The Sarasota Voter

07/26/2021

Upcoming Events

• August 13 (10:00am-11:00am) - The story of a woman - Chicago socialite and women's rights advocate who came to Sarasota in 1910 and transformed our sleepy little village.   Read more & Register here

Coming Soon! In early March 2020, we left a Food forThought meeting held in the Sarasota County Community Foundation.  We learned that day (somewhat surprisingly) that ours would be the last in person meeting until . . . Yes, the pandemic was here. Life changed. We lept into using Zoom so we wouldn't completely lose touch with one another. We also used it to hold Candidate Forums. Soon, we will be holding Food for Thought and Hot Topic meeting in person.

I am looking forward to being together with you! ~Linda Thompson

What’s happened to Amendment 4 (2018)? – Part 2 of 4

LWVFL Actions for Reinstatement of Voting Rights for Returning Citizens in Florida

This article was prepared by LWVSRQ member Barbara Ryder, an active volunteer since 2020 in the LWVFL Restoration of Voting Rights Project led by Cecile Scoon, Esq. now LWVFL President. Barbara has been coordinating the LWVFL Pro Bono Attorney Referral Program.

Since August 2020, LWVFL has been actively aiding returning citizens through a variety of programs involving local Leagues and their members as well as volunteers and attorneys from Florida and out-of-state.

Initially, the League’s emphasis was on outreach and education.  LWVFL President Cecile Scoon, Esq. and collaborators prepared two online trainings made available freely on the Web through a simple registration process. Each two hour training was awarded Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits from the Florida Bar Association. The Introductory training was aimed at volunteers, paralegals and lawyers who wanted an overview of the history of Amendment 4 and subsequent statutes which restricted it.  The training emphasized how returning citizens might become eligible to register to vote, and what research had to be done to validate their eligibility.   The Advanced training was aimed specifically at lawyers, for example detailing how to prepare a petition for change of sentence and explaining required legal documents used.

During the late summer and early fall of 2020, the League focused on helping eligible returning citizens register to vote for the 2020 election.  As part of that effort, the League received an ACLU-provided list of over 64,500 returning citizens who (it was believed) did not owe any fees or fines.  The League organized phone bank, text bank and postcard campaigns to contact these individuals. If a returning citizen was unsure about whether their legal financial obligations had been satisfied, the League provided a phone number to request the advice of a pro bono attorney.  If they were sure all their legal financial obligations had been paid, the League urged returning citizens to register to vote and offered aid to do so. These campaigns resulted in almost 22,000 returning citizens registering to vote while providing a useful “clean-up” of incorrect or out-of-date contact information on the list.

In 2021, the League began serious outreach to Legal Services and reentry programs across the state.  Lawyers in some Legal Services organizations have taken the League training and altered their intake sheets to assist people to get their voting rights back.  The League also contacted reentry programs to reach more returning citizens with restoration of voting rights information. As of April 2021, the League has contacted 94 Legal Services organizations and has sent 99 information packets out to reentry programs.

Florida Voices for Health

The FL League of Women Voters is a member of a Florida Voices for Health, a Florida statewide coalition to build healthy communities through an equitable and people driven health care system. The coalition includes community organizations, businesses, and individuals working to create a health care system that works for every Floridian. As coalition members, we work together to bring the latest resources and information into our communities to make sure the stories and interests of hard working, low and moderate income Floridians are represented in the health reform debate.

Members of the LWVSRQ Healthcare Committee regularly attend educational programs hosted by the Florida Voices for Health, which are also open to all LWVSRQ members, which include:

Access to Care for Floridians with Disabilities | August 3 @ 6pm

Register

Herstory Continued - The Sarasota League

The Sarasota League began in 1963.  This is the sixth installment of our story. Last week we shared 1992-2000.  And now . . .

The Story Continues

About 2009-2010

A particular initiative the Sarasota League worked on during those years involved advocating for and defending the Fair District Amendments. These amendments were written to limit the ability of incumbents to gerrymander congressional and state legislative districts to favor a particular party or candidate. The Sarasota League joined Leagues across the state to collect signatures to get the amendments on the ballot; to discuss the amendments with the community; and after the amendments were by 63% of voters, to successfully defend them before the state Supreme Court when the legislature submitted unconstitutional gerrymandered districts.

2013-2015

The Surface Water Pollution Study started in 2013 by The Natural Resources Committee and was completed in 2015 This was an exhaustive study of the Myakka River and its connection with the Peace River Soil and Water Conservation District. Reports and petitions were sent to Florida Legislators.

2014-2016

In 2014-16 the issues League dealt with through studies and forums were Natural Resources, Campaign Finance reform, Open Primaries, Separation of Church and State and Health Care. It instituted the STAR program that allowed a high school student to sit on our Board. Concurrently a League member sat on the Sarasota High School Advisory Council.  Meetings were always open to interested community members.

Since it began League meeting notes and the monthly Voter had to be mailed comprising the largest recurring expense for local Leagues. A website for the League was developed. In a sign of the times, gradually more members were conducting League affairs online thanks to tech savvy members who facilitated the move to the internet. Unfortunately, not all members had computers and hard copies still had to be mailed or taken to members.

Health care was an issue for study since 2000 and League took a position of advocating for Universal coverage.  Since that was not realistic in Florida at the time, it advocated for expanding Medicaid for the working poor. The LWVSRQ held a forum of Mental Health Administrators at which Carrie Seidman was recognized for winning a Pulitzer prize for her coverage of mental health issues.