League of Women Voters of Klamath County
Empowering Voters in Klamath County!
The League of Women Voters puts itself on display for the cause! Our goal is to inform voters of their rights and responsibilities, to make them good citizens. We support the League’s Vote411, Think Before you Ink, our voters’ guide, and our new banner!
We’re also at the library. Thanks to our President and Treasurer for arranging this display.
Our poster will soon appear across Main Street for two weeks!
From the LWV US:
The leaders we elect make decisions that affect our daily lives. Elections are our chance to stand up for what matters most to us and to have an impact on the issues that affect us, our communities, our families and our future.
Increased accessibility to the electoral process is integral to ensuring that every American can exercise their right to vote. Leagues across the United States work year-round to promote pro-voter reforms that both preserve our existing rights and provide flexibility for casting ballots in order to be inclusive of historically underserved communities.
While we have made progress in expanding voter access, many people still face disproportionate challenges to participate in elections due to factors including health, age, race, and gender. Our democracy is strongest when every voice is heard, which is why we strongly advocate for measures to make voting more accessible.
We host hundreds of candidate debates and forums across the country each year and provide straightforward information about candidates and ballot issues. Through print and online resources, including VOTE411.org, we equip voters with essential information about the election process in each state, including polling place hours and locations, ballot information, early or absentee voting rules, voter registration deadlines, ID requirements and more.
The LWV of Minnesota has a good page of information about civil discourse.
Here’s more that the LWV Oregon is doing to protect our elections:
https://www.lwvor.org/think-before-you-ink
ONLY SIGN PETITIONS YOU SUPPORT!
Never sign a petition “just to get it on the ballot so people can vote on it.” Just as voting in primaries has more impact than voting in general elections, signing petitions has more impact than ballot measure voting.
Our board members took this flyer into classrooms (see below) when we recently visited.
We support informed voters, voting, and good citizenship. Part of those include civil discourse, the ability of citizens to disagree respectfully, and still come to agreements on important issues. Towards that end, several members of the LWV Klamath County Board have been visiting high school classes this Spring to speak about civics and citizenship. They developed a 45-minute presentation and hand out materials for both teachers and students.
These are some of the resources we offer to teachers:
LWV of Oregon – Civics Education Curriculum, a Guide to Student Civic Engagement https://www.lwvor.org/mock-election
LWV Washington – Chapter 11: What it Takes to Be a Good Citizen
LWV San Luis Obispo – Civil Discourse Study, 2014, comprehensive one-year study, brochure, checklist, presentation guide, etc. (see pp. 5-8)
LWV San Diego – “Putting Civility into Action,” 2011-12, League interest group and community presentations.
LWV Washington – “Civility in Our Democracy Program,” 2012-2013
LWV California, Suggestions for Engaging and Empowering
This is what students receive:
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A GOOD CITIZEN
Being a good citizen requires striving to develop certain habits of mind and ways of living. To live in an open, democratic society, we have to accept that not everyone will share our beliefs.
We don’t always agree. We are not all alike. That’s OK. Have the courage to change what you can, the serenity to accept what you cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Letting go of winning does not work for sports, BUT, democracy is NOT a sport with winners and losers. We all lose when we can’t find a solution we can live with.
So what contributes to being a good citizen?
Together, we have made A LOT of progress since 1776, from outlawing slavery to extending voting rights to every citizen to becoming one of the most powerful countries on planet Earth.
Charles Schulz, creator of Snoopy said: “I believe that our greatest strength lies always in the protection of our smallest minorities.”
Here are some excellent words of advice from a Common Dreams article (March 6, 2016) by Zoe Weil, entitled “Civil Discourse Leads to Positive Change: Insults Do Not.”
“Ironically, it is when we are not competing to be “right” that we are most likely to have our perspectives adopted by others. Civil discourse isn’t just a better path for living and working together peacefully; it is a better path strategically if we want our ideas to be thoughtfully considered and potentially embraced by others.
If you’re really angry and desperately want positive change, then civil discourse is your best path forward. Venting your anger publicly isn’t only counterproductive, it’s also selfish. It doesn’t serve your greater goal; it only serves your most frustrated self. And given all the terrible, destructive, dangerous things that are happening in our society and the world, we need to harness the energy of our rage for positive purposes and meaningful change.
Civil discourse is a practice. It requires deep commitment (and deep breaths). But it works better than anything else to create the foundation for collaboration toward positive change-making that meets the needs of all stakeholders.”
False information presents an ongoing threat to elections administration. The National Association of Secretaries of State believes that accurate information, when delivered early and by a trusted messenger, can help prevent the spread of false information.
