THE VOTER

April 2020

Ohio Primary Election - Interrupted As news of the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the Ohio primary election on March 17 was canceled at the mi-nute. The governor and secretary of state announced their intentions for postponing the election, but the Ohio Gen-eral Assembly is the branch of government that has the authority to make the change. This week a bill was passed by the House and Senate making the decision on how Ohio will complete the 2020 primary election. Vote by mail will be accepted if postmarked by April 27, or dropped off by April 28. There will not be in-person

voting, except for voters with a disability who require it. The Secretary of State will send a postcard to all registered voters who have not yet voted in the Primary telling

them how to get a ballot by mail. When the County Board of Elections receives a request and sends the ballot to the voter, it will include a postage

-paid return envelope. All ballots cast in early voting will be counted along with the mailed ballots postmarked by April 28. (Do not vote

twice!) The registration deadline to vote in this primary election has not changed. A voter must have registered by Feb-

ruary 18. We all need to help get the word out to family, friends and colleagues to encourage voting in the primary election, which in Hamilton County includes a transportation sales tax levy. Here is the Vote By Mail Application for Hamilton County that can be printed and mailed in to get a ballot.

2020 CENSUS Avoiding Fraud and Scams The U.S. Census Bureau is committed to making the 2020 Census quick, easy, and safe for all participants. Here are some tips to help you stay safe. Avoiding Scams Online: Phishing is a criminal act in which someone tries to get your information by pretending to be an entity that you trust. Phishing emails often direct you to a website that looks real, but is fake and may be in-fected with malware. It is important to know that the Census Bureau will not send unsolicited emails to request your participation in the 2020 Census. Further, during the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau will never ask for: Your Social Security number; Your bank account or credit card numbers; Money or donations. The Census Bureau will not contact you on behalf of a political party. Staying Safe at Home: If someone visits your home to collect a response for the 2020 Census, you can do the following to verify their identity: First, check to make sure that they have a valid ID badge, with their photograph, a U.S. Department of Commerce

watermark, and an expiration date; If you still have questions about their identity, you can call 844-330-2020 to speak with a Census Bureau representa-

tive. Reporting Suspected Fraud: If you suspect fraud, call 844-330-2020 to speak with a Census Bureau representative. If it is determined that the visitor who came to your door does not work for the Census Bureau, contact your local police department.

LWVCA during the time of COVID-19: The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of our lives, including League operations and advocacy. Please know we do NOT stop. Here are some of the ways that we are continuing forward. Business operations: The LWV Cincinnati office in the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church is closed during the lock-down. Mail and phone message pick up will occur weekly. The Office Manager, Hope Fountain, is continuing to work from home, but please understand this will affect response times. Once lockdown has ended, office hours will in-crease, but will only return to a full schedule once social distancing has ended. All of the operations that can be per-formed online and by mail are being done through those means. Please continue to feel free to reach out to hfoun-tain@lwvcincinnati.org with the requests you would normally make to the office. Census outreach: These efforts are continuing through social media outreach and through you (our members and community) encouraging each other. We can keep this going! Committees and teams: Will meet virtually via conference call. This means that we can all keep talking to each other and planning our work while staying safe. Letters to the editor, calls to representatives, and postcard campaigns are just some of the advocacy efforts we can make remotely. Annual meeting: The Board will be discussing how best to manage the annual meeting which is currently sched-uled for May 13. Please keep an eye out for more information about this next week.

The Natural Resources Committee Our LWVCA Natural Resources Committee is always on the lookout for local issues that will improve the environment. We are also glad for new members with an interest in environmental issues. We generally meet the 4th Monday of the month, either at the office or by conference call, to review what’s currently prodding us to action, such as single use plastic bags and the Metropolitan Sewer District transition. We invite you to join us and see how you might get involved. Are you looking for something interesting to explore? Check out this website GOOD RIVER STORIES OF THE OHIO. Cincinnati’s source of beauty, drinking water, and floods has many other stories we don’t always get to read.

April Unit Meetings: Unit meetings may be cancelled or moved to conference call; please check with your unit leader. Not meeting in person, however, does not mean that there is nothing that you can do. April is our Action month for the topic of “American Politics: A House Divided”. The political climate in America is heated. Just as League members feel a duty to educate and register voters, we should feel called to constructively move our country toward our shared vision of an accessible, equitable, and functioning democracy. Some of the action items that you can complete remotely are:

1. Join the LWVO LobbyCorps. Sign-up top get the monthly emails at https://www.lwvohio.org/lobby-corps-form. These emails include an invite to monthly conference calls. Hear how members around the state lobby their local representative on LWV action items. After listening to fellow League lobbyists, you may feel confident enough to start.

