Four women are working to revive the county chapter of the League of Women Voters, a grassroots organization best known for voter education and holding candidate forums.
The chapter, which was founded in 1918, essentially became inactive in 2022, chiefly because of a controversy the prior year that centered around the national organization’s issuing a press release about the takeover of the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump in January 2021.
Now, Terry Hemphill, Mary Vanderhoof, Liz Wade and B.J. Zellers are attempting to revive the organization under its banner of nonpartisanship in promoting public awareness of political candidates and getting people to vote.
The new chapter has called an organizational meeting for Thursday, Sept. 11, at 5:30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Center in Whitesboro.
This is how the statewide League of Women Voters describes itself on its website: “The League is a political grassroots network and membership organization that believes the freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue. For more than a century, we’ve worked to empower voters and defend democracy. As a women-led organization, we encourage everyone to take part in our democracy.”
Hemphill said that when she and her husband moved to the county between four and five years ago, she had a hard time learning about political candidates – municipal and school board candidates, in particular.
“Even the little elections are important,” she said.
Hemphill said during the most recent school board election in Middle Township she could not find information on the candidates. She said providing information like that would be the focus of the new organization.
“We want to put that out so people know,” she said. “The other thing is to help with voter registration.”
The women are looking for others who might be interested in re-forming the organization, and they have reached out to the state League for help.
Hemphill said the group would like to eventually return to hosting candidate forums but would not have anything for the 2025 election. She said they would focus first on educating people on issues and what form of government they have.
“I’m not so much interested in politics, but I’m interested in how it’s done where I live. I believe in being knowledgeable,” she said.
Hemphill said the group’s first meeting will be held in Whitesboro, but its meetings would be moved to wherever there is a need.
The controversy that led to the near-shutdown of the chapter began in early 2021, when the national League issued a press release condemning the Jan. 6 events in the nation’s capital as “domestic terrorism.”
Jennifer Wolfson, a county League member at the time, said many members left the organization after the press release. “After that there was a big exodus of all the Republican members,” who according to Wolfson made up the majority of the membership.
She said there were various factors in addition to the national League’s press release that contributed to the chapter’s breakup over time, and she cited Covid-19 restrictions on public meetings, a lack of internal communication and social media posts by some League members.
The organization that counted 40 members prior to January 2021 had only four members by August 2022.
Wolfson suggested at the time that people who wanted to remain active in the League join the state organization, which would provide information and support, and that in time the county chapter could become active again. She continues to maintain the group’s social media accounts, although she says there isn’t much activity.
She said she would like to see the county chapter of the League revived, but also cautioned that it would be a lot of work.
The website for the New Jersey League is https://www.lwvnj.org.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
