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School is out for Summer but the League is Always In!
It is often the practice of our League to take a short hiatus during June – August. This allows us to travel, visit family and friends, and enjoy the great outdoors whether that’s the beach, wilderness, or our own backyard. And it allows us to recharge our mental and physical battery for the work that lies ahead of us. While we will not be holding Speaker Series meetings in July or August, we will continue to have opportunities for our League members to interact and support our work.
As you have heard from LWVFL, we will continue to assist Floridians with their voter registration but will pivot our method of assistance primarily to online assistance via RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov. If you have not supported our Voter Registration Committee in the past, I would encourage you to reach out to Rhona DiCamillo to attend training and join in our efforts. Our work has allowed us to interact with registrants who might not have otherwise registered to vote for a number of reasons. Many of these registrants were new Americans, people who have been justice involved, pre-registrants, seniors, and those in low income communities. Our voter registration assistance method will change but our commitment to our community will not.
Over the summer months we will be providing opportunities for our members to interact and get to know one another. There is the Duval County Courthouse tour on Wednesday, July 19th at 2:00 pm, an upcoming tour of the St Johns County Supervisor of Elections Office (tbd in August), a tour of the Duval County Supervisor of Elections (tbd in August), our Speakers Bureau training in July, and hopefully, an informal meet and greet. While each of these opportunities allows us to continue to grow as civically engaged local residents, it also allows us to learn more about each other and what brings us to the League of Women Voters.
For those who are interested in supporting the petition drives to get the citizen’s initiatives “Right to Clean and Healthy Waters” and “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” on the 2024 ballot, you can reach out to Angela DeMonbreun (Clean Water petitions) or Wendy Snee (Limit Government Interference with Abortion). They can assist you in obtaining petitions, attending local events, or discovering ways you can help generate public interest and awareness, or support fundraising for the initiatives. |  |
What does it take to get a citizen’s initiative on the ballot in Florida? The total number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment to qualify for the ballot is equal to 8% of the votes cast in the preceding presidential election. To qualify an initiative for the 2024 ballot, initiative proponents must collect 891,589 valid signatures. Florida also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the last presidential election be collected from at least half (14) of the state's 28 congressional districts. And, each petition must be validated as that of a registered voter in the state of Florida. The cost of validation can vary from county to county with the least expensive being 10 cents and the most expensive being $1.28 which requires fundraising to cover these costs. Once the initiative is on the ballot, the Florida Constitution requires a proposed amendment receive at least 60% approval from voters to pass. The awareness we create now about both of these ballot initiatives can help us turn out voters to support them in the 2024 general election.
Interested in an issue or topic that does not have a local committee? Reach out to us so we can connect you with an LWVFL Committee action chair and/or help you establish a local committee. Too often, there are members who are interested in addressing an issue but there is a misperception that because we don’t have a local committee, there’s no opportunity to establish one or work with the state committees. We are happy to support our local members who want to address community needs and issues.
Have a wonderful summer. If we don’t see you at a local event over the next couple of months, we look forward to seeing you at our next Lunch and Learn series in September.
Lanelle Phillmon, LWV/JFC President | | |
Duval County Courthouse Tour Scheduled
We are confirmed for a tour of the Duval County Courthouse Wednesday, July 19th at 2:00 pm. We will gather inside the courthouse in the large space immediately after you pass through the security checkpoint. One of the Clerks will meet us there at 2:00 pm and we will begin our tour. There are escalators and elevators and there will be an opportunity to sit down during portions of the tour. We will also meet with Judge John Guy in chambers as part of our tour.
Judge Guy was appointed to the Circuit Court bench by Governor Rick Scott in December 2015 and has been assigned to the Family Law Division He is a mentor with the Take Stock in Children program and taught a Trial Practice course as an adjunct professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law from 2002 to 2019. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Guy was an Assistant State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit for more than 22 years. Judge Guy had been a prosecutor since graduating from the University of Florida College of Law in 1992. He attended Alfred I. duPont Middle School and Samuel W. Wolfson High School in Jacksonville. Judge Guy then graduated from the University of Florida with High Honors. He is married and has three children.
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Interested in serving as the Speaker Series Director?
We are in need of someone who has a few hours each month to schedule speakers for our monthly guest speakers. While the board determines the theme, priority for topics and a list of possible speakers for each month, we are in need of a volunteer League member who can call and/or email speakers and coordinate their participation via zoom or in person for our monthly events.
If you are interested in being considered for this role or hearing more about it, please contact us at lwvjaxfc@gmail.com.
| Voter Registration Update
Thank you to Cathy Heffernan, Kiki Karpen, Paige Gottlieb, Dianne Main, Dianne Battle, Jeff Finnan and Mary Finnan for braving the heat at our outdoor voter registration events in June. Thank you also to Donna Padgug and Lynn Paul for joining me at the World Refugee Celebration held in Jacksonville - fortunately this event was indoors on a rainy day.
