LEAGUE IN THE SPOTLIGHT: LWV Greater Chippewa Valley Shares Jail Voting Initiatives

The LWV GREATER CHIPPEWA VALLEY took a major role in developing an online jail voting event toolkit, and now they are busy planning jail voter registration events. 

LWV GCV member Karen Voss spearheaded an effort to offer a voter registration event in the Eau Claire County Jail in September 2020. Voss collaborated with the ACLU using the services of Chippewa Valley Votes (CVV), a nonpartisan volunteer-based voter assistance effort working in Chippewa, Dunn and Eau Claire counties. 

Using the ACLU's Ballots for All Toolkit on jail voting, the jail administrator welcomed Voss as a co-coordinator of CVV. They moved quickly to orchestrate an event before the November 2020 election, as well as help jail administrators to complete a jail policy document based on the ACLU toolkit.

Soon after, Karen joined LWV GCV, the Wisconsin Voting Rights Coalition and the working group for Voting and the Criminal Legal System. The working group developed additional guidance for volunteers and jail residents and produced the online jail voting event toolkit--building upon work done in Eau Claire County.

LWV GCV is now actively extending jail voter registration assistance events into Dunn County.  If your local League is interested in doing a jail voting campaign, LWV GCV is willing to share its insights on best practices. You can reach out to Voss at karensvoss [at] gmail.com (.) She’s already assisting the LWV Milwaukee County and is happy to speak with anyone interested. To view jail voting resources on the LWVWI website, click here.