Oregon’s elections are secure. The voting equipment is never connected to the internet. There are no routers connected to the tabulation system and there never have been.
Oregon performs post-election reviews after every election that includes a federal or state-wide contest.
The post-election reviews across the state after the November 3, 2020 general election showed conclusively that the results of the election were accurately reported and certified, as they have since Oregon started conducting these audits in 2008. You can review them here where they are publicly posted for each county.
Oregon law requires random sampling hand counts or risk-limiting audits in all counties following Primary, General, and Special elections. All of Oregon’s 36 county elections officials conducted these reviews, which require hand recounts of ballots, for the 2020 General Elections. All reviews confirmed the certified results.
Forensic audits are not currently a part of conducting elections in Oregon. Although the term “forensic auditing” is widely used and has an accepted definition in fields such as finance and accounting, it does not yet have a uniform definition in regard to elections. In the financial world, forensic audits typically trace issues back to individual transactions or people – this cannot be done in an election, as voters have the right to and expectation of a secret ballot.
Recent efforts in Arizona and Pennsylvania are not fact-finding missions. Rather, they are based on conspiracy theories and designed to keep dangerous lies about the 2020 election alive to justify future attacks on the freedom to vote. As the U.S. Department of Justice recently warned, when election records are not under the control of trusted election officials, there are significant security risks.
For further information on Oregon election laws and post-election procedures:
No. Oregon elections are secure and protected against voter fraud in all but exceedingly rare instances. In 2020, out of millions of votes cast, residents and local elections officials reported 140 instances of potential voter fraud. Of these 140 cases, four cases were referred to the Oregon Department of Justice and two of those are pending resolution.
By comparison, in 2018 there were a total of 84 total reports of voter fraud. Two were referred to the Department of Justice.
A recent review of the vote by mail system by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Office found from 2000-2019 there were approximately 61 million ballots cast. Of those, 38 criminal convictions of voter fraud were obtained. This amounts to a .00006% rate.
We closely monitor our systems for suspicious activity and frequently test for vulnerabilities. Our staff are routinely trained on how to appropriately handle suspicious email and other threats to prevent unauthorized access or tampering.
More specifically, we have programs, policies, and plans in place to address and mitigate security breaches. We work with partners such as: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) to ensure best practices are used to protect our elections and their supporting systems.
We practice Defense in Depth with administrative, technical, and managerial security controls. Layers of security controls provide several ways of monitoring and responding to malicious access attempts to our systems. Any successful access to our system has been reviewed by multiple security checks and verifications.
We routinely perform threat analysis and risk assessments. Assessments are conducted by internal staff as well as contracted third parties. As a result, we continue to improve security processes and protections to maintain secure, private, and accurate election infrastructure.
We use preventative, detection, and response measures including:
Risk and vulnerability management
Network and endpoint security
Continuous monitoring of systems
Incident management and response planning
Routine security training
from– https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/pages/security.aspx
A new law known as the “postmark rule” will ensure that every ballot cast on time gets counted by allowing elections officials to count all ballots postmarked by Election Day, even if they arrive at the elections office up to 7 days later.
What this means:
There will be a March for Women’s Rights on October 8, 2022 at noon here in Klamath Falls. The march is timed to coincide with the nationwide March for Women to be held that date. It is also timed to be just before the election since it is really important that we support candidates who will aggressively fight for us both here in Oregon, and in the US Congress and Senate.
For more information contact:
The main sponsor of this event is Women’s March. They are a non-partisan organization with the stated mission of:
to harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change. Women’s March is a women-led movement providing intersectional education on a diverse range of issues and creating entry points for new grassroots activists & organizers to engage in their local communities through trainings, outreach programs and events. Women’s March is committed to dismantling systems of oppression through nonviolent resistance and building inclusive structures guided by self-determination, dignity and respect.
On the first full day of Donald Trump’s presidency, hundreds of thousands of people crowd into the U.S. capital for the Women’s March on Washington, a massive protest in the nation’s capital aimed largely at the Trump administration and the threat it represented to reproductive, civil and human rights.
At the same time, more than 3 million people in cities across the country and around the world held their own simultaneous protests in a global show of support for the resistance movement. It was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.
The idea of the Women’s March began on the social networking website Facebook the day after the election, when a Hawaii woman named Teresa Shook voiced her opinion that a pro-woman march was needed as a reaction to Trump’s victory. After thousands of women signed up to march, veteran activists and organizers began planning a large-scale event scheduled for January 21, 2017, the day after Inauguration Day.
