Part 1—Getting Out the Vote

It was a leap year event to remember! On Saturday, February 29, 2020, a group of young activists known as Youth Ambassadors from the city of Pasadena joined League volunteers to encourage people to vote and to participate in the 2020 U.S. Census.

Led by Katherine Gavzy and Gabriela Hoffman, our volunteers engaged shoppers and passersby in conversations about the nearby vote center and the mandatory Census. Bilingual census flyers were distributed, questions were answered, and businesses along Fair Oaks Avenue accepted flyers for distribution to customers.

The volunteers carried handcrafted signs, which made the group highly visible. Drivers expressed support by honking. At Jackie Robison Center, League members were interviewed by a journalist from the Los Angeles Daily News.

What’s more, according to Katherine Gavzy and Mary Fitzpatrick, two of the League’s enthusiastic participants, many of the youth group members expressed interest in joining the League of Women Voters as student members. Let’s cross our fingers!

In summary, the volunteers had a fun and successful day. It was a fantastic way to celebrate a day that comes around only once every four years. Thank you to our volunteers—Toni Cavanagh-Johnson, Debbie Fagen, Gabriela Hoffman, Kitty Kroger, Gayle Oswald, Mary Fitzpatrick, Susan Schwartz, Kimberly Douglas, Virginia Paca, Jean Buennagel, Cheryl Rose, and Pat Coulter—for making our GOTV effort a success!

—Martha Y. Zavala