December 2018 – Updates from the Chair
Welcome to our December 2018 update about our work on the National Popular Vote. There is much happening at the state and local level — so thank you to everyone who is contributing your time, energy and efforts. Happy holidays to everyone — and all the best for the new year.
2019 Objectives: NPV Education and Expansion of Support
The LWV Florida NPV team has set two objectives for 2019: Educating LWV Members and the General Public and Expanding the Number of NPV Teams
On the educational front, we’ll be encouraging local NPV teams to seize every opportunity to introduce and educate their fellow LWV members and the general public about the National Popular Vote. This will include participation in New Member Orientations, Hot Topics, and Cool Topics within the League. To reach the general public, we are planning presentations to groups interested in learning more about NPV, as well as writing letters to the editor and communicating through social media outlets.
Expanding the number of NPV teams is critical to our state-wide efforts so that all 29 leagues in Florida eventually have NPV teams. Additionally, we want those NPV teams with only 3 – 4 members to expand to 8 – 10. A larger number will enable us to communicate to more people within their communities.
To support these objectives, we held biweekly educational webinars this fall for our Local NPV Chairs (formerly called LLPs or Local League Partners) on topics such as deep dives into NPV, how to handle thorny questions, public relations tools and techniques and making effective presentations. All materials relating to communicating about NPV are housed on the LWVFL website under National Popular Vote, where we have information available to the public (see the accompanying image below as an example of what’s there), as well as information for members only on a protected section of the site. Please visit us at: https://www.lwvfl.org/issue/npv/
2020: Making NPV a LWVFL Legislative Priority
Our educational and expansion work in 2019 will prepare us for 2020 when we will turn our attention to the Florida legislature and work to get NPV heard in several committees, with the goal of having it sent to the floor for discussion (and eventual passage). To do this, we will need to make sure that NPV is one of Florida’s top legislative priorities for 2020. This will entail working with the 29 League Boards to make sure that NPV is forwarded as a priority to the LWVFL Board in late fall of 2019. Additionally, we will need to meet with all the members of the key committees to which NPV bills have been referred to get their support so that the bills are heard, voted, and referred for floor consideration. Finally, all 160 members of the Florida legislature will receive visits from our teams to learn about NPV and why its passage would be a very good move for Florida.
New NPV Florida Team Members
Two new LWV members have joined our NPV Florida leadership team. Kim Lansing will be assuming the role as Social Media Coordinator. After retiring from her nursing career, she worked as the volunteer coordinator and Social Media Coordinator for the Palm Health Foundation here in Palm Beach County. Impressed by the LWV’s Voter Guide, she had been eager to join the League and found NPV to be her niche.
Marcia Herman is known to many, especially in Palm Beach County, because she was the Speakers’ Bureau Coordinator this fall during the very busy Florida Constitutional Amendments. A relatively new member of the League, Marcia has a long history of volunteering, most notably with the National Education Association and welcomed the opportunity to join put her skills to work. She has also worked in management for Lowe’s in Colorado. She will take over Bonnie Greenberg’s role as Coordinator of the NPV Local Chairs and will also continue in her role as head of Palm Beach Speakers’ Bureau.
In addition to biweekly calls, the NPV Florida NPV team has held several meetings, most recently to set strategy for 2019 — and to introduce our new team members.
Attending the leadership meeting are standing, Helen Ostrowski, Marcia Herman, and Kim Lansing; sitting, Cynthia Archbold and Kathleen Crampton.
NPV Workshop on Friday, January 18 from 1:00 to 4:00
NPV will be holding a Workshop on Friday, January 18 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm prior to the beginning of the LWV’s annual Leadership Conference which starts on Friday, January 18 at 5:00 pm through Saturday, January 19. The Workshop and Conference will be held at the Doubletree Downtown Hotel in Orlando about a block from the new LWVFL offices. The workshop will begin with a lunch (salad/sandwiches) at 1:00, followed by an NPV educational session featuring a review of the NPV PowerPoint Presentation, the NPV Quiz, small group discussions, and some role-playing.
This workshop will be open to anyone attending the Leadership Conference who is interested in learning more about NPV. If you want to attend this workshop, please click here to register.
St. Petersburg Professionals Get the Lowdown on NPV
In October, NPV FL team member Deb Mazzaferro made a presentation about NPV to the Academy of Senior Professionals at Eckerd College (ASPEC) in St Petersburg. She started by asking, “Who thinks we should elect the president by popular vote?”. About 2/3 raised their hands. Then she asked, “Who thinks we should preserve the Electoral System?”. The other 1/3 indicated their preference. This is the same ratio we see in our national and state-wide polls. She then started her lecture with, “Well, this does both!” About 60 people attended.
NPV HOT TOPIC in Freezing Tallahassee
Despite a very cold November day in northern Florida, NPV turned out to be a HOT topic at the LWV’s monthly luncheon. Hosted by Teri Cleeland, President of the Tallahassee League, she introduced Kathleen Crampton whose NPV generated a lot of lively discussion with the audience asking plenty of questions. With over 50 in attendance, all were totally engaged in understanding how NPV would work — and wondered why they had never heard of it. Trish Neeley, NPV Coordinator, and Steve Carter, a member of the NPV Tallahassee team, managed the event.