AAUW-NYS Summer Leadership Conference

GOTV WorkshopJuly 20, 2012

2012 Get Out The Vote

Presented byDonna Seymour

AAUW-NYS Public Policy Director

New York Has always had strong

women leaders who worked hard to get women

the vote!

Women stormed the gates of the White House and the state houses for the vote!

August 26, 1920 The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified.

Section 1. The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Those early suffragists were determined that with women voting they would be able to right all the things that were wrong with our American Society. They reasoned that “with how much was accomplished without the vote - how much more would be accomplished with the vote.” … They thought this might take five years.

“There never will be complete equality

until women themselves help to

make laws and elect lawmakers.”

- Susan B. Anthony

NYS women have been present in the legislature since 1919, the year before the

19th Amendment was ratified! • Republican Ida Sammis, a well known suffrage

leader and supporter of prohibition, ran for the Assembly seat representing Suffolk County in 1918.

• Her Democratic counterpart in the 1918 election was Mary Lilly from New York County. A graduate of the New York University School of Law, Mary was the first woman to win a scholarship in a competitive exam, and the first woman admitted to practice law in New York.

The first woman to be elected to both houses of New York State government was a native of St. Lawrence County, Rhoda Fox Graves.

A Republican, she was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1924, serving until 1932. She was the first woman to win a seat in the New York State Senate in 1934, retiring in 1948.

1990 was known as the Year of the Woman in New York State’s legislative bodies, the Assembly and the Senate. Twenty-seven women were newly elected to the legislature in that year. 22 years later:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In 2012, 47 women serve in the NYS

Legislature:Assembly: 29 D & 6 R = 36Senate: 8 D & 3 R = 11

22.2% of the Legislators are women.

http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/wln/women-in-state-legislatures-2012.aspx

2012: Many Open Seats in NYS

• In what may be a record number, at least 25 Assembly members and at least four senators say they are retiring from the 212-seat Legislature. They have taken jobs with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, are running for Congress or in local government, or are just quitting.

• For all New Yorkers, the result will be a Legislature with fewer middle-aged lawmakers still trying to balance family budgets and dealing with emerging issues seen firsthand by having children in school.

• It’s an odd underrepresentation of the traditional middle class but one that concerns lawmakers. What remains is an overrepresentation of lawmakers over 65 years old and former and part-time lawyers.  

Women in Congress

• Women hold 90, or 16.8%, of the 535 seats in the 112th US Congress — 17, or 17.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 73, or 16.8%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In addition, three women serve as Delegates to the House from Guam, the Virgin Islands and Washington, DC.

Women in the NYS Congressional Delegation

In 2012:• 1 of 2 US Senators (50%)

• 9 of 29 Members of Congress (31%)

In 2013: ?????

Your NYS Election districts may have changed! 

• To find your new Congressional District(s) use this link http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/?sec=2012c

• To find your new NYS Senate District(s) use this link http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/?sec=2012s

• To find your new NYS Assembly District(s) use this link http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/?sec=2012a

• Or for maps you can zoom in on, use this link (click on dropdown at upper right under select a District Type for Assembly, Senate or Congress maps) http://www.urbanresearchmaps.org/nyredistricting/map.html

Before Casting Your 2012 Ballot, Confront the Candidates:

Women are the majority and we have the opportunity to take control and make the changes we need in every election -- but having the opportunity is not enough. We must have the will, firmly grounded in essential knowledge of the issues and a path ahead.

There are many other pressing national issues we don't normally think about as "women's issues," but that is indeed what they are. The faltering economy, the health care crisis, ongoing and potential wars, tax policies – these all affect women in different ways from the way they affect men, and all are growing concerns.

Martha Burk, the former chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations. She is currently money editor for Ms. Magazine and host of the public radio show Equal Time With Martha Burk

What at Stake for Women in 2012? These key advances for women’s health and economic rights are under attack:

• Women’s Right to Vote (1920) • Social Security Act (1935) • The Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil

Rights Act of 1964 • Medicare (1965) • Medicaid (1965) • Title X, The National Family Planning Program (1970) • Title IX of the Education Amendments (1972) • Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision (1973) • The Violence Against Women Act (1994) • The Affordable Care Act (2010)

• Since 1984, women have been the majority of the total vote in every presidential election.

