Now is the time we act on the legislative priorities we developed last fall and on other issues based on state and/or national consensus positions. Some bills have already had hearings. For example, the League testified for HB 152, the Secure and Accessible Registration Act (SARA). By registering to vote through a convenient dual-purpose application at the time of routine and necessary transactions with certain state and local agencies, voters won’t have to worry about registration deadlines or application submissions. Also, name and address changes will be automatically sent to election officials allowing them to keep voter rolls current.

Baltimore City League: Focused on Youth Voter Registration

Voter Registration: The Baltimore City League wanted to prioritize high school voter registration and voting this year. A grant from the LWV Education Fund (LWVEF) has provided an additional incentive. To help us identify schools that might be underserved in voter registration, we contacted League member, Julia Baez, Executive Director of Baltimore’s Promise (a collaborative for youth programs). She helped us work with the Baltimore City Public Schools Office of Family and Community Engagement which put us in contact with Community School Coordinators in five high schools—Ben Franklin, Patterson, Frederick Douglass, Reginal Lewis, and Western. We will also return to Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) where we have been registering voters around National Voter Registration Day.

During the past few weeks I have had the privilege of testifying before the 2018 Maryland General Assembly Session on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Maryland. Nancy Soreng, former LWVMD President, and I have testified on several election bills and will be testifying on more as the session evolves. It is interesting to note how little in-person support, either pro or con, these bills receive. It seems that the League of Women Voters is one of the few go-to organizations that legislators count on to speak to the important topic of election and voting reform.

March 15^th is rapidly approaching. All consensus study reports for our PRIMARY ELECTION study must be in by March 15^th. At this point only one local League report has been received. Hopefully your League has scheduled a date for your consensus meeting. All material needed for the study are on the Primary Study webpage here.

Mid-Shore League: Streamlined and Moving Forward!

The Mid-Shore League has been incorporated since 1968, first as the League of Women Voters of Talbot County, and now as the League of Women Voters of the Mid-Shore. The name change came about after we expanded our membership to include two neighboring counties, Caroline and Dorchester. This expansion has increased our reach while at the same time presenting several challenges.