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As we move into the heart of the
legislative year, the League’s involvement in
Redistricting and Election Reform has grown stronger. We
are now “invited to the table”. And this is all
because of the relationship the LWVO lobbyists have
established with the legislators. One of the most active
lobbyists, and possibly the one most often quoted, is Peg
Rosenfield, LWVO's Election Specialist. How did Peg come
to this position of fame? She taught American History and
Government to high school students in Iowa. She dragged
her classes off to the firehouse so that they could
practice using the voting machines, even though they could
not vote until they were 21 years old. She worked in the
Ohio Secretary of State’s office doing lots of diverse
activities, such as voter education and outreach,
registration, and absentee voting. And then she wrote two
books for high school government teachers and one for
elementary school teachers to use in teaching about the
election process. Since her League experience helped
her to get the job in the Secretary of State’s office,
she was grateful to return the favor by using her SoS
experience to assist the League in the lobbying
effort. She has written three booklets for the
Federal Elections Commission and has done national
workshops on how to implement the National Voting Rights
Act. Peg’s expertise and passion have given her the
ability to be a valued and respected League lobbyist in
the field of election law and campaign finance
reform. Peg says that her daughter once resignedly
sighed, “You’ll probably have a voter registration
table at your funeral.” She smiled and said, “Good
idea, see to it.”
Viv
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