Hi All,
Happy Voting! I hope you all have a plan for how you will be voting for the Primaries and are asking people you come into contact with if they have voted yet or have a plan to do so. I did that today with my small tennis group and got all noncommittal answers. But it put the thought in their heads if nothing else.
If you hear of any issues anyone has with voting, please share it with me at least. Even if they can't be resolved for Primary voting, it will help us see how the General Election might go and prepare us to deal with some issues that may arise then.
Suzanne Taylor
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Natural Resources Committee
Susan Little & Maureen Rupe
Co-Chairs | | | UPCOMING "HOT TOPIC"
ROCKETS AWAY!!
RISK & REWARDS OF INCREASED ROCKET LAUNCHES
ON THE SPACE COAST
September 10, 2022
1:30-3 PM
PANELISTS
Laurilee Thompson
a fifth generation Floridian who has always championed the sustainable use of our natural resources
Dale Ketchum of Space Florida
who has worked in and around the space industry for 40 years,
both in the private sector and for the government
Dr. Al Koller
who has worked for the aerospace industry for 63 years,
including as a member of the Von Braun rocket team.
The panelists will provide an overview first with a discussion period afterward.
Please bring all your concerns or questions about the impact this growing industry could have on life in Brevard County.
There will be light refreshments.
Watch our website at www.lwv-space.org to sign up.
Questions? Contact Susan Little.
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Voter Services Committee
Suzanne Taylor, Chair | | | Want to help register people to vote? Watch the website's calendar to learn about dates and times as well as sign up. Questions? Call Suzanne Taylor.
___________________________________________________________
REMEBER TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARY!!!
Early Voting August 13-20
Primary Election Day August 23
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Observer Corps
Deb Clark, Chair | | | |
GOAL
ADD THREE MORE OBSERVERS
TO THE OBSERVER CORPS
BY AUGUST 31 | | | Observer Corps Needs You!
The League of Women Voters of the Space Coast Observer Corps is seeking three new observer volunteers by the end of August.
An observer is an individual who
attends a governmental meeting,
notes what happens at the meeting, and.
reports back to the League by filling out a simple questionnaire.
It takes a few hours a month, at the most.
Learn about the issues facing our community
and see how those issues are being addressed.
Let our elected and appointed officials know
that someone is watching
what decisions are being made and how they are making them.
Your presence helps ensure that the issues facing our community are addressed
in the sunshine, in the open,
which promotes and ensures a healthy democracy.
Meetings can be attended in person or watched on video, if available
(and many of our local meetings are).
You can even team up with one or more other observers
to take turns covering meetings for a particular legislative body.
Contact Deb Clark at deb@debclark.net to sign up!
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Education Committee
Hilah Mercer, Chair | | | Support Our Public Schools
Following is the League of Women Voters of Florida’s Education Action Team’s overarching Mission Statement: Support a free PUBLIC secular education system in Florida with high standards for student achievement, and with equality of educational opportunity for all, that is financed adequately by the state through an equitable funding formula.
The top two priority items for our local League’s Education Committee are:
Promote civics and citizen education for all K – 12 students in Brevard Public Schools.
Support Brevard Public School educators and employees, including constructive, not
adversarial, involvement of families, to enable the delivery of high-quality
education for all students.
To demonstrate our support for Brevard Public Schools (BPS), the LWV-SC Education Committee plans to have as many members as possible attend as many of the BPS Board meetings as possible this school year. Students return to school this week! In addition, the BPS Board had its first meeting of the new school year on Tuesday, August 9th. Eight (8) LWVSC members attended the meeting... many in our new bright blue t-shirts! Topics covered at the School Board Meeting include
- Superintendent's Report on Readiness for the School Year;
- Status of Media Centers, Classroom Libraries and Book Fairs; and,
- Attempts to Address Teacher and Staff Shortages.