2. Call your Representatives-local, state, and national. 3. Media & Public Discourse Watch: What toxic language or misinformation are you exposed to in a day,

week, or month via social, print, TV/radio, and internet media? What organizations or community leaders do a com-mendable job of correcting misnomers? Bring examples of both to the next meeting.

4. Letter to the Editor or Postcard Campaign. Please note: If signing a Letter to the Editor as an LWVCA mem-ber, please send your draft to Elizabeth Zak at elizabethzak21@gmail.com first for Board approval.

Current action items: Automatic Voter Registration in Ohio Support of ‘Get out the Count’ efforts for Census 2020 See LWVO ‘Action Alerts’ for most recent: https://www.lwvohio.org/action-alerts

LWVCA partners with CEEP

For the past few years our League has financially supported CEEP, the Campus Election Engagement Project. CEEP is a national non-partisan project that helps America’s colleges and universities get students to register, volunteer in campaigns, educate themselves, and turn out at the polls. The CEEP staff teach administrators, faculty, staff, and student leaders to use their institutional resources to engage students. LWVCA’s current budget includes a fee paid to CEEP; the CEEP staff in turn pay two college students, currently Kish Richardson and Joshua St.Pierre, to serve as Fellows for two semesters of activity. Kish and Joshua were active on UC’s campus until campus closed due to the COVID-19 virus, and shifted to all digital online projects when campus closed. They are getting the word out to students about filling out their census forms despite being displaced by COVID-19. They plan to push out the information about expanded primary voting once the process has been determined. Activities completed while on campus:

● Storm the Dorms Voter Registration - The CEEP fellows kicked off the UC semester with an all-out effort on Feb 3. In collaboration with other student organizations including the United Black Students Association (UBSA), they registered 72 students within 2 hours. ● The Ohio Voter Guide link was distributed to students who wanted a "sample ballot" of the candidates for the Ohio primary. ● Branding and Merchandising - The fellows created I'm a Bearcat and I Vote stickers and t-shirts, passing them out to students to get them excited for the upcoming election. ● A State Lobbying Trip took place on February 28th in partnership with UC’s student government. ● The fellows hosted Election Week Monday March 9th - Wednesday March 11th with Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaigns on both the uptown and branch UC campuses.

Additionally, a significant institutional change will be initiated as the next academic year begins; Bearcat-Bound Orientation for first-year students will begin this summer. The Fellows will be registering students to vote during their freshman orientation process for the first time. We’re pleased to be supporting CEEP and the Fellows, and look forward to doing so in the 2020-2021 academic year.

CALENDAR

Special note: Some meetings have already been marked as being planned via conference call. As the situa-

tion evolves, additional meetings may be cancelled, moved to conference call or online format. Please check

back regularly via the online calendar or contact the committee leader for further information.

April 1 Conf. Call: Board Meeting 6pm

April 7 Conf. Call: Budget Committee 4pm

April 9 Central Evening Unit, Member’s home-contact unit chair 6:15pm

April 9 Downtown Unit, Aster 5:30pm

April 9 100th Anniversary Meeting 6pm

April 13 Voter Services Committee 6pm

April 14 Hilltop Unit, Friendship United Methodist Church Noon

April 14 Warren/Butler Unit, Mason Municipal Building 7pm

April 15 Metro Day Unit Noon

April 21 Conf. Call: Education Committee 2pm

April 22 Conf. Call: Program Development Committee 5:40pm

April 27 Conf. Call: Natural Resources Committee 11am

Unless otherwise noted, meetings are at the League office or other rooms at the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church, 103 Wm. Howard Taft Road, Cincinnati.

Officers

Elizabeth Brown, Co-President

Pinky Kocoshis, Co-President

Mary Kate Genis VP Fund Development

Desirae Futel, VP Voter Service

Elizabeth Zak, VP Program

Pamela Reichelderfer, Secretary

Carla Reichelderfer, Treasurer

Directors

Janice Alvarado

Bette Evanshine

Sarah Warner

Liz Shockey

Emily Thobe

Carolynn St. Charles

Maggie McNerney

Hope Fountain, Office Manager