Oklahoma Voter. Oklahoma Leagues Celebrate 90 Years of Suffrage. Oklahoma County LWV presents Nine 90s

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1 Oklahoma Voter Oklahoma Leagues Celebrate 90 Years of Suffrage Photo courtesy of Nancy Condit Photo courtesy of Debbie Little Wilson Oklahoma County LWV presents Nine 90s The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma County celebrated 90 years of progress Saturday, August 21 with a luncheon at the Faculty House in Oklahoma City. The event recognized "Nine 90s" - nine men and women who are 90 years old or older and who shared stories of significant voting memories. The honorees were: Sulie Andres, Olinda Berry, Earline Carpenter, Dorothy Driver, John Gemmer, Patience Latting, Marie Renfro, Betty Wagner and Bozie Walker. They were interviewed by Jan Lovell, retired OETA news reporter. Also on the program was Ruth Sloan, a fictional suffragist, who addressed the group on the subject of the struggle for a "mighty political experiment" - women's right to vote. As portrayed by Cortney Stone, Living History Docent from the Oklahoma History Center, Ms. Sloan (in 1920 costume and character) enlightened the group about issues of her day (Pictured on page 6). Marjorie Ramana and Judi Johnson prepared an excellent exhibit area where guests enjoyed fascinating LWV artifacts. Other members who helped produce the luncheon were Lorine Powers, Dana Orwig, Dolores Martin, Carol Koss, Suzanne Broadbent, Nancy Cain and Fran Morris. Also, Kathy Hinkle, Tulsa LWV CoPresident, read a letter from Patience Latting, an honoree unable to attend, and Joyce Collard, Norman LWV and state board member, provided the sound system. Fiftyfive people enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Faculty House staff and seemed also to enjoy the program. Bartlesville Suffragist Rally and March and Trial of Susan B Anthony Although the event was initiated by Women s Network with support from LWV, many members of the Network are also members of League. Above is a picture of the beginning of the march. New this year were two people from the Oklahoma delegation (pictured on page 6), Joe Todd as Governor Haskell (very anti women s suffrage) and Donna K. Fenstermaker as Adelia C. Stephens, who personally carried the petition into the rural counties of the new state of Oklahoma during that hot dusty summer, gathering nearly 38,600 signatures. This re-enactment was done on August 28 in order to celebrate 90 years of Women s Suffrage. It is a great reminder of what a struggle it was to secure the right for women to vote. The rally was followed by a march to the Court House for the trial of Susan B Anthony for the crime of voting. Following the trial, there was a reception at Hopestone Studio for the actors as well as the audience. (Second picture on page 6)

2 Gathering Information at Election Time Many, many thanks go out to Karen Melcher for her time-consuming and frustrating efforts to get information together so voters can educate themselves before voting. During the summer, when others are relaxing on vacation or enjoying kids and grandkids, she was hard at work sending questions to candidates who had filed to run for office. Part of the frustration is that the contact information given at the time of filing does not always connect us with the candidate, and some candidates do not answer questions at all. Other frustrations were that she did not know which people to contact in several local Leagues, so she could share the work and information, plus the work of contacting so many candidates in such a short time (June 10-July 27) was overwhelming. The LWV board has given her permission to hire some part time typing help the next time the work load is too heavy. Local Leagues can help by sharing their board contacts with LWVOK board as soon as possible after your annual meeting, especially in major election years. Although candidates for Congress are slow to answer the questions, if they answer at all, Karen found that the judges who are up for retention were eager to answer her three questions: 1. List colleges, and law schools attended including any academic distinctions received in law school and your legal employment since becoming a member of the state bar. 2. What do you believe would be your most important contribution to the court? 3. State any achievements or activities in which you have been involved which demonstrate your commitment to equal justice under the law. Judges who answered her questions were: Judge Deborah B. Barnes, District 2, Office 1, Court of Civil Appeals Judge John Fischer, Court of Civil Appeals Judge Doug Gabbard II, Court of Civil Appeals Judge Larry Joplin, Court of Civil Appeals Justice Stephen Taylor, Supreme Court Justice J. Winchester, Supreme Court. Despite all these problems, Karen did get quite a bit of information out in time for the primary election, and more has been gathered at a less hectic pace for the general election November 2. Responses that she has turned in for the voters guide on our website, are from candidates for: State Auditor and Inspector, Gary Jones and Steve Burrage; Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt and Jim Priest; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Janet Barresi, Susan Paddack and Richard Cooper; Labor Commissioner, Mark Costello and Lloyd Fields; Governor, Mary Fallin and Jari Askins, Lieuteneant Governor, Todd Lamb, Kenneth Corn, and Richard Prawdzienski.

