|
Thanks to everyone who participated in our LWVT annual meeting on April 25 at the Capital City Country Club. This is our only all-member event each year, and it results in the program, leadership, and budget for the operation of our League for the coming year. More on that follows later in this newsletter.
As we near the beginning of summer, we will be stepping up our voter education and GOTV efforts. These are the mainstay of the League and are especially important in election years. Please consider signing up for our voter education outreach by contacting Laurie Marshall at lbmarshall55@gmail.com. We are making a special effort this year to reach students at FSU and FAMU and citizens in low-voting parts of the city. We are also reaching out to Jefferson and Gadsden counties to help with voter education efforts in those counties.
The League is working with a new Capital Region News Collaborative on the 2026 Local Candidate Forums. The forums will be held in June, beginning on June 17. In past years we have worked with the Tallahassee Democrat and WFSU Public Media on the forums. The Democrat and WFSU are now working with other local media as part of the Capital Regional News Collaborative which also includes two other local television stations (WCTV and WTXL), Capital Outlook, and Tallahassee Reports. The collaborative aims to provide deeper, community-centered reporting on local issues and is funded in part by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The LWVT has sponsored local candidate forums since the earliest years of its existence, and it is noteworthy that we are continuing to lead in this important voter education effort.
| | Carol S. Weissert, LWVT Co-President | | Voter Services continues to engage in community outreach during this busy 2026 election year. April found us tabling at the First Friday at Railroad Square Community Exchange, two Southside farmers markets, the Good News Outreach Reentry Fair and two ALERT candidate forums. We also participated in the Leon Works Expo where we interacted with hundreds of high school juniors and seniors who enjoyed our spinner trivia game and lots of chocolate! The same day we were also at the Urban League Crocs and Socks event. In addition to tabling, voter services provided voter education for the Providence Neighborhood Association and at the Leon County Detention facility. Another is planned for the Elberta Neighborhood Association in June. These education events are organized by Darwin Gamble and Barry Munroe. We also hosted a most informative hot topic tour of the Supervisor of Elections office on April 18. | | |
Voter Services has been providing our Leon County neighbors with information about the upcoming elections including the fact that nothing is changing regarding identification requirements for 2026. We help with voter registration, vote by mail ballot requests and also assist voters in checking the accuracy of their registration information and makeing corrections where needed. In addition, we have been making voters aware of the initiative to place Medicaid expansion on the 2028 ballot, providing the QR code to request a petition from Florida Decides Healthcare. This has been well received by our community and many do not realize that this effort is underway. Voters who submitted a petition last year need to complete a new one for this citizen initiative for the 2028 election year.
Voter services is responsible for Vote 411 and is working to compile Leon County candidate information. This is the nationwide LWV source for voters to learn about those running for office in 2026 and will provide all candidates with the opportunity to share their qualifications and answer questions on issues for voters. Vote 411 will be available for the public to access this summer.
For those who would like to be actively involved with voter services, we hold a monthly meeting via Zoom and regular opportunities to engage with citizens at community events. Volunteers must be certified by reviewing the LWVFL voter services training materials and then passing a quiz. Newly certified volunteers are paired with an experienced committee member to work events as part of the training provided. If you are interested in joining voter services, please contact Laurie Marshall at lbmarshall55@gmail.com.
| | Laurie Marshall, LWVT Voter Services | | Florida House Adopts New Congressional Districts | | |
The Florida House and Senate, meeting in special session April 28-30, adopted Gov. DeSantis’s mid-decade congressional redistricting proposal. The new map is likely to add as many as four Republican congressional seats to the 20 of 28 that they now hold.
The League of Women Voters opposed the mid-decade redistricting as unnecessary and harmful to citizens. The League will be filing a case in court arguing that the map violates the Florida Constitution’s explicit prohibition on partisan gerrymandering.
| | Carol S. Weissert, LWVT Co-President | | |
The 2026 LWVT annual meeting was held on April 25 at the Capital City Country Club. Jessica Lowe Minor, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, was the speaker.
