LWVCCA Voter Service Committee Promotes voter registration and active, knowledgeable voter participation in government.

Chair: Lynne Pleffner

The Voter Service Committee goal for 2024-2025 was to reach as many sections of the population as possible. Listed below are the results of our efforts.

Barnstable County Charter: Every year ending in a 5 or a 0 requires a review of the County Charter. This year, 2025, is no different. A committee has been established for the review, and we will be holding a Forum on the County in September or October 2025.

Spring Elections: This year, 2025, there were several contested races across the Cape. Democracy at work! We held Candidate Forums for Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Harwich, Mashpee and Yarmouth.

Fall Elections: We held Candidate Forums for the 2024 State Cape & Islands Senate seat, the County Commissioners two seats, 1st Barnstable District and the 2nd Barnstable District State Representatives seats.

Credit for Life: This is a fabulous program created by Cape Cod 5 Cents Savings Bank. They use this "fair" as an opportunity to let high school seniors across the Cape figure out a budget based upon their dream profession. The Bank invited the League to participate, which gives us an opportunity to educate new voters. It also is helpful to remind these young voters that they can request an absentee ballot while they are away at college.

Working with 25 to 40 year olds: I have established a relationship with the Cape Cod Young Professionals. They are interested in working with us but have a full plate this year. We will continue to keep the fires burning. We attended their “Back to Business” bash held every September. Attendance was quite strong - over 700 registered and we spoke with easily 300 of them!

Working with the Latinx population: Our December 2024 program featured two wonderful ladies. I reached out to them to see how we can help them. So together Natalia Frois and Katia DaCunha and I created a pamphlet about voting that will help to educate. The first printing will be in English and then in French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Cape Cod Community College - voter education and registration: We attended several “Get Out the Vote” events and had some great conversations with the students.

Community Events: Last year we attended the Dennis-Yarmouth Newcomers monthly meeting twice. We also attended for the first time the Nauset Newcomers monthly meeting. We represented the League at several events: the Brewster Ladies Library Volunteer Fair, Unity Day in Mashpee, Amplify POC Summer Festival in Hyannis, Independence House’s International Day in Hyannis, Juneteenth in Brewster, Leadership Cape Cod Community and Resource Engagement Fair and the Employment Fair held at the Hyannis Community Center.

Voting Behind the Bars: Voter Service, in its effort to reach more voters, has created “Voting Behind the Bars”.  They were able to speak to 2 units at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility (BCCF) in Bourne. Inmates housed there may vote if they are at least 18, US citizens, serving time for a misdemeanor or awaiting trial. Accurate information, however, was slow to get to eligible voters and misinformation was widespread.  The LWVCCA team briefly described voting rights such as who can vote and how. Most of the meetings were for Q & A’s, and attendees raised excellent questions such as what address to use for the Voter Registration application, what to do if your voter status is inactive, and voter eligibility to vote if you are on parole.