Hopefully everyone is aware that the passage of SB7050 is impacting how the League does Voter Registration. Effective July 1, 2023 we will continue to participate in voter registration events but will be shifting to online voter registration. All members of the League who wish to do voter registration after July 1 must recertify. This means retaking the LWV of Florida quiz and attending a virtual training session held by LWV of Florida.
| Local Program for the Coming Year
Thank you to our members who contributed to the development of our Local Program. While this program is not written in stone and we are able to respond to unforeseen issues that arise, our program allows us to develop events and work that helps us support LWVFL positions and have a positive impact on our local community and state.
If you have feedback or questions, please send them to lwvjaxfc@gmail.com with subject line: LOCAL PROGRAM
We have until September 15, 2023 to finalize and approve the program. | | Thank you to our members who volunteered in June with the Ed Action Team!
Karen Parrish, Ann Weisz, Nancy Staats, Marianna Kane, Kathleen Kane, Karen Droege, Judy Sheklin, Bernadette Miron, Constance Miller, and Bobby Fost | | | Volunteer Opportunity-Education Action Team
Passionate about PUBLIC EDUCATION?
Concerned about recent EDUCATION LEGISLATION?
Believe that all children should have access to safe, quality public schools?
The League of Woman Voters of Jacksonville/First Coast needs your help and expertise. Please join our volunteer Education Action Team! Members will work to ensure that DCPS schools have the resources to provide a quality education to all students.
We will contact members when the DCPS school board is meeting on a hot issue. Education Action Team members are encouraged to participate in one or more of the following actions-call or e/mail school board members, attend school board meetings, fill out a speaker’s card, and speak during public comment.
If you are interested in being part of the Education Action Team, please e-mail Kathleen Kane at vp.lwvjaxfc@gmail.com. | |
LWV of Florida Supports Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion
A coalition entitled “Floridians Protecting Freedom” has launched a citizen-led ballot initiative campaign to give women the right to seek abortions up to viability. Florida voters want women to have the chance to ensure that their personal medical decisions are theirs and theirs alone to make. The League of Women Voters of Florida Board of Directors has voted to support this citizen initiative effort.
| | Florida Right to Clean and Healthy Waters Petition | | |
The League of Women Voters of Florida has endorsed the Right to Clean and Healthy Waters petition and we will be gathering petitions in our four counties (Clay, Duval, Nassau and St Johns). We only have until November 2023 to gather the mandatory minimum number of petitions (891,589) across the state.
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Last call for Volunteers for our Local Speakers Bureau
The League of Women Voters of Florida has a number of prepared presentations that allow us to educate our members as well as the public. In order for us to accommodate the many requests we receive, we are recruiting new members to our local Speakers Bureau. If you are interested, please respond via the link below. We will be scheduling a meeting in July for all interested members so we can review the presentations, discuss League presentation protocol and address concerns or questions. Indicate your interest here:
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Local League members Kiki Karpen and Rhona DiCamillo were among those on hand to meet the “Stay Woke Florida” 15 city rolling protest tour which started in Jacksonville on June 19th and ended in St. Augustine on June 23rd.
| | | | | Replay of Last Month’s Speaker Event
Replays of many past speaker events are available on our YouTube channel. | | |
| | | We can't do it without you! Please join in recognizing our new and returning members from last month.
New Members—Welcome aboard!
Laura Collins
Stacey Lewis
Returning Members—Thank you so much for choosing to renew!
Ilene and Jeffrey Levenson
Marlene Fogarty
Cathy and Pat Heffernan
Stacey Lewis
Jacquelin Nash
Ellen Cage
Laura Collins
Jane Henry
Kim Elmore
Anna Nguyen
Donna Padgug
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Be sure to check out our new website, lwvjaxfc.org, with an easy way to join or renew online, even if you prefer to pay by check. Click on the blue “Join Today” button at the top of the Homepage.
Members who wish to renew must log in. If you are using a Mobile device, you will need to select Desktop at the bottom of your screen to receive the Login prompt.
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We wish to acknowledge and thank those who have made donations this month:
Our website, lwvjaxfc.org, offers an easy way to make donations to LWVJFC, even if you prefer to pay by check. Click on the red "Donate" button at the top of the Homepage.
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Volunteers Always Needed
Quite often, our League needs volunteers to help with small tasks that are not time consuming but vital to our leadership and membership.
If you are willing to help make phone calls, be trained to send text messages, or assist in other ways, please contact us and let us help you figure out how to invest your time in our League and our democracy.
Contact Lanelle at lwvjaxfc@gmail.com to discuss topics and abilities.
For more specific volunteer tasks, click HERE.
| | | | Local
Stay up-to-date on all local upcoming events on the LWV of Jacksonville / First Coast:
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
Regional
The Regional Facebook Group, LWV Florida North Region Leagues, includes Alachua, Bay, Jacksonville/First Coast, Okaloosa & Walton, Pensacola Bay Area, and Tallahassee.
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Contact Us
We look forward to hearing from you!
Phone: 904-355-8683
Email: LWVJAXFC@gmail.com
Postal Address:
Please use the address below even if a form or document you have received from the League gives a different one.
League of Women Voters Jacksonville First Coast
PO Box 330353
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233 | | | | The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging informed and active participation in government. We influence public policy through education and advocacy. | | |
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