Jefferson County Voter Registration Update

Last week was our biggest yet in Jefferson County. Thanks to our dedicated members who volunteered, we registered 240 voters! Over a hundred of those registrations came from hitting up grocery stores in the south and west ends of Louisville. As shoppers packed food out, we packed democracy in.

Electoral organizer Beth Bissmeyer shared this story of success not only in numbers, but in spirit:

“Last Tuesday proved to be another good night to go Krogering in Shively; in just a few hours, 28 people registered to vote and several people signed our petition in support of restoring voting rights. For me, the highlight of the evening was a conversation I had with a young woman. When I asked her if she was registered, she said she didn't vote because government doesn't do anything good. We got to talking about issues she cares about including the homeless population, and I told her she could hold her Metro Council representative accountable for local issues, that these people are often at community events and live in the neighborhood. 'I didn't know that I could do that,' she said. You could see that a light bulb just turned on. She started to fill out a registration card and while doing that, she told me about the difficulties her brothers have faced as former felons and how having just a misdemeanor on her file has made finding a good job difficult. I then told her about our work around voting rights and gave her restoration applications for her brothers. While not everyone who tells you they don't vote will experience this kind of turnaround, it's worth a little bit of prodding for the ones who do.”

Similarly, intern Charlotte Craxton partnered with Women in Transition's Spanish class to ask shoppers, “¿Está registrado para votar?” They registered 10 voters, proving democracy speaks all languages.

But our electoral organizers can't do it alone– members matter most! Member Howard Owens' smile and fun-loving attitude drew in the Sunday shoppers and 35 registrations. Who could say no to such a friendly face?

Likewise, members Becki Winchel and Brian Deis gave us credibility at their local Kroger, convincing managers to give the “green light” to our voter empowerment work. With the help of Becki, Brian, and new member Jacob Stoebel we also convinced 43 community members to register to vote. Go team!

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Stay tuned for an update from Linda Stettenbenz on how she and our student members took the University of Louisville by storm!