The dates for the remaining BPS Board meetings for this calendar year are Sept. 8, Sept. 20, Oct 11, Oct. 25, Nov. 22 (10:00 a.m. for organization of the board/oath of office) and Dec. 13. All meetings take place at the Educational School Facilities (ESF) 2700 Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, FL and start at 5:30 p.m. (except for the Nov. 22 meeting). We want the Board and the audience to know that the LWV-SC supports Brevard’s public schools. We plan to arrive by 5:00 to get a seat. Those who have League t-shirts and/or name tags are asked to wear them. If you do not have a t-shirt or name tag, please don’t let that stop you from joining us. Hope you will join us!
League Representative Spoke at 2022-23 Secondary Leading and Learning Conference
At the invitation of Jennifer Jolley, BPS Social Studies Content Area Specialist Grades 7 – 12, League members presented the Speakers Bureau presentation: Your Voice, Your Power, Your Vote! at the 2022-23 Secondary Leading and Learning Conference held at Viera High School. Over 50 teachers attended and were encouraged to use the League as a resource in their classrooms.
BPS School Board Elections
The 2022 primary elections in Brevard County will be held on August 23, 2022, with the general election following on November 8th. More information is available at www.votebrevard.gov. Three (3) of the five (5) seats on the BPS School Board are up for reelection this year. Two, potentially three, of those seats will be decided on August 23rd.
- District 1, in the northern part of the county, has candidates Misty Belford (incumbent) and Megan Wright.
- District 2, in the central part of the county, has candidates Erin Dunne, Courtney Lewis, Shawn Overdorf, and Gene Trent. The incumbent in District 2, Cheryl McDougall, is not running for re-election.
- District 5, in the southern section of our county, has candidates Katye Campbell (incumbent) and Kim Hough.
School board races are nonpartisan. Brevard County does not have at-large school board races. Only the voters residing in the specified district may vote in that race.
We are asking any members who reside in districts with upcoming school board elections to please educate themselves regarding the candidates and VOTE. Earlier, the League held recorded school board candidate forums in conjunction with FL Today. If only one candidate participated, the League withdrew its name from the forum to avoid partiality. On August 2, 2022, FL TODAY newspaper ran a detailed article about the school board candidates. It provided the names of supporters and the major campaign donors to date of each candidate.
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GOAL
LWVSC MEMBERS
ATTEND SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS
TO SHOW SUPPORT
OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND STAFF
and
BE INFORMED
ABOUT SCHOOL RELATED ISSUES
| | | BREVARD SCHOOL BOARD MEETING DATES
Sept 8
Sept 20
Oct 11
Oct 25
Nov 22* (10:00 a.m.)
Dec. 13
TIME
GATHERING: 5 PM
LOCATION
Educational School Facilities (ESF)
2700 Fran Jamieson Way
Viera, FL
* for organization of Board/Oath of Office
| International Relations Group | |
International Relations Group
Tuesday, August 16
1:15 pm
Suntree Public Library
Outer Space Policy
Chip Hines will be presenting the program and he promises the program will be out of this world.
Hope to see you there.
Contact MargeeSmith2@gmail.com for more information.
| | | POSTCARDS! POSTCARDS! POSTCARDS! | | 2,911 POSTCARDS SENT
TO YOUNG VOTERS
BEFORE THE PRIMARIES
Who are the "Young Voters"?
- 18-25 year old registered voter
- self-identified race as "Black", "Hispanic" or "mixed"
- did not vote in 2020 election
Where did we get the names?
from the Supervisor of Elections
How many League members and guests participated?
32 people helped with this project! That's teamwork! A HUGE THANKS to all who helped.
How was it funded?
Postage alone cost approximately $1,285.
Funds came from a Young Adult Grant & Our Education Fund
| | |  | | Elaine and Deb show two of the 2,911 cards we sent Young Voters. |  | | Taking a rest from writing! | | |
| GOAL - JOIN THE STATE LEAGUE'S
RETURNING CITIZEN POSTCARD PROJECT
1,000 POSTCARDS
ADDRESSED
ALONG WITH A NOTE
TO RETURNING CITIZENS
Will you join our 32 member postcard writing team?
| | | JOIN OUR NEXT POSTCARD PROJECT...
