ABOUT REBECCA SHIEMKE:
- Director of Voter Services for the LWV-WC. The Voter Services committee works to register and educate voters in Washtenaw County by attending various community events, conducting candidate forums, creating and distributing state and local voter guides and adding candidate information to VOTE411.org, among other activities.
- Retired attorney who was an attorney at Michigan Advocacy Program in Ypsilanti, a federally-funded legal services program.
RESOURCES:
League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County
League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County on Facebook
League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County on X (Twitter)
League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County on Instagram
League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County on YouTube
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and Election Day is right around the corner. I'm David Fair, and welcome to an election-focused edition of Washtenaw United. Absentee ballots continue to roll in. Due to new voting laws in Michigan, early in-person voting got underway on Saturday and is going to continue through Sunday, November 3rd. The hope is greater access will lead to bigger turnout and serve as a deterrent to attempts at voter suppression. The League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County--it works the year round to get people to vote and to make sure that, when they do, they have the best information possible. How is it looking in this election cycle? Well, let's find out together. Our Washtenaw United guest serves as voting services director for the League. And, Rebecca Shiemke, thank you for carving out some time at a most busy time for you!
Rebecca Shiemke: Thank you, David! I'm very happy to be here and happy to provide some information to our local voters!
David Fair: I have spent a great deal of time talking with people and spend a great deal of time thinking about voting. I decided that everyone has very personal reasons as to why voting is important or not. Why do you think voting is important?
Rebecca Shiemke: Well, that's a great question, David. And it is also a topic that we talk about with voters when we're tabling and when we're giving presentations. And I guess I would say a couple of things. Many of us have been disenfranchised from voting, whether legally or because of practices throughout our communities. And so, it's important to kind of take that power back and use our voice to vote for what's important to us. Secondly, it's a great way to give our elected officials information about what's important to us, what we want them to fight for and how we want them to fight for it. For example, if climate change is important to you as a voter, voting for elected officials and for policies that support your views on that topic is a way to share your concerns with our elected officials.
David Fair: We've seen the Electoral College become a major factor in who wins presidential races. Now, in this cycle, the candidates have almost exclusively focused on swing states, like we are here in Michigan. Some say that has compromised the meaning of the old mantra, "One person, one vote and one voice in the democratic process." In all of your community engagement, are you hearing some dissatisfaction with the process?
Rebecca Shiemke: Yes, yes. There is definitely some dissatisfaction out there, particularly with the way the Electoral College works and, to many people, seems to not count each individual's vote. There is a national movement for something that's called the "national popular vote." And for folks that are interested in that, on our website, there is information about that national popular vote, and we have done some speaking events on the topic over the past several months.
David Fair: Washtenaw United and our conversation with Rebecca Shiemke continues on WEMU's Washtenaw United. Your organization has held any number of informational sessions and candidate forums and issue and policy discussions as you've pointed out. What do you find most challenging in getting people to more fully engage and participate?
Rebecca Shiemke: Well, I think one of the barriers, I guess, is the sort of the lack of information that voters have about who's running for office and about what certain proposals mean. You know, if you look at our ballot, which you can do online by going to MI.gov/vote and look at a sample ballot, this election in November and many past elections, the ballots have been very long with many candidates running for various offices and a number of proposals. So, it can be daunting to kind of go through that ballot to figure out who you want to vote for and how you want to vote for on particular proposals. So, I think getting that education out to voters is really important, and the League tries to do that in a number of ways. Like you mentioned, we have candidate forums, all run in a nonpartisan manner. So, we don't advocate for a particular candidate or party. We just are there to ask candidates questions and give them an opportunity to share their views. So, candidate forums is one way we do that. We have a voter guide, both a statewide voter guide and local voter guides, that are in paper version that are available throughout the community at libraries and clerk's offices. And VOTE411.org is a national website into which we input information about our local candidates. So, those are excellent ways that voters can can get educated and feel like they know who they're voting for when they go to the booth.
David Fair: Well, you've noted that it is a long ballot. And with all of the local and state elections and ballot issues to be decided, have you noticed an uptick in the number of people taking advantage of those resources?
