is additional parking in lots around the building.

Entering from the stop light at Quivira Rd. and S. Campus Dr., briefly head west in the right lane. Turn right at your first chance onto N. Campus Dr. Follow until your first chance to turn left, then turn left onto an access road between the Regnier Center and the Wylie Hospitality and Culinary Academy (and parking lots). From the access road, turn right into the parking lot.

Leaguers Go The Distance
In these dog days of summer, the idea of running a long (or short) distance has no appeal to me whatsoever! If you feel that way, what I’m going to say next might cause you to break into a sweat.

League work is not a sprint – it’s a marathon with no finish line! Just as runners must qualify for high stakes events like the Boston Marathon, League members must qualify by committing to high stakes issues like empowering voters and defending democracy. But unlike marathon runners, League members have each other to lean on for support and encouragement when the times get tough. And we have inspirational stories of success, no matter how big or small, to overcome the dreaded experience of “hitting the wall” in a marathon.

This has been a season of polarizing events; new voter suppression laws, the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, and gerrymandering. Nationally, the League of Women Voters has been running the race for 102 years! 

Here in Johnson County, the League has doggedly stayed the course for 70 years, and there’s no stopping now. Together, we’ve mapped out our future for the next five years with the passage of our Strategic Plan. We’ve found ways to engage voters even when Kansas laws prohibit us from registering them. We collaborated with groups that share our mission and expanded our outreach exponentially.

And in spite of record high temperatures, we’ve knocked on hundreds of doors, mailed 1,350 postcards to low density counties, and distributed yard signs urging citizens to Vote No on the proposed constitutional amendment. In the last month, our Facebook page has reached almost 16,000 people, reflecting a 77% increase over last year, as people are looking to the League for information and community. We are getting almost 4,000 people adding comments and sharing our page with their friends every month.

Former NBA Coach Phil Jackson said, “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”

Thank you, team members! I appreciate you and admire your spunk!

Janet

Janet Milkovich

jocoleague@gmail.com


DEI Moment - Women's Equality

August 26th is Women’s Equality Day in the United States. It is the day designated by Congress to commemorate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting the right to vote to women. 

This year will mark the 102nd anniversary of the culmination of one of the most successful grassroots campaigns organized by suffragists and their allies to win support to their cause across the country. Nevertheless, this anniversary gives the issue of women’s equality a new urgency in the context of the recent Supreme Court ruling that eliminated the constitutional right to choose an abortion. It is an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of true equality and the role of women in the public life of our country.

The history of the suffragist movement provides a perfect framework to reflect also on the issue of race equality, given the dark spots in the political lives of many famous suffragist leaders. Among them is Carrie Chapman Catt, the founder of the League of Women Voters, who infamously declared that “White supremacy will be strengthened, not weakened, by women’s suffrage.”

Today’s League of Women Voters acknowledges the mistakes of the past and strives to become more inclusive with proactive activism. May this year’s anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s passage help underline the issues that stand in the way of realizing the dream of equality for ALL American women who believe they will continue to be second class citizens until the right to make decisions affecting their body belongs only to themselves.

Resources:


 Civic Engagement Partnership

Over the weekends of June 25/26 and July 2/3, 2022, the League of Women Voters of Johnson County partnered with the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR) for a Civic Engagement Initiative. The church, which has five campuses across the Kansas City metro area, launched an expanded Community Justice Ministry in June and hosted its first Juneteenth celebration with St. James United Methodist Church at the Leawood campus on June 25th.  Throughout the celebration and church services over the two weekends, 56 League volunteers engaged with 785 people during 22 events on four campuses.  Hundreds of League branded Raise Your Voice cards with QR codes linking to voter registration webpages were distributed, along with information about the August 2 primary and cards promoting League membership. For the holiday weekend, handheld American flags and “vote” coloring pages for kids were also given away. Many volunteers expressed how happy they were to be back together working side by side with other League members. All in all, this was a hugely successful initiative and the start of an ongoing partnership between the League and COR. 

Submitted by Tanya Honderick

 



VOTE411.org Team
Our vote411.org Team needs additional help. Volunteers will check to see if their candidates responded to our questionnaire and to contact candidates who have not, via email or phone, to request that they do so.
As a nonpartisan resource for voter information, it is so important that we are able to provide that candidate's thoughts. Going into the fall election, we want this information to be THE go to resource for our community. 

Interested? Please contact Marie Hernandez at lwvjocovi@gmail.com.


 

Tamathy Broaddus

Judith Epstein

Yasmine Ferhat

Lara Fiscus

Susan Hart Higgins

Kelli Kramer-Jackman

Rachel McGonagle

Kate McLaury

Carolyn O’Malley

Lavina Rogers

Sheila Shockey

Tavia Shreefer

Alexandra Smith

Elizabeth Smith

Annette Spates

Peggy Trent

Rajitha Velakaturi

Shiloh Williams



Member Spotlight: Tanya Honderick
 

Issues related to community health, disease prevention, housing and vaccines are all important public programs that become stronger with informed citizen input.


Learn more about Tanya.

Observer Corps Reports

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


  • Action on mental health supports, including Suicide Hotline Case Manager positions
  • Prairie Village Ad Hoc Housing committee recommendations
Read the latest summaries by League members who attend several public meetings in our area.

Board and Committee Briefs

🇺🇸 LWV Annual Convention. League members overwhelmingly supported the New York State Concurrence which significantly updates the League's health care position. Read the summary written by former LWVJoCo member Candy Birch.

https://lwvhealthcarereform.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/HCR4US-newsletter-7.12.22-c.pdf

🚗 Souls to the Polls. Its' a wrap for the successful Souls to the Polls event. The July 9 Car Caravan cruised through three Wards and Precincts: 9-6;11-5; and 11-8 (photos below). The Wards were selected because they have a large number of registered voters, but a low voter turn-out in elections. Special thanks are extended to all participants and to the KCK Police Department, KCK Motorcycle policemen, the Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) Campus Police, and the KCKCC Event Department.The next Caravan will take place on Saturday, October 29, 2022.
🗳️ Vote No Efforts. Fifty people participated in three postcard events, mailing 1,350 Vote No postcards to voters in low density counties. The League distributed 250 yard signs. In partnership with Kansas for Constitutional Freedom, League members canvassed and worked the phone banks.
👏 Jill Quigley and our League team of Voter to Voter Ambassadors have done an excellent job in reaching out to peers and encouraging them to vote. There's still time to join the Voter to Voter team prior to the November election!
📻 Media Interviews:
  • KKFI Radio Active Magazine: Integrity of election procedures in Kansas and Missouri
  • KKFI Cowtown Conversations with Joseph Jackson: A Conversation with Janet Milkovich, President of LWVJoCo
  • Mediapart: The role of the LWVJoCo in educating Kansans about the proposed constitutional amendment
📰 Stay current: Read about latest work of Leagues throughout the state in the latest issue of LWVK’s VOTER Notes newsletter.

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