eVOTER
Newsletter of the League of Women Voters of Williamsburg Area
September 8, 2024 - Vol. 6, No.03
| All members are welcome to attend!
- 07 Oct 2024, Mon 4–6pm | ZOOM meeting (link will be sent out closer to the date)
- 06 Nov 2024, Wed 4–6pm | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
- 04 Dec 2024, Wed 4–6pm | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
| The League and the York-James City-Williamsburg NAACP are sponsoring a forum for candidates for Williamsburg City Council on Wednesday September 18 from 7-8 PM at the Williamsburg Regional Library Auditorium (Scotland Street).
Please join us for this opportunity to meet the candidates and hear their views on issues facing the area.
The Candidates
Three seats are up for election. The candidates run without party affiliation and are:
- Lindsay Barna
- William (Pat) Dent (currently Vice-Mayor)
- Alexander Fraser Hudgins
- Barbara Lee Ramsey (currently on Council)
- Ayanna Williams
Michael J. Fox, Senior Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Board of Visitors at William & Mary, will moderate. |  | Members! Join us for Back to League. See old friends, make new ones! There will be refreshments!
Register Now!
We will host a panel of three experts and advocates on voting who will address the Right to Vote - with some time for Q&A.
Our Panel
Chris Kaiser. Chris Kaiser is the Policy Director at the ACLU of Virginia, where he is responsible for advancing the organization’s public policy priorities. He has spent 15 years advocating on voting rights and other civil rights issues in Southern state legislatures and local governments. Previously, Chris was the Advocacy Director for the ACLU of Louisiana, where he led the organization’s redistricting advocacy during the most recent Census cycle. He holds a law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Chris will address felony disenfranchisement issues.
Rachel Loria. Rachel Loria is an attorney and a Senior Disability Rights Advocate at disAbility Law Center (dLCV) of Virginia where she uses her own experiences and knowledge daily to help others who encounter obstacles with voting and/or Vocational Rehabilitation.
She has worked at dLCV for 10 years and spent over 15 working in the disability system throughout the state including Partnership for People with Disabilities and Virginia Board for People with Disabilities.
It has been her honor to work with people who have disabilities throughout Virginia and try to create a better Virginia, one self-advocate at a time.
Rachel will speak about the voting challenges faced by those with disabilities.
Matthew Russett. Matthew Russett is a second-year William & Mary Law School law student and is currently co-president of the Election Law Society and an Election Law Program Research Fellow. Last year, Matthew was a lead organizer of William & Mary’s Election Law Symposium on voting rights for former felons. Before law school, Matthew was a congressional aide to Congressman Richard Neal (MA-01) and worked in the state and Washington D.C. offices and on various United States House and Senate campaigns.
Matthew will look at the issues that motivate younger voters.
Our Moderator: Thomas (Tommy ) K. Norment, Jr. We are pleased to have as our moderator Attorney Thomas (Tommy) K. Norment, Jr., former Republican Majority Leader of the Virginia Senate. A graduate of James Blair High School in Williamsburg, Tommy attended Virginia Military Institute and the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary. In 1987, Tommy was elected to the James City County Board of Supervisors. He served as Chairman of the Board in 1991 before being elected to the Senate of Virginia. Tommy maintains an active role in the community. During his 30 years in the Senate of Virginia, Tommy has been elected by his colleagues to serve as both Majority and Minority Leader of the Senate Republicans.
| | Nov 07 | 4:30pm | Member's Home
Discuss with us The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It by Corey Brettschneider.
| | | With the 2024 Election season upon us, LWVUS is offering webinars to help League members prepare for our heaviest season of election work. All League members are invited to attend these webinars live or watch the recordings! The webinars cover crucial topics relating to election work. The goal is to empower League volunteers who are focused on these areas.
- 12 Sept, Thu 1pm | Issues with Debates & Candidate Forums
- 19 Sept, Thu 5pm | Direct Voter Contact
- 03 Oct, Thu 1pm | Preparing for Post-Election
- 10 Oct, Thu 1pm | Bystander Training & Voter Intimidation
Slides and resource links will be made available following each webinar at lwv.org/2024electionwebinars
Empowering voters and defend democracy in 2024!
| | Map design (various versions) courtesy of Craig Barratt, Victor-Bobier, Jeff Pfoser, and Chris Pearson
| In 2024, the Electoral College gets a lot of attention. Forty-eight states use the winner-take-all system where whoever wins the state gets all that state’s electoral votes. One of the big problems of this system is that voters feel like their votes don’t count depending on where they live. A “Blue state” voter, like someone in California, might feel their vote doesn’t count if they vote “red.” Likewise, a “blue” voter in Wyoming might feel that there is no point in going to the voting booth because the answer is a foregone conclusion. The constant news cycle about the seven swing states may leave you feeling either miffed that Virginia is ignored, or grateful that the hateful ads are not being shown here.
How do all citizens get to feel their votes count? The National Popular Vote (NPV). The NPV is a pact between states that simply says whoever wins the national popular vote will get that state’s electoral votes. Historically, there have been five elections where the President was not the majority winner, but did manage to win the electoral college. Five out of 46 Presidents, to date, is a pretty large number.
