Canvassing Board

Purpose: Volunteers from the Voter Services Committee attend and observe the meetings of the Collier County Canvassing Board held for every election.  Prior to the election, the Board conducts logic and accuracy tests of voting machines, and following the election the Board conducts a “canvass” of the results including reviewing vote totals and certifying official counts. The meetings are open to the public and are held at the office of the Supervisor of Elections. Voter Services members represent the League in this important work.

Contact information: For more information email voterservices@lwvcolliercounty.org 

Candidate Forums 

Subcommittee Lead: Paula Schwerin

Purpose:  A Candidate Forum is a meeting to gather the community, whether virtually or in person, to hear the candidates for a particular race in the community. Candidate forums help us determine which candidates align with our values and which ones we want to support with our vote. In the LWVCC, we collaborate with other non-profit organizations to share the work of providing candidate forums. 

• Naples City Council and Naples City Mayor
• Collier School Board
• Collier County Commissioners
• Florida State Senator
• Florida House District Representatives
• Congressional Districts in Collier County
• Judicial races if contested
  
• In addition, when there are referenda to be voted upon in the off-year or general elections, a member organization of the Collier County Coalition work to present factual information about the referendum issues.

Candidate Forums Projects for 2023/2024:
Candidate Forum - Mayor and City Council for the City of Naples February 1, 2024
Candidate Forums for 2024/2025 will be determined by the Collier County Coalition. 

Volunteer Needs:

• Publicity 
• Question Committee
• Event Support

Adopt-a-Precinct

Subcommittee leads: Becky Newell (Moorings Presbyterian Church) and Susan Housel (Immokalee)

Purpose: The “Adopt-a-Precinct” program is a public/private partnership, in this case between the League of Women Voters of Collier County and the Supervisor of Elections office. We “adopt” a precinct by providing volunteers to staff elections for an election cycle and then the pay for our work is donated to the Voter Service Committee.

• Be registered to vote in Collier County
• Be able to read and write in English
• Complete the orientation program and training sessions
• Ability to work a 14 hour shift
• Deal with the public in a courteous and patient manner
• Act in a non-partisan way while working at the polls.

Physical demands include standing, bending, stooping, lifting approximately 40 lbs., adequate vision and manual/physical dexterity. Experience with computers is helpful.

List of Positions:

• Clerk
• Ballot specialist
•  EVID specialist
• Inspector
• Poll deputy

• In person orientation (one time)
• Online training (for each election)
• In person training (for each election)
• Make sure the precinct is set up correctly
• Ensure  that all equipment is working and accurately tabulating
• Check in voters
• Update addresses and name changes
• Direct voters who may have come to the wrong precinct
• May provide assistance to voters who need help (with two poll workers from different parties to ensure non-partisan assistance)
• Keep the precinct tidy
• Close the polls
• Make sure the ballot information is transmitted electronically and that ballots are transported to the SOE's office
• Shut down all equipment
• Clean up at the end of the day

Contact names for more information:
Becky Newell: Moorings Presbyterian Church precinct
Susan Housel: Immokalee precinct

Voter Empowerment - Your Vote: Your Voice 

At the League of Women Voters of Collier County, we know that exercising the right to vote is critical to our democracy. Our focus in the Voter Empowerment subcommittee is to increase voting among groups who do not have access to voter information and have not been voting. We want to provide information to these under-served groups, including Engaging Younger Voters, providing information to Returning Citizens, and Outreach where we provide information in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole to registered voters. 

• VOTE411 and Voter Guides
• Community Outreach
• Young Voter Initiatives
• Returning Citizens

See descriptions and volunteer needs below.

VOTE411 and Local Voter Guides

Subcommittee Lead: Laura Hansen Reynolds

Purpose: The Vote411 online voter guide subcommittee collects objective and factual information for each County and Municipal election cycle from candidates running in each race. Vote411 also includes explanations of voting pro or con on ballot amendments and referenda questions. This is part of the League of Women Voters national and state election information website.

Vote411 has served tens of millions of American voters and won multiple national awards over the last fifteen years. Vote411 provides a trusted source of nonpartisan, objective and factual election information – a “one stop shop” for everything election-related, including voter registration support, polling locations and ballot options (vote-by-mail, early voting and election day ID requirements). Voters hear directly from candidates that on their ballot and can compare candidates. There is also information on forums and debates in their area.

