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Thanks to the many
LWVAA members, Hudson LWV, (Rosanne Thomas and Barbara Bos televised our
meeting!), and the support of our 13 sponsors, the LWVAA Town Hall Meeting
on Election Reform was a stellar moment. With $750.00, the amount allotted
from the Joyce Foundation to LWVO for each of the statewide town hall
meetings, LWVAA could afford the Sheraton Ballroom with the assistance of
our Women Studies sponsor at the University of Akron. The spacious room,
the food service, the electronic gear (in place and tested) created a cheery
atmosphere for the tables to begin discussing the election process in Ohio.
The facilitators and recorders, representatives from the sponsoring groups
(12 from the Bliss Institute), guided each of the 12 tables to compose a
question expressing their greatest concern about voting in Ohio. These
questions pertained to electronic voting and its tabulation, provisional
ballots and how they are counted, and problems encountered at the polls on
voting day.
Peg Rosenfield
and Ann Henkener, LWVO Election Law Specialists, touched many of these
topics in their pro-con presentation. They discussed ways to provide
oversight on the Boards of Election to remove the appearance of
partisanship, how to reduce the excessive use of provisional ballots in
Ohio, improving poll worker training and attracting younger poll workers as
well as extending the time for voting and location of sites.
Following the
question-answer period of the meeting, each table was asked to prepare an
action statement – something they could do to correct or improve an election
flaw. Many tables focused on involving students as poll workers urging the
Board of Election, The Board of Education, the University of Akron, and the
PTA to develop programs for such service to be included in school activities
and schedules.
To close the
meeting Anne Nelson, Director of LWVO imPACT Town Hall Meetings, encouraged
the audience to take action by demonstrating how easy it is to reach their
legislators by using the
imPACT
website
and click on “Speak Up” to get the contact information for your
legislators.
Town Hall
Committee: Harriet Cutler, Rachel Fowler, Sharon Gandee, Jeanne Orr
Advisers: LWVO,
Ardith Keck, Pres. Erica Greer
Jean Questel
Chairman |