3 State Questions Work on interpreting the 11 state questions began with an LWVOK Mini Conference in Stroud OK. If you were not able to go to this mini conference, you missed out. It was well attended: about 40 people were there. The lunch and morning snacks were delicious. Our speakers were Wayne Greene, editorial writer for the Tulsa World, Dr. Bob Darcy, political science professor at OSU, and Rick Farmer, PhD, Director of the Committee Staff, Oklahoma House of Representatives. They formed a panel and spoke a bit on each question, giving some history and pros and cons. In the afternoon, the attendees formed small groups and addressed the questions some more. After the conference a committee has formed and met several times to get every T crossed and I dotted. Members of the committee were Gloria Caldwell, Kirsten Tautfest, Mary Jo Neal, Sheila Swearingen, and Deborah Langley. There were a number of details to work out before the questions went to LWVOK.org and before local Leagues could speak on the questions. Kirsten Tautfest, president of the Stillwater League, developed a Power Point presentation she is sharing with local Leagues. The TulsaMetropolitan League and LWVOK joined a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of State Questions 746 and 751, to stop these questions concerning Voter ID and English Only from being on the November ballot. This suit was to be heard Friday, Sept. 17, at 11 a.m. in Tulsa County District Court,with Judge Deborah Shallcross presiding. There is a precedent at the national level for LWV to take action to stop English-only and Voter ID as barriers to voting and in the interest of protecting access to the ballot. It seems the questions were already on the ballots and absentee ballots had already been sent out, so that suit was postponed. For those reading this Voter from the LWVOK website, click on Voter Information then the appropriate links to read and study the question information. The printed Voters will have extra pages with the questions and corresponding information printed out. 2 Court Case on State Questions 746 and 751 by Deborah Langley On September 17, Tulsa County District Judge Deborah Shallcross heard legal arguments from attorney Jim Thomas and Assistant Attorney General Martha Kulmacz in a case challenging the constitutionality of two State Questions (746 Voter ID and 751 English Only). The court room was standing room only. Earlier this summer LWVOK, LWVMT and the Coalition of Hispanic Organizations joined Christine Gentges in a lawsuit filed against the Oklahoma Secretary of State and the Oklahoma State Election Board seeking to strike the 746-Voter ID and 751- English Only State Questions from the ballot as unconstitutional under Oklahoma law. Unfortunately ballots had already been printed by the date of the hearing, and reprinting the ballots if the Court struck the two State Questions from the ballot was not feasible. There were also questions about whether the lawsuit was needed if the two State Questions did not pass. Plaintiffs Christine Gentges, the LWVOK, the LWVMT, and the Coalition of Hispanic Organizations agreed to drop the portion of the lawsuit asking to have the issues removed from the ballot and also agreed to wait until after the November 2 General Election to see the results before proceeding with the lawsuit. All parties agreed the case challenging the State Question(s) could be refiled after the election if one or both State Questions pass. Judge Shallcross then dismissed the case without prejudice. League members attending the hearing included Kathy Hinkle, Jim Hill, Sheila Swearingen, Heather Hope Hernandez, Jean Jones, Blanca Zavala, Sharron Pettiford and Gloria Caldwell.!PECANS! The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma will be selling Pecans again. Board members hope to pick their orders up at the LWVOK board meeting November 20, so start gathering your customers now.

4 FALL2010 Photo Courtesy Becky Wallace Deborah Langley Becky Wallace and Julia Taylor binding the quilt in Photo Courtesy Nancy Condit Nancy Cain, Joyce Collard, Marjorie Ramana, Deborah Langley, Fran Morris, Cortney Stone with The Ballot box quilt displayed at the Nine 90s celebration in Oklahoma City. in 2010 The Ballot Box Commemorative Quilt The idea for this quilt was the brainstorm of members of the League of Women Voters of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Deborah Langley suggested the idea to incoming President Becky Wallace. Both had decided to ride the Victory Train from St. Louis, Missouri to Chicago before the 1996 LWVUS Convention in June with other LWV members. This train ride was a great opportunity to gather signatures from other League members. Becky suggested a variation of of the Baby Blocks (or as described in the Quilting Today magazine Tumbling Blocks) design (composed of three diamonds) in reds, white and blues. A special block in the center surrounded by 74 medium blocks with members signatures represents the 75th anniversary of LWV. The red and blue diamonds were made from Deborah s stash and Becky contributed the white diamonds, ready for signatures made with a waterproof pen in time for the LWVOK Council and LWVUS Convention. Their goal was to get signatures from a representative from each state or district and LWVUS presidents. They were able to get signatures from 40 states and the district of columbia plus interns from Mexico and Brazil. There were 13 state presidents who signed plus LWVUS president Becky Cain and past LWVUS president Nancy Neuman. The Bartlesville League members completed the 74 blocks with their signatures. Julia Taylor did the piecing of the quilt top. Although she was an experienced seamstress, this was her first quilt top to piece. The pieced top was displayed at the LWV Bartlesville annual meeting and the LWVOK Convention in May The quilt was then set and basted for quilting during the remainder of The quilters were Virgia Barnes, Deborah Langley, Julia Taylor and Becky Wallace. The Ballot Box Quilt is a gift to LWV Bartlesville from Virgia, Deborah, Julia, and Becky. It is meant to be on loan to LWVUS as a fund raiser. It is to be sold at each convention with the funds going to the LWVUS project designated by the highest bidder. The successful bidder will have display rights until the next convention. If unsold, it will remain with LWV of Bartlesville.