• In 2012, women will decide who will serve in state legislatures and in the U.S. Congress.

• Women will decide who becomes the next President of the United States – but only if we Get Out The Vote!

“The power of the women’s vote can only be effectively leveraged if every woman

who is eligible to vote is able to enter the voting booth and

have her vote counted.”

- Gloria Feldt, author and past president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation

• Since the beginning of 2011, at least 180 bills restricting voting rights were introduced in 41 state legislatures. Thirty-three states have passed laws requiring identification for voting.

• Five states — Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee and Georgia — have what are called strict photo identification requirements, meaning voters must present specific kinds of photo IDs before voting.

• Six states — Michigan, South Dakota, Idaho, Louisiana, Hawaii and Florida — have less strict photo requirements, meaning voters may be able to sign affidavits or have poll workers who recognize them verify their identities.

Voter Suppression in 2012

US Map of Voting Law Changesin 2012 – proposed and passed.

http://www.brennancenter.org

The overall strategy has included efforts to:

• Pass laws that require voters to produce proof of citizenship;

• Make the voter registration process more difficult by eliminating Election Day registration and creating new restrictions on voter registration drives;

• Cut early and absentee voting periods;• Make the restoration of voting rights more

difficult; • Require eligible voters to possess current and

valid state issued photo ID.

According a Brennan Center for Justice study, approximately one in ten, or 21 million, Americans do not currently possess valid and current government-issued photo ID. Many of those voters are women whose last names changed with marriages. The latest available figures show that only 48 percent of voting-age women with ready access to their U.S. birth certificates have a birth certificate with their current legal name. The same survey showed that only 66 percent of voting-age women with ready access to any proof of citizenship have a document with their current legal name. 

Who else can be affected?

• Some voters live in areas where driving is not necessary, therefore a state-issued drivers license is not necessary.

• Voters move and are unable to obtain new ID prior to registration or election day.

• College students who live away from home and only possess a student ID are also at risk of being turned away for the polls in some states.

AAUW’s Two-Minute Activist

• AAUW’s Two-Minute Activist is where you can MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD IN CONGRESS!

• First, take one minute to read about the latest issue in Congress.

• Second, take one more minute to personalize a message and e-mail it to your member of Congress via CAPWIZ.

http://capwiz.com/aauw/home/

CAPWIZ Information for NYS

Q. How are AAUW members and others added to the CapWiz rolls?

A. Currently the only way to be added to Action Network is for the user to sign-up. Most New York AAUW members with internet access are already in CapWiz from previous synchronizations of the membership database. New York has some of the most subscribers of the states in our system.

Q. How many NYS members & friends are currently registered with CapWiz?

A. Currently there are 5,089 subscribers in New York.

Q. How many of that number respond to request for action?

A. 208 people from New York took action on a recent Action Alert request.

Key Takeaway Message:

We have more activists signed up on CapWiz from NYS than we have AAUW members. We need to increase the participation rates on Action Network alerts in order to expand our impact!

Important Dates:

• August 26: 92nd Women’s Equality Day• Thursday, September 13: Primary Day in

NYS• Monday, September 17: Constitution Day• Tuesday, September 25: National Voter

Registration Day • Friday, October 12: Last day to Register to

Vote in NYS in person or by mail

Absentee Ballots for the State and Local Primary in NYS

• To apply for ballot by mail: postmarked by Thursday, September 6, 2012

• To apply for ballot in person: Wednesday, September 12, 2012

• To deliver ballot in person: Thursday, September 13

• To deliver ballot by mail: postmarked by Thursday, September 13 and received by Thursday, September 20, 2012

Absentee Ballot for the General Election:

• To apply for ballot by mail: postmarked by Tuesday, October 30

• To apply for ballot in person: Monday, November 5, 2012

• To deliver ballot in person: Tuesday, November 6, 2012

• To deliver ballot by mail: Monday, November 5, 2012; received by Tuesday, November 13, 2012.

• Military ballots to be received by Monday, November 19, 2012.

General Election Day:

Tuesday, November 6, 2012