As the November midterm election approaches, organizations around Licking County are working together to ensure that votes are counted fairly and securely.
The League of Women Voters of Licking County, which was reestablished in the county in 2017 after disbanding years earlier, is ready to take on that challenge. On Oct. 1, in collaboration with the Licking County Public Library in Newark, the LWV will be hosting an event titled “Local Election Security: Is Your Vote Secure?” The Licking County Board of Elections director and deputy director will both be in attendance for the discussion.
“The event is really a repeat of our League of Women Voters annual meeting, where we asked these two to speak about their shared responsibility and how voters can be sure their votes are secured in Licking County,” said Meg Haller, vice president of the league.
Currently, the Licking County Board of Elections director is Tess Wigginton, and the deputy director is Brian Mead. In order to maintain bipartisanship within the BOE, Haller said that leadership switches periodically between the Democratic and Republican parties.
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The goal of the event, Haller said, is to “ensure voters in Licking County that their votes count, that they are secure, and that the process is complex and effective. We want to give them confidence, in this age of mis- and disinformation, that voting is secure.”
Haller said that after seeing Wigginton and Mead speak at the annual LWV meeting, she and her fellow members left feeling a restored sense of faith in the election process, and hopes that this event will help spread that sentiment throughout the county.
According to Haller, the league is and always has been a bipartisan organization that primarily focuses on encouraging people to vote and become more politically active.
“If it’s not bipartisan, we won’t do it,” she said.
Register online in advance for the event on the Licking County Library website.
Margo Ellis writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.