RELATED TO RESTORATION OF RIGHTS
Our Florida League says "We have been working on the eliminating felony disenfranchisement for many years and the next step in our work is postcarding Floridians that completed their prison time and probation and parole.
The postcards inform people that...
- Amendment 4 has passed so they are eligible to restore their voting rights, and,
- The FL League has pro bono attorneys that can help them review their sentence to see what needs to be done to get their voting rights back.
Prior to addressing postcards along with writing a short note of support, each person will have to watch a brief training video and sign an agreement stating that the data can ONLY be used for this League project and that the statements on the cards will be non-partisan. Finally, as with our last postcard project, our writing team will report back to say their cards are mailed so we can let the FL League know about the status of our card writing effort.
We're going to have another CARDWRITING PARTY as well as individual work but the dates are unclear as of this writing. BUT IF YOU WILL BE A PART OF OUR WRITING TEAM... please let Sue Ebersberger know by sending an e-mail at sueebersberger@comcast.net. | |
Social Justice Committee
Kathy Ebersberger, Chair
| | | GINGER MONDAY
SPEAKS AT SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE MEETING
ABOUT CURRENT ABORTION LAW IN FL
Ginger Monday, co-chair of LWVFL’s Reproductive Health & Justice Committee, spoke at LWVSC’s Social Justice Committee meeting on July 18, 2022. Ginger emphasized that abortion is just one part of reproductive rights.
Ginger stated that although the new 15-week abortion ban passed by the last legislature has been held to violate the right to privacy in the Florida Constitution, it is currently in effect since the decision has been appealed. The 15-week period begins with the start of a woman’s last period. There is also a 24-hour waiting period after a woman’s first healthcare appointment before she can undergo the procedure.
If you would like more information on efforts to keep further restrictions on reproductive rights from being enacted in Florida, consult the following resources.
- Join the LWVFL Reproductive Health & Justice Committee—Meets 2d Monday from 12-1 PM.
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Treasurer
Kathy Ebersberger | | | Ever wonder why our dues are so high?
A number of people at our Focus Groups wondered... and asked that we explain this in a newsletter article. Local leagues send Per Member Payments (PMP) to the National and Florida Leagues to support their work BEFORE they get to retain their share at the Local League. In our League, this means that we get to retain anywhere between 17% to 53% of the dues we colllect to conduct our work in our local community.
So... here's how our 2022 dues break down...
| | INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES
Individual $60.00
LWVUS PMP $32.00
LWVFL PMP $15.00
LWVSC Retains $13.00
_____________________________________
Susan B Anthony
Membership $100.00
LWVUS PMP $32.00
LWVFL PMP $15.00
LWVSC Retains $53.00
______________________________________
TERMS
LWVUS = National League
LWVFL = State League
LWVSC = OUR Local League
PMP = Per Member Payment
| | HOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHIP DUES
Household Membership $85.00
LWVUS PMP $32.00
Add Mbr Nat'l PMP $16.00
LWVFL PMP $15.00
Add Mbr State PMP $7.50
LWVSC Retains $14.50
___________________________________________
Susan B Anthony
Household $125.00
LWVUS PMP $32.00
Add Mbr LWVUS PMP $16.00
LWVFL PMP $15.00
Add Mbr LWVFL PMP $7.50
LWVSC Retains $54.50
| | | HIGHLIGHTS OF QUARTERLY
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Twenty-five (25) members and friends gathered at the Suntree Library for our first face-to-face meeting since July 2021. It was fun to see each other as well as chat about all kinds of things that we're working on.
Many thanks to the DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Committee for a presentation about our League's newly established DEI Plan including the results of our focus groups as well as an interactive discussion about Microaggressions and how we might respond to them differently.
"Microaggressions" are comments or actions that express a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group. These comments MAY or MAY NOT be subtle and often unconscious on the speaker's part, but they separate, put down and discriminate nonetheless. A new form of responding to microaggressions was discussed.
Prior to the meeting, Board Members oriented New Members to the League. New members... and everyone else... are welcome to attend a New Member Orientation. Please contact Sue Ebersberger (e-mail: sueebersberger@comcast.net) if you'd like to attend.
