Tag: voting rights

LWV in the 2022 Grand Floral Parade

On June 11, the League of Women Voters participated as a Special Entry in the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade . League members from Portland and Clackamas County and friends were celebrating the 102nd anniversary of the 19th Amendment granting American women the right to vote. They dressed in white – the color worn by women suffragists more than a century ago – and wore “Votes for Women” sashes. Since its founding, the League of Women Voters has worked to promote democracy and  improve governmental policies. Information on this website demonstrates the many ways the League continues to support voters and advocate for better policies. 2022 is also the 102nd anniversary of the founding of the League of Women Voters.

Chalk the Vote!

Celebrating the Right to Vote

In August 2020, the Oregon Women’s History Consortium(OWHC) is encouraging Oregonians to decorate their sidewalks and stairs. In 1913, sidewalk chalk messages were used by women demanding the right to vote. In 2020, we celebrate the many times when our nation has expanded the right to vote to more and more citizens. We love this idea for having fun while highlighting the importance of the vote! #ChalkTheVoteOR

Sidewalk Chalk Messages Hailing Expanded Voting Rights

This fun project fits the LWV mission!

Defending voting rights is central to the mission of the League of Women Voters: “Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.” Our democracy depends on voter participation! Let’s continue the fight to expand the right to vote and to combat voter suppression. We hope you will also speak out for voting rights with chalk messages on your sidewalk.

As the OWHC notes:

The year 2020 is the:

  • 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment (removed race, color or prior servitude from denying voting rights)
  • 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment (removed sex from denying voting rights)
  • 56th anniversary of the 24th Amendment (ended the poll tax)
  • 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (prohibited racial discrimination in voting)
  • 49thanniversary of the 26th Amendment: right to vote cannot be denied on account of age for those 18 or older (This amendment has roots in an Oregon legal case, Oregon v. Mitchell, 1970)

The week for writing chalk messages is August 23-29th. August 26th is the day the 19th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. To learn more about #ChalktheVoteOR, click here.

You can trust vote by mail

The  League of Women Voters of the U.S. published this essay on reasons to trust vote by mail.  It was written by the co-president of the LWV of Johnson County, Kansas.  Below are summaries of her five reasons. Click here to read the whole article.

  1. Americans have voted by mail since the Civil War!  (And all Oregon elections have been by mail since 1999.)
  2. It is difficult for someone to vote another person’s ballot. Every signature is checked to make sure it matches the signature of a registered voter.
  3. The mailing, delivery, processing and counting of mail-in ballots are protected by security measures.
  4. Vote-by-mail does not favor any party over another. Research has shown that making voting easier helps all voters.
  5. Research shows that voter fraud is very rare.
Watch our video showing all the ways we protect mail-in voting in Oregon.

 

A LOT is happening!

So many important things are happening at once! Here are links to the posts and pages about them:

Extension Granted for PNP!

We still have time NOW to get this on the ballot!

The Oregon Secretary of State has given the People Not Politicians Initiative Campaign more time to gather signatures. The League of Women Voters of Oregon is one of many statewide nonpartisan groups supporting this initiative. It would place redistricting reform on the November 3 General Election ballot. Please help do that. 

If you haven’t yet signed the petition, please download, sign and mail it in by August 8. Let’s make sure voters can elect representatives who truly represent their communities’ interests.  We need to end gerrymandering. Politicians should not be drawing election districts that benefit their parties. Read more about the issues and the proposal here.

In response to Secretary of State Bev Clarno’s decision, the campaign wrote:

“We are grateful the Secretary of State recognized the importance of the democratic process and the significant impacts of the pandemic on Oregonians’ ability to participate in this process,” said Norman Turrill, chair of People Not Politicians … “We will continue to collect signatures to ensure Oregon voters have a chance to bring the redistricting reform we need to end gerrymandering in Oregon once and for all.”

You can read the full statement here.

See our previous posts about People Not Politicians here and here.

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