News Clips

"As the State Journal noted in an article last Thursday, voter turnout in Dane County [OH] was almost 10 percent higher than in the state as a whole. ... Some of the credit should go to local public officials who worked to enable voters to register and vote with a minimum of paperwork and hassle. ... The Dane County executive and clerk, and Fitchburg city clerk, collaborated with the League of Women Voters in July to train citizens to help voters register."

"A week after Florida's electoral system melted down, there is growing consensus that the state must reform its election laws to avoid similar problems in the future. ... Meanwhile, civic and political activists have promised to pressure lawmakers until they rescind the 2011 changes. Led by the Florida League of Women Voters, the group on Tuesday urged the formation of a task force to identify and eliminate hurdles to voting."

"The League of Women Voters of Watertown [MA] would like to commend the many citizens of Watertown who came out to vote in the election of November 6, 2012. ... We would also like to praise all those who worked very hard on the election: those in the Town Clerk's office, the election commissioners, the poll workers and the police who helped them. All these people made sure the election went smoothly."

" Nancy Tate,executive director of the League of Women Voters, will be a guest of McKendree University’s 2012-13 Distinguished Speaker Series on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m."

"A coalition of voter protection groups gathered on the steps of the Miami-Dade and Orange County courthouses Monday urgently calling for an independent task force be created to investigate what went wrong in Florida on Election Day and the early voting period. 'It is clear that Florida’s 2012 election process was shameful and unacceptable,' said Maribel Balbin, president of the Miami Dade League of Women Voters."

"'El Paso is not alone in low voter turnout, because Texas also lags behind other states,' said Linda Krefting, president of the Texas League of Women Voters... 'The states that have consistently high voter turnout have voter-friendly election procedures, and the Texas Legislature could adopt comparable procedures,' Krefting said. 'Same day voter registration which allows voters to register on election day is common in states with consistently high voter turnout.' ... 'Texas needs to make sure that voter registration at DPS offices is simplified and registrations are processed appropriately.'"

"A total of 5,686 students from 12 school districts and one home school group participated in the Chautauqua County Board of Elections 2012 Mock Presidential Elections. ... 'The League of Women Voters welcomes the Board of Elections' effort to engage students in the political process through a mock election for president. We were happy to have partnered with the Board to make it happen,' said Minda Rae Amiran, League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County's voter service chair."

"The US Supreme Court decided to take up the issue of voting rights for minorities, a group that has historically faced discrimination at the polls. ... Elisabeth MacNamara, president of the League of Women Voters, called the decision to review the act's constitutionality a 'huge step in the wrong direction.'"

"The Davidson County Election Commission 'utterly failed' as hundreds of voters experienced problems at the polls last week, the leader of a voter advocacy group said Monday. ... Mary Mancini, executive director of Tennessee Citizen Action, said a hotline set up at her organization's MetroCenter office received more than 600 calls on Nov. 6. Callers complained about long lines; poll workers running out of provisional ballots, change-of-address forms and other documents; precincts not having adequate staffing; poorly trained poll workers; incomplete voter rolls, and other problems.

"Asked whether the blanket mailing by the secretary of state was necessary, the League of Women Voters of Ohio's Carrie Davis offered, 'Regardless of what rules we have in place going forward... whatever options we have, we need to make clear to voters what their rights are. I think that's been a big source of confusion this election cycle.'"