League of Women Voters of Sarasota County

🌈 Pride is for everyone. Have pride in your vote during this year's midterm elections and make sure your voter registration is updated. Visit vote411.org to get started.

Happy Pride Month ✨

The future of our schools is shaped by the choices we make today. The Sarasota School Board oversees a $1.3 billion budget and makes decisions that impact students, families, educators, and our community for years to come.
Make sure your voice is part of that future—register to vote and vote in the Primary, August 18th. Its the final election for school board and all voters can vote!
To register to vote or check your registration status visit: registertovoteflorida.gov
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The 19th Amendment was passed by both houses of Congress in 1919, which began the state ratification process that would lead to the Amendment's certification in the Constitution on August 26, 1920.

But the battle for women's right to vote didn't end there. While it represented a major victory for the movement after nearly 70 years of activism, the 19th Amendment did not simply grant universal suffrage for all women.

Native American women were not considered US citizens until 1924, but until as late as 1962, individual states still prevented them from voting.

Asian American immigrant women were excluded from voting until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allowed them to gain citizenship.

Black women faced Jim Crow-era barriers like poll taxes, voter ID requirements, and acts of violence that threatened their ability to cast a ballot until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Latina women faced literacy tests and other language-based setbacks that prevented them from voting until a 1975 extension of the Voting Rights Act.

As we celebrate this monumental achievement for women, we also recognize that only some of the women who fought for suffrage were able to exercise their newly-won right to vote. Despite being some of the movement's fiercest advocates, suffragists like Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Zitkála-Šá, and Luisa Capetillo could not cast their first ballots in the 1920 election because of their race.

Today, we honor the women who not only fought for the 19th Amendment's passage, but also after it, as their efforts on behalf of their communities paved the way for the freedoms of all American women.

📷: Dora Lewis (seated), Abby Scott Baker (seated), Anita Pollitzer (standing), Alice Paul (seated), Florence Boeckel (seated), and Mabel Vernon (standing) conferring over ratification of the 19th Amendment at the National Woman's Party headquarters, 1919.

🗳️ Are you election ready?

Before Sarasota County's Primary Election on August 18, take less than two minutes to check your voter registration status. Confirm your name, address, party affiliation, and voting status—and make any updates before the registration deadline.
A strong community starts with participation. Make sure you're ready to make your voice heard.

In keeping with the League’s mission to empower voters, the LWVSRQ invites you to hear directly from the Sarasota County Commission Districts 2 & 4 candidates. Click here to register and submit candidate questions: https://bit.ly/4fWiU8s . Forums allow voters to hear directly from the candidates as they all answer the same carefully curated nonpartisan questions.

Convenient, flexible and efficient. In this short video, Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner explains early voting in Florida and shares the information you need to know if you want to vote early in the upcoming elections. https://youtu.be/xelvw4zWMpE?si=YKff8OUGQ1w66WKU

Unconstitutional Gerrymandering continues. In 2010, Florida voters amended that constitution by approving what are called Fair Districts amendments, which prohibit congressional or legislative redistricting to favor or disfavor a political party.

Judge upholds Florida congressional map changes A judge upheld Florida's redrawn congressional maps, potentially giving Republicans four extra seats this election.

The August Primary is the final election for School Board! And all Voter can vote regardless of party affiliation! From curriculum to budgets to leadership, the School Board makes key decisions. Make your voice heard in this key primary election.