5 LWVOK Board The board last met September 25, They were glad to have a quorum present after much dif@iculty with that last year. LWVOK has been offered a downstairs of@ice in the same building at no increase in rent. Deborah reported that the of@ice move is still and we are not sure which of@ice downstairs we will move to. Much cleaning out has been done in preparation. Dortha had a question as to which groups we pay professional dues to. There was discussion as to which groups we want to be part of. Some suggestions OKWC, Child Advocacy, FOIA, David Blatt, and OCC. Barbara will get a list of groups we have paid for the board to prioritize at a later meeting. Pecans will cost the League the same as last year, so there was discussion as to how many pounds each local League might sell. Norman will not be selling pecans, but they will have a no pecan sale and donate those funds to LWVOK. Thank you Norman! There was quite a bit of discussion and decision making on plans for the LWVOK Convention in Norman on May 21 and 22. Holiday Inn has been chosen for the site. Decisions still need to be made on speakers and a few more details, but things are well on their way. The Norman League has solved a mystery of a fairly large check they had sent to the LQWVOK of@ice disappearing. It seems the mail carrier left it in the wrong box and whoever got mail at that box deposited the check in their own account. This happened in spite of the fact the Norman League had documented everything as it should be. Local Leagues, in order to catch this kind of problem early please alert the treasurer when you are sending a check, via or phone call, and ask her to reply when she receives it. This will become of@icial policy in the near future. The plans for a Governor s Gala, which the committee announced at Council meeting, have been canceled. Mary Jo Neal has been reviewing the bylaws for possible updates. She announced one was a mandate from LWVUS, so all local and state Leagues need to make this change: delete the word honorary from Article III, Section 2 (a). Our 50 year members are not honorary life members. They are LIFE members. They earned that distinction. The updates to the LWVOK bylaws will be presented for a vote at Convention in May. Sheila Swearingen of Tulsa is providing Oklahoma information to Vote 411 for the November 2 election. Karen Melcher has had poor response to her questions from Congressional candidates, but was surprised by immediate response from judicial candidates. National Popular Vote Some, or maybe al,l the local League presidents are getting letters from the League of Women Voters of Arizona asking Leagues to join in with them in promoting public discussions about how we elect the president and generate grass roots activity to support this method as a way to achieve a direct popular vote for election of the President. They suggest we write letters to our editors, blog and otherwise make it known to the public that there is an option. Below is the new LWVUS position. [LWVUS] believes that the direct-popular-vote method for electing the President and Vice-President is essential to representative government. The League of Women Voters believes, therefore, that the Electoral College should be abolished. We support the use of direct popular vote for election of the president, until the abolition of the Electoral College is accomplished. The League also supports uniform voting qualifications and procedures for presidential elections. The League supports changes in the presidential election system - from the candidate selection process to the general election. [Only the underlined words are new.]

6 90-Year Celebrations Continued Picture taken from LWV Tulsa Metro Voter Photo courtesy of Nancy Condit Ruth Sloan, a fictional suffragist, who addressed the group on the subject of the struggle for a "mighty political experiment" - women's right to vote. As portrayed by Cortney Stone, a Living History Docent from the Oklahoma History Center, in a 1920s costume League of Women Voters of Oklahoma 3200 NW 48th, Suite 217 Oklahoma City OK Picture Courtesy of Debbie Little Wilson The Oklahoma delegation: Joe Todd as Governor Haskell (very anti women s suffrage) and Donna K. Fenstermaker as Adelia C. Stephens Lawton sent no picture, but for their celebration they held a job fair. Way to go, Lawton LWV! In Tulsa OK, League members re-enacted a march for the vote outside the Circle Cinema before watching a free showing of "Iron Jawed Angels," on Women's Equality Day, August 26. A great day for all voters! Sheila Swearingen on LWVUS facebook