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| The Nashville Voter
Volume 75, No 7-- July 2022
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| Welcome to this issue of the LWVN Voter. You'll notice that the Emma page design allows you to access the LWVN Calendar by pressing a button at the top of the page!
Please note, you can increase your screen size within your personal information manager (i.e., Microsoft Outlook). In the Microsoft Outlook Message Bar at the top of the e-mail page, choose "Other Actions'' and then in the dropdown menu choose "Zoom." The Zoom window allows you to increase the file size; try 140% for easier onscreen reading.
Also, please note that if you want to share/forward this newsletter to others, you MUST click on the envelope icon at the upper right side of this emailed version.
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League Events (https://lwvnashville.org/event-calendar/)
August 17th at 1:00pm. League of Women Voters of Williamson County Summer Social (In Person!) at the John P. Holt Brentwood Library Gathering Room. We will discuss ideas on increasing our presence and work in Williamson County. Join us for door prizes and refreshments! Register here: https://brentwood-tn.libcal.com/event/9359978
September 2nd at Noon. Hot Topic: Sidewalks, Trees, & Airbnb’s. Councilwoman Angie Henderson will discuss local policy making in the shadow of the country’s 2nd most pre-emptive state legislature. Stay tuned for registration details.
October 7th at Noon. Hot Topic: Health and Houseless Concerns in Nashville. Healthcare/Public Health Co-Chairs Constance Caldwell and Clare Sullivan will discuss health and houseless concerns in Nashville. Stay tuned for registration details.
Metro Nashville Council Meetings: https://nashville.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
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| When Roe was overturned, it was a shock even though we knew it was coming.
You might be asking yourself what’s next and what can I do to help? That’s where we need you. The Voter Services committee has many voter registration booths planned this summer and into the fall. We know that voting and making sure that people exercise their right to vote is going to be an important step in the effort to restore reproductive rights. If you are interested in helping with the voter registration effort, please contact Beth Gordon at bethgordon524@gmail.com.
Additionally, the Healthcare/Public Health committee has been hard at work monitoring maternal health and reproductive health issues in Tennessee for the past several years. They are poised to help guide our response. We will need to broaden our community partnerships in Nashville and across the state.
Democracy depends on equal rights for all people, and we will keep advocating that these rights be both restored and protected!
President
Lara Webb
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Vote411 by Susan MattsonVOTE411 for the August 4, 2022 Davidson County election is now live at www.VOTE411.org. Check it out to read about the candidates and their positions in their races. Please share the VOTE411 webpage with all your contacts and promote its use.
If there are candidates you know who did not respond, please reach out to them personally and ask them to please respond. Let Susan Mattson know (s.mattson@comcast.net) and she will send them the links to enter their responses.
We have had a 64 percent response rate from the 72 Davidson County candidates in the local General Election and the State Primary election. Response rate is 78 percent for the local election and 35 percent for the State Primary. Response rates for the Governor and US Representative primary races requested by the LWVTN are on the low side too. We would love to get more responses from the State Primary candidates.
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Voter Services by Beth Gordon and Emily Grohs
The Voter Services Committee has been busy registering voters!
In the past few months, registration efforts have been held at:
- Planned Parenthood rally
- Dobbs v. Jackson March
- Maplewood High School
- East Nashville’s Farmers Market
- 12 South’s Sevier Park Market
The committee also presented at a Voter Information Forum with the Davidson County Election Commission at the Bellevue Regional Community Center.
The committee is making plans to register voters at the Madison Farmers Market and with the Caldwell neighborhood group.
If you are interested in helping with voter registration efforts, please contact Beth Gordon at bethgordon524@gmail.com
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Community Connections
By Sabina Mohyuddin and Katelyn Benhoff
The LWVN Community Connections Committee is ramping up our work! Specifically, we’d love your help in getting connected to churches and other faith-based organizations in the area who may be interested in hearing from the League. Board Members can educate groups on any number of topics currently affecting voters - from health care to the environment to the latest Metro Council happenings. Ultimately, we’re interested in building authentic relationships and being a trusted, nonpartisan source of information for interested groups.
