Voting never gets old for these centenarians (Volunteer follows League of Women Voter's Guide)

"I vote, because I should have a voice in government," Philip Greenberg was saying one sunny morning recently as he sat in the parlor of Seven Acres Jewish Senior Care Services, his residence since 2005. "That's a problem when no one takes advantage of it."

....Greenberg, 101, cast his first presidential vote for FDR and was a Democrat for decades, but not anymore. "I'm a staunch Republican," he said. "I don't mind telling anyone."

[Centenarians] represent the fastest-growing segment of the population in terms of age.....

......Seven Acres, home to nearly 400 residents, requests 100 mail ballots every election year.

......Anna Robinson has not been voting for as long as Greenburg, even though at 102 she is a year older. The retired J.C. Penney employee did not vote in the early decades of her life because she lived in New Orleans, where African-American access to the ballot was not always guaranteed, to say the least.

...Ida Silverstein, a volunteer at Seven Acres for the past 15 years, helps residents vote, although she hastens to add that she cannot advise them how to vote or tell them how she plans to vote. Her assistance is limited to explaining the process and reading the ballot for them line by line, which can get a bit tedious when judicial candidates and other less familiar officeholders are up for election. She relies on the League of Women Voters Guide for answers to any questions the residents may have.

"It's much easier when they want to vote straight ticket," Silverstein said.

In addition to Greenberg and Robinson, Silverstein will be assisting Trudy Simon this fall. Simon, 100, also knows what it means to be deprived of a vote. She and her family fled Nazi Germany in 1939.............

She relies on the League of Women Voters Guide for answers to any questions the residents may have.

2/16/12 - Republicans, League of Women Voters go at it over Voter ID "The author of a proposed constitutional amendment to require a photo ID when voting is offering an olive branch to the bill’s most vocal opponent.

....For Minnesota Republicans, the debate over photo ID legislation has placed the League of Women Voters in the ranks of Common Cause and the ACLU. Discourse has widened into open antagonism.

.....“The once-independent but now agenda-driven League of Women Voters,” is how GOP state Rep. Keith Downey describes the League in a newsletter to residents in his moderate Edina district. “The League's position on photo ID is just one small part of its overall policy agenda.”

‘‘If you look at the politics, the League takes positions that fall in line with a certain political party,” said Kiffmeyer, whose experiences with the League of Women Voters dates back to her days as Minnesota secretary of state. “A long time ago the League was less partisan. They are coasting on their reputation. How can we trust them to moderate a candidate forum? A hidden agenda as become an obvious agenda.”...........

http://www.lwvor.org/vgquest/

Information for candidates for Vote411.org and the Voters’ Guide Questionnaire

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Guidelines for Writing in Accessible Language for the Easy Voters’ Guide

One in five adults reads at or below the 5th grade level. This represents a huge block of voters who are unable to access the information provided in the Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet and the League of Women Voters Voters’ Guide. There are some simple steps you can take to make language more accessible to voters with low literacy levels.

1. Use shorter sentences, with one idea per sentence.
2. If you have many related items, consider using bullet points.
3. Try to use words that are “plain English,” that is, words that are familiar to as many people as possible. For example, consider using “jobs” instead of “employment.”
4. Avoid technical words or jargon. If you must use them, provide a short definition.
5. Add graphics, if appropriate, to help bring meaning to the text.

Candidates’ responses to a previously printed Easy Voters’ Guide question “Top 3 things I want to do if I win” were evaluated by voters with low literacy, who rated the answers on ease of understanding.

The statements that received high ratings (i.e., they were easy to read) include:

Make our schools better.

Improve access to affordable health care.

Protect all our rights, not just some; you are the boss, not the government.

Create more jobs.

Reduce taxes that kill jobs.

I’m against this war and want our troops home

Statements that received low ratings (i.e. voters could not understand the candidate’s message) include:

I will work with legislators to construct universal healthcare service and ensure reproductive freedom is protected.

I will aggressively reform and modernize state government and encourage new businesses and jobs to locate here to bolster our economy.

Fight domestic methamphetamine production and importation from foreign countries; aid in treatment and prevention.

Reorder nation’s priorities to better fund education, health care, and other critical investments and end corporate subsidies and tax breaks.

You can check that your text is written at the 5th grade reading level (as per Flesch-Kincaid)....................”

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