The League of Women Voters of Ohio will visit Sinclair College on Sept. 24 from 9 a.m. to noon as part of a statewide road trip to get young citizens excited about voting. Airstream, a travel trailer manufacturer, is supporting this effort and providing a 20-foot camper for League representatives to travel in. They plan to offer election information and voter registration as part of their engagement with college students.
For more than a century, the League of Women Voters has been a constant advocate for citizens’ rights. They have gone all over Dayton, registering voters, educating communities and fighting to make sure every eligible citizen has a voice at the polls.
Founded in May 1920, a few months after the founding of the national office and the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the League originally set out to pass legislation for a number of different issues, intending to disband after five years. Instead, 106 years later, the League continues to thrive as their mission remains as straightforward as it was in the beginning: to encourage informed and active participation in Government.
Jacqueline Housel, president of the League of Women Voters of the Greater Dayton Area and Sinclair alumni, began working with the league while teaching at Sinclair. After working with students to create maps of redlining in Dayton, Housel was approached by the League to help create voter turnout maps.
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“After I retired, they pulled me right in, and I went willingly because I think this is such animportant topic. We need people to vote,” Housel said. She is currently serving the first year of her two-year term, but civic engagement has been something Housel was passionate about even before joining the League citing her parents as an inspiration.
“My parents were always involved in the community,” Housel said. “My father was the president of the school board, and he had always done a lot for his community, and my mother as well.” Housel stressed the importance between not necessarily teaching people how to vote but instead educating people on what choices they have and how those choices impact their lives.
She also emphasized the importance of nonpartisanship to the League, not wanting to sway anybody, but simply inform.
For people that are curious about who will be on their ballot, Housel recommends going to vote411.org where citizens can enter their address and find out who is on their ballot, if they are registered to vote, where their polling location is and more.
Noah Schlarman, Reporter
Hannah Kichline, Executive editor
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