If you can help us through making a connection, please email Community Connections Co-Chair Katelyn Benhoff (kmbenhoff@gmail.com) and she’ll happily follow up.
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Health Care/Public Health Committee
By Constance Caldwell and Claire Sullivan
Members of our portfolio committee were extremely upset and saddened by the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. We have committed to assisting the LWV Nashville and Tennessee in assessing the short and longer-term health, social and economic impacts of this decision for Tennessee women, families, children, health providers, social services, educational and judicial systems and in developing an organizational response.
The Nashville Davidson County ballot for the August 4 election contains a Charter Amendment--#3--that we feel will deepen the Department of Health's engagement with the Nashville community.
The Amendment does addresses three important issues:
- Clarifies current and somewhat murky charter language to distinguish that the Board of Health has oversight of the local Department of Health, (not our public hospital which is overseen by a separate Board), and defines the parameters of that oversight;
- Expands the Board of Health to include members of the community who are not also members of the medical profession, and broadens the definition of medical professionals, thereby diversifying the Board's perspectives on public health issues and priorities; and
- Clarifies that the Director of the Department of Health need not be a medical doctor, [opening up a Director candidate pool to persons with a public health, nursing, social work or other degree and experience], but establishes that if the director is not a physician, a physician shall be designated as Medical Director for the Department.
Our committee will also be planning the October Hot Topics program--more to come on that.
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Hot Topics
By Karen Wieckert and Melissa Hanson
The Hot Topic program for August 5th will be an open discussion amongst members. We would like to hear from you about what issues, both locally, state-wide, as well as national and global you would like to learn about this coming year.
Our September and October meetings are scheduled:
September Hot Topic: Sidewalks, Trees, & Airbnbs with Councilwoman Angie Henderson. September 2nd at Noon. Councilwoman Henderson will discuss local policy making in the shadow of the country’s 2nd most pre-emptive state legislature. Stay tuned for registration details.
October Hot Topic: Health and Houseless Concerns in Nashville. October 7th at Noon. Healthcare/Public Health Co-Chairs Constance Caldwell and Clare Sullivan will discuss health and houseless concerns in Nashville. Stay tuned for registration details.
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Environment Committee
By Russanne Buchi-Fotre and Kalen Russell
Elections are coming up August 4th and early voting starts on July 15th.
The need for big congressional action on climate and the Supreme Court’s recent EPA ruling are both examples of why it is so crucial to push climate to the forefront of campaign platforms during this upcoming election season.
The Citizen’s Climate Lobby has identified that the climate movement has a huge voter turn-out problem and has created the Environmental Voter Project whose priority is to get those who are concerned about the climate to get out there and vote. Encouraging environmentalists of all political affiliations to vote is a sure way to make this become a key issue for all parties during this election season.
LET’S GET OUT THE VOTE!
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Metro Council Meeting
By Pat McCauley and Jack McFadden
On 6/21/22, Metro council passed Nashville’s budget, $2.9 billion. Metro Council made some changes to the mayor’s budget:
- Raising the mayor’s 4% pay raise to metro employees to 4.5%.
- $5 million designated to give Metro Nashville Public Schools’ support staff bonuses
- $22.6 million to fund a school budget shortfall. Shortfall is due to state funding cuts due to less enrollment.
Also passed on third reading is an ordinance to create an Office of Homeless Services. This will be a stand-alone department to manage services.
On 7/5/22, Metro council passed a resolution opposing SCOTUS decision in Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization which overturned Roe v Wade. Additionally, a bill to allow the Republican National Committee 2024 convention in Nashville was withdrawn due to lack of votes and concerns about cost and security.
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Membership Committee
By Reba Holmes
Annual Membership Drive
Our annual membership drive continues…
Membership allows you to share a year’s worth of experiences promoting democracy, educating others in the community, participating in political discourse, and registering new voters, to name a few. Plus, the annual membership includes membership to the national, state, and local LWV organizations.
More specifically membership dues support …
- Empowering voters with VOTE411 – a one-stop-shop for nonpartisan election resources, where you can register to vote, find your polling place, look up your ballot, and more.