At the meeting, the following officers were elected for 2026-27:
| | | Miriam Tellechea and Carol Weissert | Co-Presidents | | Janet McPherson | First Vice President | | Jeanne Lykes | Second Vice President | | Susan Lunin | Secretary and Nominating Committee | | Marianne Arbulu | Treasurer | | Becky Parsons | Elected Director | | Sabrina Hartley | Elected Director | | Barry Monroe | Elected Director and Nominating Committee | | Emma Guilarte | Nominating Committee | | Isabella Miletic | Nominating Committee | | Trish Neely | Nominating Committee | | | |
The Tallahassee program for 206-27 was adopted. The major change was deletion of Health Care as part of our local program. Since Health Care issues currently are primarily state-level, there is no need to duplicate program efforts at the local league level. Here’s a link to the program on our LWVT website: https://www.lwvtallahassee.org/about/2025-2026-program
A bylaws change was made to change the quorum necessary for annual meetings to 15 percent of voting members. The previous language had been ten voting members other than the board of directors.
| Trish Neely, Membership Chair | | LWVT Visit to Leon County Supervisor of Elections Office | |
On April 18, some thirty LWVT members had a tour of the Leon County Supervisor of Elections office at 2990-1 Apalachee Parkway.
Alice Mosca, public information specialist, explained the uses of equipment to send out and receive mail ballots, the massive storage facilities for ballots and equipment, and the extensive efforts to ensure votes are collected and counted correctly and safely. Leon County SOE was one of the earliest offices to use a 100 percent audit—meaning all votes cast are counted twice to assure their accuracy. The Leon SOE office has 25 full-time staff, 22 temporary staff hired for elections, and around 1,000 poll workers who work long hours on election days.
| Carol S. Weissert, LWVT Co-President | |
LWVT mentors and mentees gathered April 24 for our inaugural mentor-mentee mixer. Thanks to League members Mary Lee and Phil Kiracofe, both mentors, for hosting the mixer in their home.
The mixer celebrated three years of our LWVT Mentoring Program. The program was created in 2023 by an FSU student, who was an LWVT board member and president of FSU PIRG. It was her answer to the question: How do we engage young adults in the work of the League?
Currently, the LWVT has ten mentor-mentee partnerships. We define “mentoring” as a professional relationship based on mutual trust in which an experienced, respected and enthusiastic person (mentor), shares his/her/their knowledge and experience with a less experienced colleague (mentee) to develop his/her/their professional growth, learning and personal development.
| |
Mentors and mentees communicate in whatever ways works for them, electronically and face-to-face. They might have coffee dates, attend professional meetings together, enjoy an afternoon at Tallahassee Museum or a matinee at Theatre Tallahassee, volunteer at a League event, or network with area professionals to learn about careers and community.
The LWVT Mentoring Chairperson is Gale Workman. She works with her mentee and LWVT Student Board Member Izzy Miletic to match and manage mentor-mentee partnerships. Gale and Izzy were among the very first mentor-mentee partnerships created in 2023.
Want to know more? Please contact Gale Workman, gale_workman@hotmail.com; 850-228-1867.
| | Isabella J. Miletic, LWVT Board Member | | |
The LWV educates and advocates for our constitutional democracy primarily through membership dues and donations. In other words, we could not do this work without you!
A sincere thank you to the following renewing members for donations to the general fund.
| | | Gwen Brady | Sally Butzin | Linda Slalvey | | Maura Canter | Gale Workman |
| | | |
If you are interested in donating to either our education or general fund, please visit our website and select the large DONATE button in the banner for additional information about the funds and how to donate.
And if you are not yet a member, join us!
| |
Marianne Arbulu, Treasurer
Trish Neely, Membership Chair
| | Welcome New Members! You make our work possible. | | |
Tom Baxter
Cindy Coates
Dale DeHart-Grigas
Wendy Hollady
Jo Parks
Suzanne Printy
| | Local government calendars: | | | | |
