Voting during a Pandemic

What We Can Do to Ensure Safe, Fair, and Open Elections during These Difficult Times

Yes, our always-popular League Days are back, and now they are virtual! You can attend on your computer, tablet, or telephone, and you do not need to be a rocket scientist to do it. See the instructions on how to use Zoom in this issue and look for forthcoming email blasts with details. The League will not let stay-at-home orders and social distancing keep us from communicating with our members. We still need all of you to fulfill our mission of making democracy work.

The ever-present risks of voter suppression and voter disengagement are even more of a threat in the current environment, and the fragility and near chaos of our election systems are being revealed more than ever, as anyone who follows the news knows. The LWVUS principles and positions on voting and elections state that the League supports protection and advancement of the right of all citizens to vote, as well as uniform national voting qualifications and procedures for presidential elections. Click here to read the LWVUS recommendations on preserving voting rights.

Based on these recommendations, the League is focusing intensely on advocacy for legislation to make sure the upcoming elections are not a disaster: to expand vote-by-mail, expand early voting and online registration, and increase the safety of voting in person by providing additional voting facilities and more poll workers. LWVUS is reaching out to grassroots members everywhere to get involved and make this happen.

May’s League Day will be all about action. The LWVUS National Organizing Director, Alma Couverthie, will fill us in on current LWVUS advocacy and present the various ways that we can take part in this effort. Her emphasis will not be on “why” we need these election reforms (we all know why) but rather on “how” we can work in our communities to produce change.

Some of you may remember that Alma led our Get Out the Vote “parade” around Pasadena City Hall on February 14, the League’s birthday celebration. Here at home, LWV-PA played an important role in implementing L.A. County’s new voting system for the March primary elections. In a talk entitled “Will Everyone Receive an Email Ballot?” a representative from the L.A. County Registrar will set forth the county’s plans for conducting the November election in light of possible social distancing needs and requirements for mail-in ballots. After the presentations, Advocacy Director Debbie Fagen will guide us through a specific activity that we can all perform at home.

This first LWV-PA experiment in a virtual League Day needs your input to succeed. In order to ensure that good and useful information is presented during this brief time and virtual format, please send your questions and concerns about voting in the November general election to events [at] lwv-pa.org NOW—well before League Day. We will send these questions and concerns to the speakers ahead of time, so they can be sure to address them in their presentations.

Watch for forthcoming email blasts for more about all of this, and join us on May 14!

—Katherine Gavzy, Events Committee Chair

 Where: In your home, courtesy of Zoom

Charge: Free—but a contribution to LWV-PA is welcome now more than ever, at https://crm.nonprofiteasy.com/6731/Pages/fundraising/#/401.

How to attend:

Please register no later than May 12:

• online at LWV-PA.org/events (preferred)
• via an email to office [at] lwv-pa.org, or
• by calling the office at 626-798-0965

You will need to provide your email address, where you will receive an invitation with a link to join the meeting. For security, only those who register will receive the link.