Leading up to the Women’s March on Washington, the organizers expected some 200,000 people to attend. As it turned out, as many as 500,000 showed up, with buses, trains, airplanes and packed cars ferrying large groups of protesters to the capital from far-flung locations. Many of the marchers donned pink clothing for the occasions, as well as the unofficial uniform of the march: pink knit hats with cat-like ears on top, dubbed “pussy hats” in a nod to Trump’s unfortunate word choice in the 2005 recording.
On the same day, millions more people took part in sister marches held in all 50 states and more than 30 foreign countries, ranging from Antarctica to Zimbabwe. According to later estimates collected by the Washington Post, some 4.1 million people reportedly took part in the various Women’s Marches across the United States, along with around 300,000 worldwide.
The protesters who took part in the various Women’s March events voiced their support for various causes, including women’s and reproductive rights, criminal justice, defense of the environment and the rights of immigrants, Muslims, gay and transgender people and the disabled—all of whom were seen as particularly vulnerable under the new administration.
Rather than a single-day demonstration, the Women’s March organizers and participants intended their protests as the start of a resistance movement. After the march in Washington, D.C., organizations like EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood held workshops designed to encourage civic participation among women, including running for office.
“At 2.6 million strong, Women’s Marches crush expectations,” USA Today, January 22, 2017.
“Shaded pink, women’s protest fills the streets of downtown L.A.,” Los Angeles Times, January 22, 2017.
“This is what we learned by counting the women’s marches,” Washington Post, February 7, 2017.
The March, Women’s March website.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/creating-icons/women%E2%80%99s-march-2017
| Our Children’s Trust has exciting news to share: “YOUTH v GOV” – the independent feature-length, award-winning documentary by acclaimed Director Christi Cooper, Barrelmaker Productions, and Vulcan Productions about their federal case, Juliana v. United States – will begin streaming globally on Netflix starting April 29th! This is an incredible opportunity to watch the story of the Juliana 21 and their critical climate case, all around the world! |
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| Image courtesy of Barrelmaker Productions |
| Watch the trailer on the film’s website here! The global release of this film – streaming in over 30 languages worldwide – will be the first opportunity millions of people around the world will have to see the stories of these brave young Americans. For millions around the world, it will be their first time hearing about this landmark climate case. And it will be the first time they learn about Our Children’s Trust and the critical work they do to help young climate leaders secure their legal rights to a safe climate. Every person who sees the film can become an ally, an advocate, and a voice speaking out alongside and in support of the Juliana youth. The plaintiffs await a court decision that, if favorable, could soon put them back on the path to trial. Tell others to watch it too! Share the film with everyone you know: friends, family, neighbors, co-workers.  |
Get Ready to Watch! One of the simplest but most powerful actions members of our community can take to support these young climate leaders in this moment is to watch the film and share it with others. Help spread the word so that people around the world learn about their case and the durable, sustainable solution to the accelerating climate crisis that these young people are seeking in our courts. |
State and local Leagues, and individual League members, have a critical role to play in helping to limit future climate change and protect the planet.
The League is calling for prompt action to cut this country’s GHG emissions, invest in a clean energy economy, and help the world’s poorest countries tackle the challenges of climate change.
The League believes that climate change is a serious threat facing our nation and planet. The League believes that an international approach to combating climate change — including through energy conservation, air pollution controls, building resilience, and promotion of renewable resources — is necessary to protect public health and defend the overall integrity of the global ecosystem. The League supports climate goals and policies that are consistent with the best available climate science and that will ensure a stable climate system for future generations. Individuals, communities, and governments must continue to address this issue, while considering the ramifications of their decisions, at all levels — local, state, regional, national, and global.
It has been 101 years since women won the right to vote in America. Today, women are still powering our democracy.
In the wake of the 2020 Presidential Election, the right to vote is in a vulnerable state, with new barriers popping up every week. Defending our democracy requires renewed investment from individuals and corporations alike.
This panel discussion featured voices and perspectives of the League of Women Voters, SuperMajority, LULAC, and Black Voters Matter, organizations working to build more trust in our elections, grow our electorate with equity, and create fairness for voter access. We covered the intersection of gender and race in the voting rights movement, fighting deliberate barriers to voting, and how to build community power, dismantle disinformation, and get out the vote in 2022.
Panelists included:
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2022/03/22/womens-history-month-2022-inspiring-trailblazers-quotes
We would like to bring to your attention to the following information in the hopes of increasing awareness of Oregon gun violence prevention efforts.
There are two initiatives, IP 17 and 18 currently circulating for the 2022 General Election to reduce gun violence. Since the League has a policy of not taking a stand on initiatives before they reach the ballot, consider the following to be information only and not an official League endorsement.
