LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS ORANGE DURHAM CHATHAM COUNTIES
NOTES FROM CHATHAM UNIT VOTER SERVICES PLANNING MEETING
Saturday July 29, 2017
Fourteen people attended the meeting, and everyone volunteered to help out in some way.
DECISIONS/ACTION POINTS ON AGENDA ITEMS
1. Decide where to focus Chatham Unit 2017 voter services activities
The group decided to focus 2017 voter services on Pittsboro and Siler City, since there were no contested races in Goldston. We will revisit this if requested by citizens of Goldston.
2. Based on these decisions, set dates and establish teams whose goals are:
· Organizing voter registration events
· Organizing candidate forums for contested races
· Organizing meet and greets for uncontested races
· Learning how to use VOTE411
Vickie Shea put together a table (reproduced below) of tasks that the Unit will need to do to provide voter services, along with names of Core Team volunteers. The Core Teams are just that—more volunteers will be needed to implement the Unit’s voter services goals.
What / Specific Tasks / Core TeamCoordinator / Coordinate all voter services activities / Vickie Shea
919 545 0024
Board of Elections liaison / Request and share information with BoE as needed / Leona Whichard (co-liaison needed)
Board of Elections observer
corps / 1. Schedule attendance for each meeting
2. Arrange to send bullet-point notes to membership after each Meeting
Candidate forums or
meet & greet / 1. Date(s)
2. Location(s)
3. Invitations: candidates, BoE staff
4. Guidelines
5. Publicity
6. Moderator
7. Time Keeper
8. Greeters/runners
9. Refreshments / Brenda Rogers
919 968-0833
919 608 7384
Ann Triulzi
919 485-9543
Vote 411 / 1. Develop questions
2. Provide questions and log-in information to candidates
3. Provide marketing materials developed by LWVUS so public knows about this resource / Pat McDaniels
919 933-2324
Val Gist
919 533-6728
Voter registration/ information events / 1. Maintain box(es) of materials
2. Identify/obtain permission for locations on specific dates
3. Identify at least one experienced volunteer to oversee each event
4. Train volunteers
5. Provide information for SignUp Genius to match volunteers (experienced and new) to events / Vickie Shea
Ida Ballard
919 314-7159
Susan Buonocore
919 933-0337
Nancy Leroy
919 928-8580
Kathy Kuntzman
919 240-7154
Liaison with ODC Voter Services / Two-way communication of events, information, experiences, and materials / Vickie Shea
Follow-ups from July 29 meeting
Candidate Forums
Anne Triulzi and Brenda Rogers met on July 31 to begin organizing the forums, and followed up to obtain venues and commitments from candidates to participate.
The Pittsboro Municipal Election Forum will be held on October 17 from 6-7:30 PM at the Holmes Room at the Chatham Community Library in Pittsboro. The Siler City Municipal Election Forum will be held on October 3 from 6-7:30 pm at the Siler city Campus of Central Carolina Community College (rooms 230 and 232). The forums will be followed by a meet and greet with refreshments.
Anne Kissel and Mary Kolek have agreed to moderate the forums. Additional volunteers are needed to help with time keeping, greeting/collecting audience questions, and refreshments.
Anne Triulzi will check on the business alliance in Siler City to co-sponsor, and Brenda will contact Greg Lewis in Pittsboro about the business alliance co-sponsoring. We would like to have a flyer that the local businesses would post advertising the event. Also we’d like to post the events on the Chatham Chatlist. We will send information to the ODC media team for getting information to the local papers and community e-mail lists.
Anne Triulzi and Brenda plan to meet again on August 26 at Flair in Governors Village to plan next steps. Please contact them to volunteer to help with the forums.
Voter Registration Training and Events
Vickie Shea will be doing voter registration and information training at her house in Fearrington Village on August 25 and August 29. Please email her to let her know if you would like to attend and get directions.
The Chatham Unit will be doing voter registration events at Pittsboro First Sundays on September 3, October 1, and November 5, and at the Hispanic Heritage Festival in Siler City on September 16, 3-7 pm. Members interested in helping can sign up on the LWVODC web site: newly-trained members will be teamed up with experienced members for voter registration events.
3. Formulate three questions for candidates about issues of particular relevance to Chatham County. These questions will also form the basis of the VOTE411 voter guide for our county.
The team discussed the following questions, which will track questions used in the candidate forums.
· How will Pittsboro accommodate increased population in Chatham County?
· What steps will you take to attract industry to the approved megasite in Siler City?
· How will Siler City improve attractiveness of the gateway to the downtown area?
· What are the major infrastructure needs for your community?
· What will you do to foster community in Pittsboro/Siler City?
· How do you build consensus and mediate conflict?
· What are the biggest issues you see for your community and how will you address them?
Val Gist and Pat McDaniels participated in a VOTE411 training webinar on August 2 and will continue to familiarize themselves with the program.
4. Start organizing the Chatham Unit Fall Kick-Off Event in September, at which Unit members can reconnect and plan for local civic engagement in Chatham Unit activities.
The Chatham Unit Fall Kick-Off Event is set for September 16, 11 am-1 pm at the Chatham Library, Holmes Room. Please save the date for this important meeting.
Our guest speaker will be Representative Robert Reives, who will update Chatham Unit members on redistricting legislation, any anticipated changes to voting laws or courts (slimming/packing), and other serious issues in the NC General Assembly that should be in the public domain.
The business meeting agenda will also include the following items:
· Candidate Forum staffing needs
· Organizing the Chatham County Observer Corps
Pat McDaniels, Vickie Shea, and Jackie Walters are working on the meeting, but we need more help with organizing refreshments, set up, and clean up. An invitation to the Event will be sent to Chatham Unit members soon. The invitation will include a link to Sign-Up Genius to allow you to volunteer to help out with the Event.
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