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Presidential Update May 2020

Published on 4/25/2020

Action first, perfection later


This COVID-19 era has propelled everyone into new personal habits: Constant hand-washing.  Wearing masks and gloves when outside. Social distancing on sidewalks and in store aisles.

“New” also applies to your LWVJoCo board. Zoom has replaced in-person meetings. LWVUS is helping us plan new, safe ways to educate voters. Innovation plus trial and error truly rule.

It’s “All Hands on Deck” time! What can our 354 members do from home?

Open LWVJoCo e-blasts. We rely on emails to communicate with our members each week. This is where we tell you what’s happening, what you need to know and what you can do to help. But less than half of our members routinely open them. If you aren’t receiving them, search your inbox for “LWV of Johnson County” and check your spam and junk folders. Tip: The sender is always “LWV of Johnson County.” If you still have no luck, please email Karin Leacox.

Be patient. Today, online skills are essential to doing our work and helping voters. Start with Club Express, our new LWVJoCo membership platform. You’ll receive an email May 6 inviting you log in to our new website and set up an account. Club Express offers all members live support at (866) HLP-CLUB (457-2582). You can also check out the “office hours” on May 7 and May 13 offered by Mitchell Krasnopoler, our communications chair. Give yourself and others a break – everyone is trying hard.


Our top 2020 priority? Protecting voting rights and educating voters. Here are some of our member initiatives.

  • Deb Scott and others created a voter registration tutorial. Share this with your friends and family.  
  • Ann Sanders, Beth Seberger and others continue planning Souls to the Polls with the Wyandotte County faith and civic communities
  • Janet Milkovich will emcee the May 14 live Zoom meeting, “Legislative Recap: What Comes Next?” with Paul Johnson and Michael Poppa. (See article above about how to register for the meeting.) We’ll post a recording of the discussion on YouTube afterward for those who can’t watch the meeting live. 
  • Mary Lou Jaramillo and Ann Sanders will lead a DEI workshop in mid-May for the board and committee chairs. 
  • Mimi Rainen, Claire Reagan and other members are creating an online voter registration module for high school teachers to use.
  • LWVJoCo leaders and partners are reaching out to the Johnson and Wyandotte county election commissioners to offer our support in making voting safe and accessible during this pandemic.

Voters need League activists. You are the key to empowering Johnson and Wyandotte county voters in 2020.