The petitions are sponsored by the faith-based coalition Lift Every Voice Oregon and supported by a cadre of organizations and volunteers from across the state:
The League of Women Voters holds positions on gun safety. Thus the Oregon efforts tie in to national focus on this matter.
Here’s an example of league action on gun control. On November 3rd, 2021, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen, marking one of the first times that the Supreme Court addressed the scope of the Second Amendment since 2008. In September 2021, LWVUS, alongside the Leagues of Women Voters of New York and Florida, filed an amicus brief in this case.
The amicus brief argued that the New York law is in line with the types of regulations that are allowed under the Second Amendment because it protects the safety of the electoral process.
There is a long history of firearms being used to intimidate voters, especially voters of color. One Supreme Court Justice concluded that since the beginning of Reconstruction, there has been a “coordinated [system] of intimidation and violence” against voters of color. This history has continued with the wave of voter intimidation in the past few elections.
Throughout this history of attempts to intimidate voters, the League has fought to secure the safety of election sites. One example is during the 2020 election, when the League fought to protect voters from violence at polling locations in Council on American-Islamic Relations of Minnesota (CAIR-MN) v Atlas Aegis. In this case, a private, armed mercenary organization was hired to monitor various polling sites to prevent “voter fraud.” A federal district court judge blocked the organization from deploying members to intimidate voters and issued a five-year consent decree that prevented actions like this from happening in the future.
Empirical evidence also shows that guns increase the likelihood of violence during disagreements, and as our amicus brief points out, “conflicts arise at every phase of the electoral process — between voters who support opposing candidates, between protesters and counter-protesters at politically charged rallies, or with election officials counting votes — voters frightful of mixing guns with unrest may limit voting-related activity or even sit out of the electoral process entirely.”
Ensuring the safety of the elections and the public’s safety while exercising their right to vote is critical. Laws like the ones that have been passed in New York are meant to ensure states and localities have the flexibility and freedom to create laws and regulations that best suit the needs of their communities while protecting the safety of sensitive areas like polling locations.
LWV will continue to support laws that protect and empower Americans within both our democratic system and daily life.
The League of Women Voters works with the Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action.
HERE is an example of their recent report on prevention of gun violence.
Join us for a community discussion led by Alisa Harvey to deepen our understanding of American democracy. The topic we will explore is Martin Luther King and the Voting Rights Act. This has particular resonance today.
Ms. Harvey will use the Harvard Case Study Method, which is an interactive teaching style that will be new to many of us.
Using this method, we will see the events as they unfolded in real-time. “The intention behind teaching these cases is to help students and the community recognize the importance of being engaged, and encouraging public discourse on these critical issues with historical knowledge as people make decisions with regard to voting,” Ms. Harvey says. Students and community members will think about the legacy of equality efforts in America and make connections to contemporary rights and protest movements.
To attend the event, pre-registration is required using the link: http://lwvor.org/oregoncivics/
The 20-page case study and questions will be emailed to participants upon registration prior to the event to allow time for study and to formulate answers to discussion questions in advance.
Ms. Harvey was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oregon to train on the Harvard Case Study method in Boston with Harvard Professor David Moss. She applied the method in her classes this past school year and will now give the community the opportunity to take part in a case study.
Join us Thursday, August 20th at 7:00pm via Zoom. Please register at http://lwvor.org/oregoncivics/ far enough in advance to study the material before the meeting.
For more information, see HERE.
On Tuesday August 18, 2020, at 11 AM, the LWV Klamath Falls participated in one final commemoration ceremony to honor the 100th anniversary of the LWV and the passage of the 19th amendment, gaining women the right to vote. Two trees recently planted were joined by a new bench with a plaque on it. The tree and bench are located on the Klamath Wingwatchers trail, located near the Visitor Center at 205 Riverside Drive on the west side of Highway 97.
It took the prompting of a mother to her son to help ratify the 19th Amendment on Aug. 18, 1920, clearing the way for voting rights for many women whose efforts to attain it had spanned decades.
That day, State Rep. Harry T. Burn’s vote garnered the two-thirds majority needed to make the 19th Amendment official. Many, mostly white women could officially vote eight days later.
To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the ratification, League of Women Voters of Klamath County charted their own path down the Ken Hay Nature Trail on Tuesday, where they celebrated 100 years of voting rights, commemorated the efforts that led to the ratification, and shared about the struggles that remain in the pursuit of voting.
The event is the third piece of what has been a year-long effort to mark 100 years of women earning the right to vote. Other pieces included a dramatic play and the book “Timeless Recipes: The Great Fight to win the Vote for Klamath County.”
