The League of Women Voters’ mission is clear: to keep people reminded of the privilege and responsibility of being part of a democratic governing system. League of Women Voters groups exist in every state and every American Territory. Its work is focused at the local level everywhere. So, here in Montgomery County, the League has always helped register voters, helped with elections, provided observers for governmental organizations, conducted candidates’ forums, held “Lunch with the League” monthly gatherings to hear speakers discuss public issues, and many other things.
All of this work has taken place face-to-face as we register high school students to vote, bring the community together to hear candidates speak; or, gather monthly to hear a program of public interest at Lunch with the League as we did in early March to hear Mark Casteel talk about his new job as Montgomery County Administrator.
Then came COVID-19, and everything changed. Just like that, all League Centennial celebrations were postponed (League of Women Voters was founded on Feb. 14, 1920). The Candidates’ Forum, scheduled in mid-March, and coordinated by League of Women Voters’ member S. David Long, was in jeopardy. In early March we determined the large size of the CHS auditorium would still accommodate a physical gathering. A day later that wasn’t possible. Then Long planned to move the Forum to Fusion 54 with only the candidates present and radio station personnel to record it. Then “Stay at Home” orders closed Fusion 54. Undaunted, Long moved the forum to the radio station. Then having that many people gathered wasn’t possible. The next day the primary election itself was postponed. By then Long had put in four or five times the amount of work a forum usually requires, and yet he was back to square one. What to do?
We are pleased to report that Long has now conducted individual interviews with all candidates for county commissioner and county council for the June 2 primary. In cooperation with radio station manager Dave Peach, our community will be able to be present at a virtual Candidates’ Forum. This program will air at 7 p.m. Tuesday on WCDQ, 106.3 FM. Please tune in to hear the voices and learn more about the positions of our candidates on the June 2 ballot.
The world has turned upside down for LWVMC’s, Active Voter Services Team, headed by Myra Dunn Abbott, too. She and her committee had rack cards already made with data about vote centers, early voting and the primary itself. Those were to be placed in each town in the county. The team was also ready to head into the three county high schools to register juniors and seniors. Then in a day, the cards were “material to recycle” and no kids were in school to register.
So, the Active Voter Service Team also turned on a dime: Abbott reached out to County Clerk Karyn Douglas, and volunteered to help with aspects of the reconfigured election. Since our county officials, our county clerk and our governor are all strongly encouraging voting absentee, the Active Voter Team began working on distribution and marketing to help people obtain their applications for ballots. (In this special circumstance, any voter may simply request an absentee ballot and one will be mailed. You may download the application on the county clerk’s website or call for an application. That office even pays postage on your application and on your absentee ballot.)
Abbott didn’t stop there. She and husband Paul got to work designing new digital cards with current voting information. Thanks to the Abbotts, Montgomery County League of Women Voters has also become one of the first Leagues in the nation to have all of our local candidates listed on VOTE411. VOTE411 is a national site that shares self-submitted data from candidates with voters. Abbott contacted each of our 16 primary candidates and is posting their information as she gets it.
With the cooperation of our schools, we hope to have high school students register to vote via VOTE411 as well. (Anyone can register to vote on VOTE411.)
When all in-person meetings were canceled, Marco Dees, Lunch with the League coordinator, immediately began thinking about Virtual Lunch with the League. When he and League president Helen Hudson asked themselves, “What would be most relevant for our public to know now?” they decided nothing would be more useful than an interview with Montgomery County Health Officer, Dr. Scott Douglas and Health Department Administrator Amber Reed. On April 13, Dees sat down virtually on Zoom with Reed and Douglas for an hour-long conversation.
Thanks to invaluable community partnerships, that vital, informative interview is available to all residents. You can find a link to the interview on the LWVMC website and on our Facebook page. It is posted on the Journal Review’s website. You can also find it on the websites of the Montgomery County Health Department, City of Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Emergency Management, MCCF and elsewhere. Other virtual Lunch with the League programs are in the planning stages. Please visit the LWVMC webpage to stay abreast; or, email us at LWVMCOIN@gmail.com.
Our webmaster Mark Frank and Facebook administrator Shelbi Hoover have been busy updating, expanding and announcing League’s Virtual 2020 world, all designed to continue the mission of helping people be informed, well prepared voters and active citizens in this re-arranged year.
Does this kind of community volunteer work sound interesting to you? We welcome you to join us. You can start by helping with a small project, with a single committee job. Come be part of the grand adventure of public service. Email us (see address above) and we’ll get back in touch with you. Join 160-plus other Montgomery County citizens in this meaningful local effort to keep our community and our governance strong. There is no better time than now.
