The most important direct voter services we deliver are voter registration, candidate forums, and the voters guide before each major election.

VOTER REGISTRATION

From April 2023 to April 2024 we organized our voter registration efforts into teams that met to strategize, share ideas, and train new volunteers. We now have four high school voter registration teams: County (led by Peggy Robb), North County (Barbara Mitchell), City (Steve Reed), and St. Charles (Mary Baker). In all, we conduct voter registration drives for students 17 ½ and above at 77 area high schools.

Mary Toy organizes registrations at four community colleges, and the St. Charles Unit goes to Lindenwood University as well. Nancy Price heads tabling opportunities for people who have completed their parole status and are eligible to vote.

We formed an ad hoc committee which created a Youth Civic Engagement team which has worked with high school registrars to deliver lessons and activities on the importance of voting.

Sabrina Tyuse continues to seek out community fairs and festivals for registration drives and we work with organizations that complete a request on our website.

Thanks to summer 2023 intern Paige Allen, all new volunteers begin by watching our training video and then they are directed to our various teams. Co Chairs Julie Gaebe, Jill Brown, and Jennifer Shylanski organize volunteer training and placement and oversee the weekly or bi-weekly voter registration at Naturalization Ceremonies at the Eagleton Courthouse.

In all, a very impressive number of 3,698 residents are registered to vote because of our 175+ trained registrar volunteers.

Need volunteers to register voters? Request that LWV volunteers come to your event.

CANDIDATE FORUMS

The League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis believes one of the best ways for voters to learn about people seeking election is to hear candidates speak and answer questions in a public forum.   

To keep forums informative for voters, the League has established candidate forum ground rules.  The LWVSTL moderator determines which questions will be asked and attempts in good faith to cover areas of interest expressed by the audience.

We were active before the August, 2024 primary election. For example, a total of 26 statewide and county council candidates spoke at a  Candidate Meet and Greet on UMSL's South Campus on July 17. The event was organized by local chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the League of Women Voters, and NAACP. Click here for a news story on the event.

A July 14 forum had two parts.  First, 82 people listened to remarks from Congresswoman Cori Bush, Wesley Bell and Maria Chapalle-Nadal, three of the four candidates for the 1st Congressional District Democratic primary. This was followed by a typical LWV-moderated candidates forum among the Democratic candidates for Missouri House District 78 in the primary election. You can view a recording of both parts at 78th District Candidate Forum (7th Ward Democrats) (youtube.com).   

Would you like to hold a candidate or ballot issue forum in your community? Request an LWV moderator. 

FORUMS BEFORE APRIL 2024 ELECTION

Normandy School Board - Thursday, March 28 at 6:30 pm at Beyond Housing, 6505 Wright Way. Sponsored by the Normandy School District. 

Ferguson City Council - Thursday, March 28, at 7 pm. Virtual on Zoom. Sponsored by City of Ferguson Neighborhood Associations. Watch at https://www.youtube.com/live/WXzLMoiQcxs?feature=share.

Parkway School Board - Wednesday, March 27, at 7 pm at the Parkway Welcome Center, 760 Woods Mill Rd. Sponsored by the Parkway School District.

Wildwood Mayor & City Council - Monday, March 25, 6 pm at Wildwood City Hall. Sponsored by the city of Wildwood. 

Bellefontaine Neighbors City Council - Tuesday, March 19 at 6, at the Lewis & Clary Library. Sponsored Neighbors of Bellefontaine. 

Kirkwood School Board - Wednesday, March 13, 6:30 pm at Kirkwood High School. Sponsored by the Kirkwood School District. 

Lindbergh School Board - Monday, March 11, 6:30 pm at the Board of Education, 9350 Sappington Rd. Sponsored by the Lindbergh School District. Click here to watch the recording.

Hazelwood School Board - Thursday, March 7, 6 pm, at the Lewis & Clark Library. Sponsored by the Hazelwood School District.

Mehlville School Board - Tuesday, March 5, 6:30 pm at Andre's South Banquet Center, 4254 Telegraph Rd.  Sponsored by the Call newspaper. 

Rockwood School Board - Wednesday, March 6 pm at the Rockwood Administrative Annex, 500 N. Central, Eureka. Sponsored by the Rockwood School District. 

We have a number of recordings of 2023 municipal election forums that you might enjoy watching. We will post those as soon as possible.

VOTERS GUIDE

Production process. The first 2024 Voters Guide was produced for the April municipal election. The Voters Guide included responses from 323 candidates (out of 680) vying for 427 races. Ultimately, 21 volunteers participated in the production tasks of creating the municipal guide totaling 870 hours of service. From first acquiring the candidate data to finally distributing the finished guides, the process took approximately 10 weeks.

The process of producing the municipal guide (which has the largest number of candidates of any election) began at the end of 2023. Jill Brown, Jennifer Shylanski and Diane Kasten volunteered to head up the project. They determined that improvements were needed in the production process, specifically, administrative access, research methods and proofreading. They divided the work into three teams. Jill and Jennifer headed teams composed of researchers (who find information missing from candidate responses) and campaign callers (who contact non-responders to urge them to participate). Diane headed the team of proofreaders, candidate tracking and questions, and liaising with the Post-Dispatch. 

Training of volunteers was a major area of attention for each team, especially in the areas of researching and proofreading. Each of the co-leaders created materials and presentations for their respective teams. In January, several training sessions were held and over 30 volunteers attended at least one session.

Production of the 2024 Voters Guide was very successful due to several factors: identification of problem areas and effective solutions, excellent leadership, engaged and well-trained volunteers, and the ongoing cooperation and support of the Post-Dispatch. We plan to continue to “fine tune” this process, including holding training sessions on an annual basis to maintain a high level of expertise. The 2024 municipal election was also the first time we were able to mail the invitation letters by bulk, saving the League over $400.

Ballot Measures. We also want to recognize the invaluable assistance of Kathleen Farrell and her team. Those 8 volunteers carried out the research and summarized the 78 ballot measures for a total of 63 volunteer hours.

Distribution. A total of 10,000 guides were printed in a timely manner and distributed on March 14 and 15 to 150 locations in St. Louis city and the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin. This year the newly appointed head of the distribution team, Julia Brown, along with another 32 volunteers, spent 96 hours on the deliveries.  Much the same activity occurred prior to the August election.

Would you like to have copies of our non-partisan Voters Guide delivered to you?  Request Voters Guides here