Klamath Falls Mayor Carol Westfall, dressed in Suffrage purple and gold, marveled at the actions of Burns and his fellow legislators, and all the women who helped pave the way to the vote.
“It really changed the course of this nation,” she said.
Westfall was one of about 20 attendees, including founding members of the League of Women Voters of Klamath County, to join the walk along the portion of the Klamath Wingwatcher’s Lake Ewauna Nature Trail. Many dressed in hats, and/or carried signage that reflected the time period of Suffrage Movement and that still resonates today: “Votes for Women,” “Equality for Women,” and “Voting is a right.”
Leslie Lowe, longtime treasurer and member of League Women Voters of Klamath County, emphasized the long history of securing a woman’s right to vote dates back further than the centennial anniversary.
“It’s really important to remember that that the fight to get the right to vote and actually be able to cast that vote has gone on since before the Declaration of Independence,” Lowe said. “It’s not just history, it’s alive today.”
Women in Klamath County had been able to vote since Nov. 5, 1912, when Klamath County men voted in favor 919-688.
Joan Balin Staunton, one of two surviving founding League of Women Voters founding members present, also helped start the Klamath County chapter in 1976 after moving to Klamath Falls from Federal Way, Washington.
Anita Ward, also a founding member, attended the event as well.
Staunton said both saw the chapter actively help institute Kindergarten in Klamath County before it became a statewide requirement.n She recalled efforts to get people registered to vote at grocery stores in town.
Staunton encourages women to take leadership roles and participate in the community.
“It’s so important for women to be active,” Staunton said.
Heather Tramp, executive director of Klamath County Chamber of Commerce, said that from an early age, her great-grandmother instilled in her the importance of voting.
Tramp said her great-grandmother grew up during a time when women could not vote and the impact of that has not been lost on her.
“I’m thankful for the women and the men that stepped up and got us that right,” Tramp said. “That led me to a lifelong passion for being involved at our local, our state level, and our federal level.
Gutierrez, who also spoke at an event celebrating the centennial on Feb. 9, emphasized that “women earned the right to vote.”
Gutierrez called the period that lead up to the ratification one of the “darkest” periods of history, in part due to hunger strikes and oppression toward women who took part in the Suffrage Movement.
“Women went to jail for this cause,” Gutierrez said.
“Timeless Recipes: The Great Fight to win the Vote for Klamath County,” the 100th Anniversary cookbook and history lesson elaborates, describing the experiences of women who fought for voting rights:
“They picketed for the right to vote, were put in jail, and some declared insane. Jail guards grabbed, dragged, beat, choked, slammed, pinched, twisted, and kicked the women, with no consequences to the guards.”
Lowe emphasized than in 1920 and beyond, despite having the technical right to vote, women of color still had many barriers between them and the polls.
“Although they had the right to vote, they didn’t have the opportunity to vote because of poll taxes and a whole variety of ways that they were kept from the polls,” said Leslie Lowe, treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Klamath County, “Until the Civil Rights Act of 1965, and here we are today, 55 years later, and we’re still dealing with the same oppression.”
Emily Strauss, president of the League of Women Voters of Klamath County, spoke of additional barriers to voters on behalf of Diane Shockey, who served the past year as chair of a committee to organize the centennial celebrations. Shockey is dealing with COVID-19 and is expected to recover, according to Strauss.
Klamath Wingwatchers has developed a 2.5 mile trail along the western shore of Lake Ewauna and on both sides of Highway 97 as it enters into downtown Klamath Falls. Along this trail, Wingwatchers planted over 1500 trees, shrubs, and other plants that provide shelter and food for the many species of wildlife that utilize the area. Picnic tables and benches, information kiosks, and signage enhance the walking experience. Pets are welcome so long as they are leashed and owners use poop bags, which are provided at the start of each trail. Licensed bicycles are permitted so long as the rider is respectful of pedestrians. Brochures at the head of each trail tell about native plants and the trail. Here is our interpretive guide. Here is our native plants brochure.
Election security and the ability to vote by mail or remotely instead of at a polling place has become a major question for the 2020 general election.Of course Oregon has had mail-in only ballots since 1998. Now other states will look at Oregon’s system to learn some best practices.
Oregon’s Vote-by-Mail is secure and accurate. It protects voter privacy. Plus, it has many security features to prevent fraud and election interference.
This video is about Election Security with the Vote-by-Mail process in Oregon. It shows the many safeguards that are used to ensure that all votes are counted accurately, that the election process is secure from interference and fraud, and that the privacy of all voters is protected. Elections Director Tim Scott explains how Oregon’s vote-by-mail process works with slides and videos. He also answers audience questions about the incidence of fraud, voter suppression and the security of vote-counting in other states.
