Our Work in 2023-2024 - CHUH - League of Women Voters Greater Cleveland

HomeOur Work in 2023-2024 - CHUH

Our Work in 2023-2024
Heights (CHUH) Chapter

For the August 8 special election attempting to limit the ability of Ohioans to put special initiatives on the ballot, we got off to a quick start at the University Heights Memorial Day parade with the large Vote NO banner and palm cards. We then attended most of the Wade Oval Wednesday concerts, again with our banner, palm cards, and voter registration information. And for those who prefer a less direct form of interaction, we wrote and mailed some 1,500 postcards to registered voters in NE Ohio. And finally, we spent some afternoons at various county libraries.

For the Reproductive Health Amendment in November, although LWV Ohiio refrained from taking a position on the issue, we freely provided neutral information. We cosponsored the Just the Facts forum with Shaker, helped produce palm cards with the facts of the legislation, and tried to be a presence at various events in the area, including distributing materials to (almost) all of the Cuyahoga County Public Libraries. This felt like the ultimate League role as we sought to educate voters without taking a position on the issue. Since the ballot language and advertising was distorted, the League became seen as a provider of the facts.

We held some 50 voter registration events and worked to inform voters of the changes in voting requirements. One of the more significant opportunities was registering voters at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law orientation for new students. We had to refresh our own understanding of the revised rules in order to advise the students correctly.

We held three election forums – two for candidates in Cleveland Heights and in University Heights, and an information forum for the City Charter rule changes in University Heights. All three forums were fully attended and recorded and posted online.

The Heights Chapter has a robust Observer Corps program with two new observers joining the team this year. Jill Tatem and Blanche Valancy cover the Cleveland Heights City Council, new observer Leah Davydov has joined Marilyn Singer and Tanis Swan in covering the University Heights City Council, new observer Paula Goodwin has joined Rose Fairman in covering the board of education, and Judy Beeler and Betsy Tracy cover the library board.

The council and school board observers have been tracking their volunteer time. Each team has contributed over 100 hours in the past year, roughly four to five hours per meeting, counting watch time.

Although the CHUH Observer Corps has a local outlet for publishing its reports - the Heights Observer, the main purpose of having an observer corps is to make our chapter and its members aware and expert in what is happening in our local governments. In that regard, the program has been immensely successful, making us keenly aware of what is happening in the governance of both cities, the school district, and the public library.These officials express appreciation for the observers and for what LWV does for our communities.

Our observers share their knowledge with other CHUH members at chapter meetings dedicated to reviewing what our observers have learned. This year, we held one meeting in November to discuss the two city councils and a second meeting in April to talk about the school and library boards.

Abridged reports are printed in the monthly Heights Observer; full reports are published in the online Heights Observer and posted on our CHUH chapter webpage at https://lwvgreatercleveland.org/chuh-observer-corps

In addition to printing our observer reports, five additional articles written by our chapter were published by The Heights Observer including: “LWV shares voter information at Memorial Day parade,” “LWV plans fall election forums for Heights’ voters,’’ an advertisement in September for the fall election rorums, a printed voters’ guide in October; and an April article detailing our program supporting democracy’s preservation. We are indeed fortunate to have a local publication that works so closely with us.

We also had educational events. Last June we developed and conducted a training program on Zoom entitled “Forums 101: How to Organize, Plan and Carry Out a Forum” which was attended by twenty League members. It was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube here.

On President’s Day we hosted a community forum at the library: “Preserving Democracy: We Each Have a Role to Play.” We actually encourage Leagues, and other organizations, to host a similar event. We watched the PBS Documentary entitled “A Citizen’s Guide to Preserving Democracy” [https://video.ideastream.org/video/a-citizens-guide-to-preserving-democracy-hcrswk/] – a 52 minute interview of Richard Haass, author of “The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens”, which details each of the ten habits with examples of positive actions people have taken. After watching the video, we broke out into smaller groups to discuss which areas we felt were going well and which areas we might do more work on.

We have had an impact on city government, first by pointing out the need for a review of Cleveland Heights’ (recently revised) city charter, which was not speaking to the change from an appointed to an elected mayor and was creating conflicts over areas of authority in government. We once again conducted preliminary interviews of applicants for an open city council seat. Although open seats are filled by appointment by City Council members, we were asked to conduct the initial interviews, asking questions we thought the community would want asked (in lieu of a voter guide.) The interviews were recorded and are then reviewed by council members who then used them to narrow the pool for the final interviews conducted by council.

In April we participated in our Library Community Partner Days, joining with many other organizations which serve the community. Each organization explained their role, and then organization members were able to talk to each other and find new possibilities for collaboration and problem-solving. It was a good opportunity to broaden our awareness and increase other’s awareness of us.

But it wasn’t all serious work – we also had some fun. In August, following the (rather exhausting) work around the August 8 special election we held an End of Summer Party in the Park, joined by the East Cleveland chapter. Although we had ice cream and games and playground equipment to play on, our members primarily (as always) spent most of the time talking eagerly to each other about what our governments were doing, or needed to be doing, or what we had done, or needed to be doing. The centerpiece of the gathering was people bringing some of their favorite quotes on democracy, which were duly written down on large post-it pads (and have now been compiled in a single document for ongoing use and inspiration.

In January, we had an afternoon tea meet and greet – welcoming new and potential members and sharing volunteer opportunities for people who wanted to be more involved. We heard from two council members who are also members of League and who spoke on the importance of League to the community, not only for our candidate forums but especially for our observer corps who attend public meetings. It was reassuring to hear from them that our presence does make a difference, and we had entirely too much delicious food and beverage to fuel the many conversations taking place.

As this year winds down, we continue to collect signatures for the Citizens: Not Politicians Redistricting Campaign, which will be followed by more voter education and voter registration. It has been such a busy year, but with the many members who have taken leadership roles, and the many members who continue to provide volunteer help, the work has been made manageable and effective. With thanks to Betsy Tracy and Rose Fairman who led Voter Services, Carol Spackey who oversaw Voter Registration, Joan Spoerl and Janice Foster who led Membership and Development, Kathy Petrey and Char Morse who were our secretaries, and Khaliah Fisher-Grace as our treasurer. And of course, to Maryann Barnes, our past chapter chair, head of observers, and indispensable advisor.

If anyone else needs inspiration, this is a quote from “Profiles in Ignorance” by Andy Borowitz: [Eitan] Hersh urges us to dial back our day-to-day surveillance of national politics, roll up our sleeves, and get to work on the local level. Organize. Register people to vote. Get out the vote. Go to town meetings. And, maybe the most challenging task of all: try to change people's minds one voter at a time.

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