We also gathered food for the Children's Hunger Project. I brought two small boxes to gather the food... but I was surprised by our League's generosity. We collected the following | | 32 Single Servings of Chef Boyardee
24 Chocolate Milk
114 Single servings of Goldfish
84 Breakfast Bars
| | 258 Individual servings of Applesauce
(no added sugar)
93 Fruit in individual containers
72 100% Apple or Fruit Juice | | | |
Thanks for all you did! Many children in our area will have food over the weekend because of your gifts.
Audrey Grayson & Sue Ebersberger
Membership Co-Chairs | | | League Nametags and T-Shirts
For those who ordered a shirt or a nametag
and haven't picked them up yet,
please pick them up.
Call Sue Ebersberger for nametags.
Call Judy DeAngelis-Small for t-shirts.
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UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FRIENDSHIP FELLOWSHIP
INVITATION TO PROGRAMS
Sunday Aug 21
Topic: "Banning Books in Brevard"
Panel discussion (in person) featuring school board member Jennifer Jenkens, high school AP English teacher Adam Tritt and recently retired director of Brevard library services, Jeff Thompson. The panel will discuss the controversial topic of how, why and under what criteria books are being banned in Brevard County.
________________________________________________
Sunday Sept 4th
Topic: "Why Abortion Matters"
Speaker: Dr. Valerie Tarico (via zoom)
Synopsis: We often think of abortion access as a women’s rights issue—freedom from forced childbearing. This is an important conversation: Early Abrahamic texts encode women as reproductive chattel, and fragments of this view are embedded deeply in our culture, even parts that are secular. But the benefits of abortion cascade in many ways through the lives of families and our broader society. With fundamentalism wielding the levers of political power, what can you do to help ensure that prospective parents are empowered to decide when and whether to create a child, and with whom? We all have the power to help create a norm of chosen childbearing and parenthood.
Bio: Valerie Tarico, Ph.D. is a psychologist in Seattle, Washington. Raised in Evangelical fundamentalism, she is author of Trusting Doubt: A former Evangelical looks at old beliefs in a new light. Her articles about fundamentalist religion, the role of women in society, reproductive rights, and contraceptive technologies have appeared across the internet and can be found in her archive at ValerieTarico.com.
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Sep 11
Topic: "Voting Laws and the 2022 Elections"
Speaker: Dr. Terri Fine, UCF (in person)
Synopsis: Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution gives to the state legislatures the power to determine the “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections…” provided that “Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations,…”. In essence, the U.S. Constitution gives to states the power to regulate elections unless a national law is in place that would supersede those state-level regulations.
These state-level powers were exercised in full force in 2021 when 19 states passed 34 laws restricting voting access. As part of these efforts, some bills were introduced that would allow partisan actors to interfere with election processes or reject election outcomes. Other states also acted in their 2022 legislative sessions.
Yet these legislative efforts have been upheld by the courts while President Biden’s support for national-level voting regulations that would limit state election power through the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 did not lead to sufficient congressional support needed for passage as the House voted in favor of the bill while the Senate did not vote on it.
In this presentation, we will discuss this state-national government election law dynamic, giving particular focus on Florida. Discussion will be organized around election law changes passed in Florida since the 2020 election, and the short- and long-term potential and actual impact of those laws.
Bio: Terri Susan Fine, Ph.D. is professor of political science in the School of Politics, Security and International Affairs (SPSIA) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). She also serves as content specialist for the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship and associate director of the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government, both part of SPSIA, in which she takes an active role in Florida’s K-12 civic education efforts, and directs the civics teaching certificate, the only statewide certificate of its kind.
LOCATION: Unitarian Universalist Friendship Fellowship
Fellowship Hall
3115 Fellowship Place
Rockledge FL.
Each lecture, whether the speaker is "in person" or projected on our big screen via zoom,
is followed by a brief inter-denominational service.
More information and directions can be found by googling uuffpspacecoast.
Thanks to the UU Church for inviting us.
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