Rebecca Shiemke: Yes. Yes, we definitely have. We distributed our voter guides in late September, probably about a month ago. And we continue to get calls, emails and requests from folks in the community for more voter guides. So, that seems to be a very useful product. And I don't know know for certain the numbers, but I do know that the website that I mentioned, VOTE411.org, is definitely seeing an uptick in folks going to that website to learn more about the candidates.
David Fair: It is likely that those who take time to attend your events, engage in league events and follow along online are already likely to vote. What has been your strategy to reach those who are not attending and perhaps more unlikely to vote?
Rebecca Shiemke: That's an excellent question. And it's an issue that many of us in the area of increasing voter access have struggled with. You know, we do try and reach out to some of the underserved communities in Washtenaw County. We are the League for Washtenaw County. So, it's not just the Ann Arbor. We're there to educate voters throughout the county. So, we have tried to do events in some of those communities. For instance, I was with a colleague and another organization at Delonis Center in Ann Arbor to be available to register anyone who came in for services at Delonis to let them know that, even though they may be homeless or may not have a secure place to live, they can use the Delonis Center as their address and can still register to vote and can still go in and vote. We've been involved with Food Gatherers and getting out voting information into the food packets that go out to folks in some of the the outlying communities. And we've had a presence in particularly in Ypsi through a couple of our members who have been involved with an organization called Ypsi Can I Share, again, to try and get the word out to some of those folks who may not be as inclined to vote.
David Fair: This is Washtenaw United on 89 one WEMU, and we are moving closer to the general election November 5th. We're talking with Rebecca Shiemke. She is voting services director for the League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County. Now, new voting laws in Michigan obviously aim to create greater access and combat voter suppression efforts. But based on the limited sample size of the 2024 year, are those efforts working?
Rebecca Shiemke: Yes, I think they are. And you mentioned some of the voting improvements that we've seen in Michigan over the past couple of years. So, we have, for instance, early in-person voting, which, as you mentioned, is underway now and will continue until Sunday, November 3rd. And that's a great way for voters to vote in person, putting their ballot through the tabulator without, hopefully, the lines because there's a total of nine days of early voting. So, folks can skip the line on Election Day. People can sign up to be on the permanent absentee ballot list, so you don't have to fill out an application in order to get a ballot. You just always will get the ballot mailed to you. There are more drop boxes available to drop your absentee ballot into. And I think all those policies and laws are intended to increase voter access and to make it easier for folks to get to the ballot and to vote.
David Fair: Again, we are approaching Election Day on Tuesday, November 5th. You've been engaged throughout the course of the year and trying get people interested and informed as to vote. Do you have a sense as to where voter turnout may land?
Rebecca Shiemke: Well, it's looking pretty good so far. I think our Secretary of State, every now and then, will put out a press release about how many absentee ballots have been received by clerk's offices throughout the state. And so far, the numbers have been higher than in past years. You know, we've got early voting that's started. And I think, at a certain point, she will also put out a press release about how many people have appeared at early voting. So, I think the turnout looks good. I think those ballot access measures I mentioned just a few minutes ago, I think are increasing the folks that are going out to the polls to vote.
David Fair: Any final word to those who may still be sitting on the fence about voting in local, state and or federal elections?
Rebecca Shiemke: Yeah, I guess two things. One is just to reiterate that your vote does matter. It's a way to communicate your preferences and your concerns with our elected officials. There's, I mentioned, resources out there on the League's website to get information about who's running, so you become an informed voter. And all the other the ways I mentioned that are making access to the vote easier are out there. So, there's fewer and fewer reasons not to vote. So, I do hope that folks out there who are listening who may be on the fence about voting will be inclined to go out and vote.
David Fair: Well, thank you for taking the time to talk with me today, Rebecca! I truly appreciate it!
Rebecca Shiemke: You're welcome, David! It's been my pleasure!
David Fair: That is Rebecca Shiemke. She is voting services director for the League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County. And our guest on this edition of Washtenaw United. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with United Way for Southeastern Michigan. And you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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