Newsmakers: League of Women Voters MN Says Look for ‘Trusted Sources of Information’
The executive director of the League of Women Voters encourages voters to look for trusted sources of information.
“It’s hard these days when there are so many pieces and places where you can find information,” said Michelle Witte, executive director. “We really encourage people to look for those trusted sources of information and a lot of the times those are what’s local for you.”
Witte says the LWV takes pride in producing nonpartisan information for voters, facilitating more than 300 forums across the state during a busy election year, and encouraging people to register to vote.
“Our young people age 18-24 years old have been voting 20 points less than the average, but when they are registered to vote, they vote over 90 percent,” said Witte.
The LWV is working with schools for National Voter Registration Day to pre-register 16-17 year olds. They have also been providing a lot of voter education to people who are no longer incarcerated and are now eligible to vote.
“That affects 55,000 new voters, so we’ve been really doing a lot of education in the community for how they can vote,” said Witte.
League of Women Voters Works to Keep Forums Nonpartisan
Local leagues are working to facilitate forums, which Witte said is to be commended. There are 35 leagues across the state who train to facilitate and moderate forums in an effort to keep the forums as nonpartisan as possible.
“Nonpartisan means not endorsing or opposing any candidate or party,” explained Witte. “We go through many steps and a lot of that is just fairness. We invite every candidate who is participating in the forum at the same time and the same way. We present all the same rules to everybody, and we are sensitive to not having ‘gotcha’ questions.”
After Election Day, the work still isn’t done. Volunteers will observe election audits.
“There are people who are worried about the integrity of the election,” said Witte. “Go to the post-election reviews or become an election judge to learn how the election works.”
Witte also urges voters to check out Vote411.org to find out more about what’s on your ballot.
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