Whew! The months of September and October were willed to overflowing with forums. Our League worked on three; one for Muscatine County Auditor, Sheriff, and Board of Supervisors, another for Iowa House and Senate Districts in our county, and the US 2nd Congressional District. Voter service events are the backbone of our League. Our members engage and act to provide voter registration opportunities in the community and serve at our forums. The benefits to the public abound. With local cable viewing and replay, radio and print media reporting, our forums reach out to voters to inform and educate. Thanks to all who played a role in making these events happen.
New Members! Sarah Lande joined League this fall and we are thrilled to welcome her! Paul Mayes joined to make his membership with Ann a household membership. Welcome!
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2016 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $331 million in 85 projects that will improve water and wastewater infrastructure in rural areas in 39 states and American Samoa. Community infrastructure investments are a key piece of USDA's mission to support America's rural communities, and these investments build on the $13.9 billion USDA has invested over the course of the Obama Administration to support 5,825 water and waste infrastructure projects that currently benefit 19.5 million rural residents.
Felon Voting Rights
The Muscatine Journal featured a guest editorial from Bonnie Pitz, former president LWVIA about restoring felon voting rights. You can find her letter at the end of this Voter. The LWVIA has joined a coalition to call for a Constitutional Amendment to restore voting rights to felons. A coalition of 17 groups, including state chapters of the League of Women Voters, American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP, made the recommendations October 25 in a news conference. Iowa is one of just three states, along with Kentucky and Florida, that require ex-felons to apply to the state to have their voting rights restored upon release from prison. Coalition members said that places an undue burden on an individual’s right to vote.
In the New Year
Community Read, February 28, 2017
Pick up the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander or put it on your wish list to read for the February 28 meeting. League will co-sponsor the event with the Alexander Clark Foundation (ACF). We are pleased to have Adrien Wing, U of I College of Law, as our moderator for the event
Adrien Wing is the Associate Dean for International and Comparative Law Programs and the Bessie Dutton Murray Professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, where she has taught since 1987.
I KNOW MY VOTEWILL COUNT CAMPAIGN
For nearly a century, the League’s members have worked tirelessly to ensure that elections in this country are free, fair, and credible. Thanks to our work, we know voters who cast their ballots do so with the confidence that their votes will count. The League is obligated to set the record straight so that voters across the country have the real facts. Our response is a new social media campaign: “I know my vote will count.” Over the remaining weeks of this election, we urge you to join us in sharing the message, “I’m voting, and I know my vote will count.”
League Joins Amicus in McCrory v. Harris The League joined an amicus in the case of McCrory v. Harris. The case will be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on December 5, 2016. The brief argues that the North Carolina legislature’s redistricting map was intentionally gerrymandered on the basis of race and therefore cannot be legalized by using the explanation that it was a political gerrymander.
League Urges State Election Officials to Prevent Voting Discrimination and Disruption The League joined 88 voting and civil rights groups in urging state election officials to create plans to prevent voting discrimination in advance of the first presidential election in fifty years without a fully operable Voting Rights Act (VRA). Letters were sent to state elections officials in every state. LWVUS was joined by the state Leagues in Florida, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia on the letters in their states. DC VOTING RIGHTS
Fixing the Hole in Our Democracy: D.C. Statehood and Voting Rights
Additional materials are now posted on the LWV Website as part of the project to educate League members and the public on the need for full voting rights for D.C. citizens. The LWVDC will be spearheading this effort, called “Fixing the Hole in Our Democracy: Statehood and D.C. Voting Rights”. Learn “How the District of Columbia is Governed in 2016” and “Congressional Intervention the local affairs of the District of Columbia”. And don’t forget to take our quiz to test your knowledge about D.C.! For further information, contact Betsy Lawson at blawson@lwv.org.
October 25, 2016, Muscatine Journal Guest Editorial
Permanent disenfranchisement hurts families and communities
League of Women Voters of Iowa are in the process of registering voters for the upcoming elections.
We do so all year long, but make a special effort for Voter Registration Day on Sept. 27 to make the point about how important it is to be involved in the process of electing our officials who make decisions about our daily life.
There are 56,000 Iowans who are not eligible to vote, including one in five African Americans. They are ineligible to vote because of a felony in their past. As League members meet with the public, we often run into individuals who wish to vote but cannot because of their felony conviction. These individuals are permanently blocked from voting, even though they have served their time and completed probation.
Across the country, most states automatically restore voting rights upon completion of a sentence. Only Florida, Kentucky and Iowa permanently deny voting rights to everyone with a felony.
The league was disappointed by this year’s 4-3 Iowa Supreme Court decision in Griffin v. Pate. The Iowa ACLU took up the case of Kelli Jo Griffin, a Montrose mother of four who was convicted of a nonviolent offense in 2008. Griffin was told by her attorney that her voting rights would be restored after she completed probation. This was true in 2008, but Gov. Terry Branstad rescinded this rule on his first day in office in 2011. The change made Griffin — and all other Iowa citizens with a felony conviction — ineligible to vote unless their rights are restored by the governor.
There is a way to get voting rights back, but the process is challenging. The governor reviews applications on a case-by-case basis. Applying costs time and money. The state can take up to six months to review an application. Between 2011 and 2014, an estimated 14,500 people completed a felony sentence, but only 64 had voting rights restored.
It is important to remember that, of the 56,000 disenfranchised individuals in our state, many are raising families, working, paying taxes and trying hard to reintegrate into society. We must be mindful of the consequences our law has for families. Does it not make sense that those who have paid their debt to society, should be reintegrated in the most positive way so they can fully participate in the election process and demonstrate that involvement to their children?
Voting is an activity we do as a family and community.
Lifetime disenfranchisement means that in Iowa’s African-American communities nearly a quarter of adults and many parents are deprived a say in policies affecting schools, taxes, policing and more. It means we are creating a permanent underclass that our officials are free to disregard.
We would also be wise to think of “family focused citizenship.” Children do not learn citizenship only in a school setting, but by the actions and beliefs of their families. Why not let parents act as role models and demonstrate the importance of voting and citizenship? We should give them the chance to discuss political views, their part in the political process and ultimately vote. It makes sense to encourage maximum participation in our political process.
When one thinks about the importance of family citizenship, reintegration of those with a past felony, necessity of connected community belonging, and taxation without representation, it only makes sense to have the Legislature change the law so citizens with a felony conviction can have voting rights restored after serving time and probation.
BONNIE PITZ, of Belle Plaine, is past president of the League of Women Voters of Iowa. Contact: dbpitz@ iowatelecom.net or lwvia.org