FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK. March 2024
Happy Women’s History Month! Women’s history is something the League knows a little bit about. We are the direct descendants of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. When the passage of the 19th amendment was assured suffragists, who worked so hard for so many years for its passage, immediately moved to form the League of Women Voters to help the newly enfranchised women voters learn about voting and how to register. The League helped with information about candidates and issues and sometimes actually escorted women to the polls, often in saloons, through catcalls and obstructions.
What started over a hundred years ago continues. Think about everything we’re doing to help voters exercise their right to vote and to protect that right. On the national level LWVUS has filed suit and amicus briefs when that right is jeopardized. Both national and state leagues provide us with a full time lobby corps that keeps track of national and state legislation that have an impact on voting rights and access and other issues we think are important in a democracy.
In Lucas County, we register voters every chance we get, provide information about voting and changes in the voting rules, sponsor forums and informational programs about issues, observe government entities and how they are functioning, and are partners with other good government and community groups that share our values. Not to mention the current activism surrounding the Citizens Not Politicians Independent Redistricting Commission petition. We’re out gathering signatures to get this issue on the November Ballot that will give back Ohio voters their voice.
So let’s celebrate March by honoring all those valiant women, following in their footsteps and keep on keeping on!
— Ann Fabiszak Payne, LWV-TLC President
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