- Informing voters on ID requirements, registration deadlines, and any changes to local voting laws that will affect them.
- Countering misinformation and disinformation.
We Are Looking For Volunteers
We are thrilled to announce that we have established a Membership Committee to provide guidance during the annual membership drive and develop other vital programs related to membership. We invite you to join the new committee to serve as a communication lead, recruiting lead, social media lead, etc.
Membership Committee Job Description:
- The committee will provide a strategic vision to increase membership, focusing on effective, comprehensive growth, new member integration, and membership retention.
- Develop a program designed to mentor new members, specifically young adult members
- Increase awareness regarding the League throughout our community by working with other portfolio managers to develop a communication and outreach program
- Develop annual renewal implementation procedures, timeline, communication, and follow-up
- Develop a strategy to recruit potential members across various demographics
Work in partnership with other portfolio managers, e.g., Voter Services, Education, Metro Council, etc.
Meeting Schedule: The initial meeting will be held in September via Zoom. We will meet monthly after the first meeting.
If you are interested in serving on the committee please send an email expressing your interest to lwvnash@gmail.com.
Share Your Comments
We want to hear from you. Share your comments regarding why join the League of Women Voters, Protecting Voting Rights, Fairness in Voting, etc. Email your comments to lwvnash@gmail.com.
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Williamson County Update
By Bette Holmes
June 28, LWVWC held a virtual double session WCS School Board Candidate Forum.
Districts 6 & 10 candidates were present at 6 p.m. and Districts 2 & 4 candidates, at 7:30 p.m.
Attendance numbers were 68 for the first segment and 54 for the second. The LWVWC
Facebook recording of the event had 121 viewers and at least two candidates shared it on their own Facebook pages. The LWVWC plans to continue to host candidate forums to encourage greater engagement in the election process.
Coming in August is the LWVWC Summer Social. You are invited to the Brentwood Library Gathering Room Wednesday, August 17th at 1:00 p.m. to become better acquainted with each other IN PERSON! To celebrate this rare in-person event, we will enjoy delectable refreshments with a lucky few winning door prizes. Throughout the event, Steering Committee members will be available for questions and will be interested in hearing ideas from the group about the League of Women Voters’ presence and work in Williamson County.
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Please let us know if there is a death in your family so that the membership may be aware of your loss.
Thank you!
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| Stay Informed about Upcoming Calendar Events!
If you get the electronic version of the Voter, we want you to know that the upcoming calendar events are available on our wonderful, new website – www.lwvnashville.org. On The calendar scrolls on the events of the current and upcoming events thanks to Tracy Depp, who keeps the calendar current. If you haven’t taken a look, do so to make sure you mark your calendar so you won’t miss a thing!
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ATTENTION: The Nashville Voter is a digital publication. If you have received this copy of the Voter in the mail, it means the League of Women Voters of Nashville does not have an e-mail address for you. Please help us by sending your e-mail address to LWVNash@gmail.com. Being on the LWVN e-mail database ensures your receipt of all LWVN newsletters, event invitations, meeting announcements, and Call to Action alerts.
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| 2021-2022 LWVN Board of Directors
Co-Presidents: Madeline Garr and Lara Webb
1st Vice Presidents: Carole Kenner and Karen Weikert
Secretary: Elise Lamar
Treasurer Susan Mattson
Portfolio Chairs
Communications: Ophelia Doe
Community Connections: Sabina Mohyuddin and Kate Benhoff
Education: La'Kisha Harris and Harper-Grace Niedermeyer
Environment: Russanne Buchi-Fotre and Kalen Russell
Fundraising: Anne Marie Farmer
Health Care/Public Health: Constance Caldwell and Clare Sullivan
Membership: Reba Holmes
Metro Government: Pat McCauley and Jack McFadden
Voter Services: Beth Gordon and Emily Grohs
Williamson County Representative: June Bond
Nominating Committee Chair: Senator Brenda Gilmore
Nominating Committee Members: Betsy Walkup, Constance Caldwell, Hasina Mohyuddin, June Bond, and Brenda Wynn
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