With three election cycles in 2024 (March Presidential Preference Primary + Municipal elections in the City of Naples and City of Marco Island, August Primary, and November general election), Vote411 will:

• Outreach to all qualified candidates to provide profiles, photos, and answers to issue questions on all races in Vote411
• Research amendments and referenda questions and develop pro and con positions
• Outreach to drive voter interaction with Vote411.org

• Help develop issues and/or questions for each elective office.
• Collect qualified candidate information from SOE and candidate websites.
• Research and write local amendment and referenda synopses with pro/con explanations.
• Promote Vote411 to voters at League events.
  

Contact information: For more information, email: vote411subcommittee@lwvcolliercounty.org

Community Outreach

Subcommittee Lead:  Susan Housel

Purpose:  Our goal is to increase voter participation in precincts with traditionally lower voter turnout and to provide information to voters in those same communities. 

• Work in the community as poll workers through the Supervisor of Elections Office’s Adopt-a-Precinct program. 

• Identify precincts with lower voter turnout and target communications to increase numbers and lower the turnout gap through written campaigns and using social media and google ads. 
  
  
  

  Volunteer Needs:
• Poll workers through our Adopt-a-precinct project for each election. Writing post cards.
• Creating flyers for the greater community in Creole, English, and Spanish.
• Developing and executing google ad campaigns. 
• Analyzing voter data from past and future elections.
  
  
  Contact name for info: Susan Housel slhousel@gmail.com 513.225.2797 
  

Younger Voter Initiatives

Subcommittee Lead:  Stacy Vermylen

Purpose:  This committee will develop a campaign directed at GenZ and Millennial voters to engage them in actively participating in voting in the 2024 elections.  The committee's focus will be on media vehicles that are most effective with this target group, including social media, direct messaging, and texting. The committee will also direct the activities of Pink Shark, a local media company, in the development and implementation of the campaign, particularly on social media.

List of Activities/Projects:

• Research reports and studies on marketing and motivating this age group.
• Develop guidance and supervision of the social media campaign with Pink Shark.
• Develop ideas for other social media posts for the campaign.
• Develop direct messaging and texting options for the campaign and research ways to implement the messages.

• Review the results of social media benchmarks and guide boosting investment when appropriate.

• Manage the budget for the campaign.
• Analyze the results in voter participation (goal is a 10% increase in the number of voters in this age group vs the last election).
  

• Assistance researching and planning a texting campaign.
• Brainstorming on interesting ways to engage the viewers on social media
• Analysis of social media posts.
• Assistance with theme T-shirt initiatives
• Spreading the word about the campaign, liking and commenting on posts, etc. to help the social media campaign build. 
• Analyzing voter data from past and future elections.
  

Contact name for info:

Stacy Vermylen, stacyvermylen@gmail.com, 847-609-6016

Returning Citizen Initiative

Subcommittee Lead:  Tina Palmese

Purpose: The Returning Citizen subcommittee works closely with State League, LWVFL on their state wide continuing effort to identify and educate former felons of their right to vote if they are not part of excluded class (sex offenders or murder convictions).  The State League is a founding partner in getting Amendment 4 on the ballot in 2018 which overwhelmingly passed with more than 64% of the Florida Electorate.  The League helped reduce the fees and administrative costs that returning citizens were required to pay by the state legislature after the passage of the amendment. Cecile Scoon, LWVFL Co-President also developed training for attorneys to work pro bono for those in need. 

Our major activity is post card mailing, the postcard provides a toll free number with access to pro bono assistance if required. 

• Manage the budget, print  cards, purchase postage  
• Obtain address list from LWVFL and prepare for volunteers 
• Organize postcard writing gatherings with member volunteers, ensure that all volunteers sign confidentiality agreement and have  instructions
• Make informational material available in our community ( English, Spanish, Creole)
• Present Speakers Bureau Power Point to interested groups
• Comply with LWVUS mini grant requirements ($1500 awarded in Feb 2024)  
  
  
  Volunteer Needs:
• Writing post cards: complete 9,000 by July 2024 and 3,000 by March 2025
• Tabling Events and Presentations
• Spread awareness, share the good news about ability to vote.  
  
  
  Contact name for info: Tina Palmese  tpalmese@aol.com  917-669-7294