News Clips

"The League of Women Voters of Hawaii is calling on the Hawaii State Legislature to take steps to remedy problems in voting operations that surfaced in the 2012 elections."

"...Rep. Darryl Rouson announced Wednesday he will submit a bill to expand early voting in response to long lines and delays in Florida's vote counting during last week's election."

"Public outrage is on the rise after more information about the Office of Elections management failures on General Election Day is documented. Hundreds of people at 24 precincts around Oahu waited as long as three hours to vote because of ballot shortages. In some cases, people left without voting because they could not wait."

"Amid it all, voters showed they were, indeed, undeterred, and, in the words of Elizabeth MacNamara, president of the U.S. League of Women Voters, 'The determination of voters came despite antics in Florida and Ohio to shorten voting hours, incorrect signage at Pennsylvania polling sites suggesting photo ID was required, poor election preparation causing long lines, and an onslaught of subversive robocalls intent on misdirecting voters.'"

"As a member of the League of Women Voters for most of her adult life, Betty Lou Nault is committed to providing people with solid information about political candidates and issues and encouraging them to vote. ... Nault has been president of the La Porte County League of Women Voters since 1999 and said that it is one of Indiana’s oldest League chapters."

"As the State Journal noted in an article last Thursday, voter turnout in Dane County [OH] was almost 10 percent higher than in the state as a whole. ... Some of the credit should go to local public officials who worked to enable voters to register and vote with a minimum of paperwork and hassle. ... The Dane County executive and clerk, and Fitchburg city clerk, collaborated with the League of Women Voters in July to train citizens to help voters register."

"The League of Women Voters of Watertown [MA] would like to commend the many citizens of Watertown who came out to vote in the election of November 6, 2012. ... We would also like to praise all those who worked very hard on the election: those in the Town Clerk's office, the election commissioners, the poll workers and the police who helped them. All these people made sure the election went smoothly."

"A week after Florida's electoral system melted down, there is growing consensus that the state must reform its election laws to avoid similar problems in the future. ... Meanwhile, civic and political activists have promised to pressure lawmakers until they rescind the 2011 changes. Led by the Florida League of Women Voters, the group on Tuesday urged the formation of a task force to identify and eliminate hurdles to voting."

"The Supreme Court said Friday that it would consider a challenge from several Southern states to the Voting Rights Act, setting up another landmark clash over federal power and the legacy of discrimination. ... 'The Voting Rights Act is an essential part of American democracy,' League of Women Voters President Elisabeth MacNamara declared Friday. The thought that the Supreme Court might overrule Congress and take away voting rights should send a chill down the spine of every American.'”

"Tina Merlitti, who heads up the League of Women Voters of the Akron Area and is a former Akron councilwoman, was an observer on behalf of the state Issue 2 campaign at Callis Tower in Akron, a single-precinct polling location... Merlitti said the biggest problem she saw at the polling place was voters who had moved and weren’t sure where they needed to vote. ... 'Often the people were supposed to vote there,' she said. 'We would look it up for them and then take them back to the judge — the one checking voters in — and say, ‘They’re supposed to vote here.’ They would then give them a provisional ballot. After it happened a couple of times, they would send them to us to have us look it up for them.'”