It’s math. There are 538 electoral votes, 270 is the magic number to become President. The National Popular Vote Pact gets passed by each state (it was raised in the Virginia General Assembly this year) but doesn’t go into effect until at least 270 electoral votes are represented. So far, 17 states and Washington DC have passed NPV with a total of 209 electoral votes. Only 61 to go! There are also five states currently looking at NPV. Along with Virginia, there’s North Carolina, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Michigan where joining NPV has been raised and passed at some level, but not all the way to law. This also goes to erase some of the inequity caused by small states, like Wyoming, getting three electoral votes, (1 per 195,333 people) versus California (1 electoral vote for every 724,000 people) or Texas (1 electoral vote per 750,000 people).
As the US League of Women Voters pushes NPV, the battle cry is Every Vote Equal!!!! The time has come.
~Susan Bivins, President LWV of Williamsburg Area
| | Our Intrepid Team
Our local League Voter Services leaders, Maryann Simpson and Denise Koch, organize numerous voter registration events and candidate forums. Many voting services events are scheduled for this fall!
| | |  | Voter Registration at WJCC Public High Schools
League members will conduct in-person Voter Registration at our three WJCC public High Schools during lunch periods on September 10-12. We’ve conducted Voter Registration events every fall and spring, but last year we developed a QR Code poster to take advantage of technology and teens’ love of their phones. We provided copies for each 11th and 12th grade Social Studies Classroom. Students actually used the QR code to register right from their class. This year however, WJCC School Board decided students may not use their phones inside school during the day. We updated the poster and provided them anyway because students can use the camera on classroom laptops to employ the QR code or use laptops to access the Virginia Elections Citizen Portal website to register.
In accordance with Virginia Code, students who will be 18 on or by a General Election Day (this year, November 5, 2024) are to be given time in school to Register to Vote.
§ 22.1-203.4. Public high schools; Virginia voter registration.
Each public high school shall provide to any enrolled student who is of voting age or is eligible to register to vote pursuant to § 24.2-403 (i) mail voter registration applications and voter registration information provided by the Department of Elections or (ii) access to the Virginia online voter registration system on a school-owned computing device that is accessible to such student. Each student who is eligible to register to vote shall be provided the opportunity to complete an application form during the normal course of the school day.
Our goal is to get students who are eligible #VoteReady
(Image credit: www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/2024)
| | Like many other states, Virginia needs Election/Poll Workers as we head into the November 5th Presidential Election. Being a poll worker, also known as an Officer of Election, is a way to serve your community, your state, and your country. Read More Here
Apply
The application process is the first step. An Officer of Election/Poll Worker must be a competent citizen and a qualified voter of the Commonwealth and complete an application. Apply Here! | | | There are two requirements for helping register voters with the League:
- You must be a member of our local League.
Join or Renew
- You must take the Virginia state third party registration training. All members of our Voting Services team take this training annually.
State Training
It’s easy, thorough, and can be done from home on your computer. Go to
elections.virginia.gov/registration/registration-drives/voter-registration-training/, complete the online training course and sign the online Third Party Voter Registration Drive Sworn Affidavit and Application Request. Virginia Dept. of Elections will send you an email confirming your certification with our League of Women Voters-Williamsburg Area as your sponsoring organization.
Contact Us for help with this process. Be sure to let us know when you receive your certification! | | Volunteer with us to observe meetings of the York County School Board. We currently observe and take notes for the WJCC School Board, and we want to cover York County. You can observe the monthly meetings online (live or rebroadcast) and then write up your report which we will post on our website to share with membership.
Take a look at a typical report here
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Access to York County Meetings
Attend or watch York County School Board Meetings and School Board Work Sessions:
(1) In-person: regular meetings held on the 4th Monday of the month at 7 pm at York Hall, 301 Main Street, Yorktown. Work sessions held on the 2nd Monday of the month at 6 pm at York Hall, 301 Main Street, Yorktown
(2) Online
Live broadcast on YCSD-TV (Cox Cable channel 47;Verizon channel 39)
Live broadcast or on-demand at York County School Board YouTube Channel
| | LOCAL GOVERNMENT & BOARDS | Thank you renewing members! And a Special Welcome to new members! Names with asterisks gave an extra amount above basic dues!
New Members
Julie Cabaniss (*), Alison Cleary, Michelle Coleman, Susan Geary, Ted Maslin, Fiona Morris, Meredith Robertson, Kylie Totten
Sandy Anthony, Tina Egge, Lydia Gershman (*), Carolyn Greathouse, Denise Harrington, Jeanne Renee Hawthorne & Dennis Litalien, Ann Hobson (*), Sarah Houghland (*), Ellen Salvione (*), Catherine Sanderson (*), Karen Siracusa (*)
And a special recognition for ***Allan Pettie***, who although not a member, very generously gave to our local League.
(*as of 9/6/24**) |  | The mission of the League of Women Voters is to empower voters and defend democracy. Vital work benefits from STRONG financial support and people power.
In early 2025, membership structure for all Leagues will change as part of the national League's transformation plan to strengthen our financial base, and to expand membership in numbers and in diversity.
2025 Dues
- A new and uniform dues structure will apply to all League members in every state.
- The recommended dues will be $75 per member. You will have the option to pay less, but $20 is the lowest possible rate.
- Fixed percentages of our dues will automatically flow to the local League, the corresponding state League, and to the national League.
- Larger dues are optional and of course encouraged!
Membership Types Change
- There will be individual membership (dues required) and individual life members (no dues)
- There will no longer be a student membership category
- There will no longer be a 'family/household' membership category
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