Since we formally organized in 2020, the League of Women Voters has strengthened our community by:

·        providing voter forums with candidates for public offices;

·        instituting an Observer Corps to inform the community about the activities of the Board of Education;

·        introducing our new representative on the State Board of Education; and

·        helping voters with registration and vote-by-mail procedures.

As we prepare for a critical August election and for municipal and school board elections in November, the work of the League is more important than ever. Please join us on Tuesday, June 6, as we elect new officers and chart a course to promote citizen involvement and educate voters.

The post Local League of Women Voters meeting Tues. June 6 first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

Jackson, of Solon, was elected in November in the newly-defined District 10, which for the first time includes all four municipalities within the Bedford City School District. Four members of the local school board attended the forum, which drew residents of the Bedford, Brecksville-Broadview Heights, Solon, and Twinsburg school districts.

The Southeast Chapter, formally organized in 2020, is used to sponsoring voter forums, where voters meet candidates for election. For the chapter’s first community forum, the meeting followed the same procedure used at voter forums, in which attendees submit written questions to be put to the speaker by a moderator.

The dialogue covered a range of topics including student testing, the ongoing search for a State Superintendent to fill a two-year vacancy, attempts to reduce the authority of the mostly-elected State Board of Education, school vouchers, and pressures on local school boards.

Attendees indicated that this sort of meeting was valuable for the community and that the chapter should consider hosting similar forums in the future.

The Southeast Chapter is a nonpartisan resource for voters in the southeastern Cuyahoga County communities of Bedford, Bedford Heights, Oakwood Village, and Walton Hills, which together make up the Bedford City School District.

The national League (LWVUS) is one of the most prominent voter rights organizations in the United States. The League traces its roots to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which was instrumental in the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, granting voting rights to women. Although its name continues the League’s link to its historic origins, the League welcomes both men and women as members and leaders.

Residents interested in membership or more information are encouraged to email the Southeast Chapter at southeast@lwvgreatercleveland.org.

The post Rep. Jackson from State Board featured at Voters League community forum first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

The meeting will be held as a Zoom videoconference. Members of the public are welcome to attend as nonvoting guests and can get the online meeting credentials by sending an email to southeast@lwvgreatercleveland.org.

The chapter is a nonpartisan resource for voters in the southeastern Cuyahoga County communities of Bedford, Bedford Heights, Oakwood Village, and Walton Hills. The chapter’s debut activity was a voter forum with Bedford School Board candidates in 2019. Last fall, the chapter hosted voter forums with candidates for Bedford School Board and Bedford Heights City Council and participated in a voter forum hosted by the Walton Hills Citizens League.

The national League (LWVUS) is one of the most prominent voter rights organizations in the United States. The League traces its roots to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which was instrumental in the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, granting voting rights to women. Although its name continues the League’s link to its historic origins, the League welcomes both men and women as members and leaders.

The Ohio League (LWVO) has been an active leader in supporting voter rights, and was one of the organizations behind the 2015 and 2018 constitutional amendments to outlaw gerrymandering of Ohio General Assembly and US Congressional districts.

The Southeast Chapter is the newest chapter within the Greater Cleveland League (LWVGC), which serves voters in Cuyahoga County.

The post Southeast League of Women Voters prepares for winter meeting first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

As a resident of the community served by the Southeast Chapter of the League of Women Voters, you are invited to attend the chapter’s first annual meeting. This meeting will hear updates on the Chapter’s activities since its organizational meeting in August 2020 and will elect officers for the 2020-21 term.

The chapter represents the League of Women Voters in the communities making up the Bedford City School District: Bedford, Bedford Heights, Oakwood, and Walton Hills. The chapter’s first activity was a voter forum with the Bedford Board of Education candidates in October 2019, and the chapter formally organized and was admitted by the Greater Cleveland League of Women Voters in August last year.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 10, using Zoom videoconferencing. Non-members are welcome to attend as non-voting guests. Interested citizens can join the League and qualify to vote by going to www.lwvgreatercleveland.org/join.

Join us at https://zoom.us/j/91170954270
or at https://zoom.us/, using the Meeting ID 911 7095 4270.

Sincerely,
Donna Stevens and Bill Lavezzi, Co-chairs

Southeast League of Women Voters
southeast@lwvgreatercleveland.org

The post Area League of Women Voters invites residents to attend update meeting first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

For about 90 minutes, incumbent candidates Joseph V. Mestnik and Barbara Patterson, of Oakwood, and challenger Eva Boyington, of Bedford Heights, made opening and closing statements and answered questions.

The candidate forum followed the system used by the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland, which served as the main sponsor of the forum. Attendees wrote questions on index cards provided by volunteers; pages took the questions to a table of screeners who consolidated and organized questions, and the screeners then passed the questions to a moderator. The moderator, Susan Murnane, a past president of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland, then put the questions to the candidates.

The audience showed appreciation for this opportunity to learn about the candidates. At one point in the evening, a misunderstanding about the ending time led to an announcement that the next question would be the last; when Murnane corrected that to say that there would be another 30 minutes of questions, she received applause from the audience, which kept up a steady stream of questions throughout the evening. Asked at the end whether they believed this type of forum would be useful in future elections, the audience responded again with applause.

Now in its hundredth year, the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization supporting citizenship activities. With the League as principal sponsor, the event was co-sponsored by the Bedford Council of PTAs, the Friends of the Southeast Library, and the HHL Chapter of the American Association of University Women.

Election Day is November 5, and mail voting has already begun.

The post School Board candidates answer questions from voters at forum first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.