Opinion Essays by League Members

Don't destroy citizen initiative

By Charley Williams

Former LWVOC President

Orlando Sentinel Repost, MAR 22, 2025

Thank you, Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeffrey Schweers and your Editorial Board, for shining a light on the proposed roadblocks to Florida’s long-standing citizen initiative process.

This assault on citizen initiatives raises the recurring question: Whose government is it anyway? Hint: it starts with “We the People.”

The initiative process lies at the heart of grassroots citizen tradition. You have the right to petition your government. Sound familiar? It should. It’s enshrined in our U.S. Constitution.

The initiative petition became law in Florida’s landmark 1968 Constitution. Since then, voters have used initiatives for sweeping improvements to our state.

In 2010, the Florida League of Women Voters supported ballot initiatives Amendment 9 and 10 to provide baseline standards for drawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries. The intent: to end partisan gerrymandering. Both amendments

passed with more than the 60% required threshold.

Another example is the 2014 ballot initiative to fund Florida Forever at respectable levels— for land conservation preservation and acquisitions. That amendment was hugely popular, passing with 75%.

Over the years, the Orange County League of Women Voters has defended this right of citizens to shape their government. We encourage our Tallahassee elected officials to leave the initiative process unchanged. It has served Floridians well.

There is no need to preempt or muzzle the citizen voice. Can we suggest this Legislature try a different tact and find ways to enhance voters’ voices?

It could pay dividends at future district town halls and on Election Day.



CJ Williams Winter Park

CJ Williams is the past president of the League of Women Voters of Orange County.

The unsheltered are not the problem

by Jane Hursh, LWVOC Board Member

Orlando Sentinel Repost, MAR 22, 2025

A bright hope for the Central Florida community to begin to alleviate the growing numbers of unsheltered neighbors was snuffed out last week by the city of Orlando.

Why? Because those who live in SoDo who showed up to oppose the plan were concerned that a homeless shelter might create greater hardships for their community. The thing is, the existing building had already been a work-release center for… wait for it… actual criminals.

With the loss of this option for adding more shelter beds, the region’s quest to solve homelessness is losing ground. There is talk of utilizing mobile, Greyhound-size buses that sleep 20 people. The city must still approve this. And while “brilliant in its simplicity,” according to Eric Gray, CEO of the Christian Service Center, it’s still not a permanent fix.

It’s time to shift our thinking, says Martha Are, CEO/Central Florida Commission on Homelessness and the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida. Are was a panelist at the March 12 “Hot Topics” Forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Orange County.

It’s not those who are experiencing homelessness who are criminals, the panelists said. It is the unlivable hourly wages and dismal housing market in Central Florida that are the culprits. And the numbers prove it. Are says the average $13 hourly wage is only a fraction of what is necessary to live.

These two egregious realities keep people in rental situations too long (if they can afford to stay), creating a backlog of the need for affordable rentals. Affordable entry-level homes are not adequate, either. Are warns that a family already spending half of its wages on housing cannot absorb a rent increase of even $100 (usually more).

For context, last year’s Point in Time count (2024) found the number of unsheltered people in the Orange/Seminole/Osceola tri-county area was up by 105% (Homeless Services Network of Central Florida).

Even more stark, those results from that most recent PIT survey may understate the problem. This measurement seeks to identify and account for each person experiencing homelessness, with teams interviewing people across the Central Florida community. This year’s count was hampered by the threat of arrest. People are hiding because a new state law, enacted at the start of this year, demands people be arrested if found to be camping on public property.

More families are being squeezed out of rental housing and onto the streets or into their cars. And the new law forces families to keep moving. They cannot afford an arrest, and the fear of DCF (Department of Children and Families) taking away their children is very, very real.

Being pushed out of a stable home disrupts childhood learning and mental health. Zeynep Portway, Executive Director of the Samaritan Resource Center, also reported to the League that families will often just move around in their original neighborhood so the children can remain in school.

Heartbreaking? Without question. Criminal behavior? Hardly.

And this number is growing. Approximately 40% of Central Florida’s residents who are experiencing homelessness are under the age of 18 or over 55.

Are’s suggestion? Provide smaller, subsidized housing units with fewer beds and disperse them all over the community. She believes this would not just alleviate the unhoused numbers but would also allow families to remain in their neighborhoods for stability. Isn’t that safer for everyone?

It can take up to an entire year to get funding from various sources. As a result, our unhoused numbers increase significantly during delays for larger, multi-family projects.

Mark Brewer, President and CEO of the Central Florida Foundation, views homelessness as a dilemma, not a problem solved with a single action.

If we’re serious about alleviating the situation, it’s going to have to involve all of us, in every neighborhood. The Sentinel’s editorial suggestion to reconsider (“Orlando leaders, please don’t extinguish hopes for SoDo District facility,” March 16) is heartening. But if we continue to say “no,” when our “yes” could improve the lives, well being, and overall health of our entire community, that will be the real crime.



Jane Hursh is a member of the board of directors of the League of Women Voters of Orange County.

We will never give up on America

By Linda Chapin

Linda was Orange County Mayor 1990-1998 and is a lifetime League member and was LWVOC President 1976-1978

Orlando Sentinel Repost



In these times when we find it difficult to look ahead with any degree of certainty, it can be a diversion to look back, instead.

In doing so I’ve realized, to my surprise, that I was living through America’s best years.

I can’t claim to remember a great deal about the Second World War, but as my mother and I stayed in Jacksonville with my grandparents while my father was overseas, I think I absorbed some of the climate of those years: of scarcity but solidarity, of fears and evening radio broadcasts, but above all of resilience and a deep sense that we were all in this together, even across the globe.

And in the years that followed, it seemed to a child that America was filled with sunshine. In long summer days, my friends and I could leave the house with peanut butter and jelly or bologna sandwiches in the baskets of our bicycles, and the only restriction laid down was to be home for dinner or before dark, whichever came first.

For adults, the postwar years were a time of optimism and rebuilding. A brisk economy and full employment provided upward mobility and a secure place in the middle class for many. Neighborhoods were growing, and families were putting down roots. With the Marshall Plan rebuilding Europe and an open and free trade policy, America was leading the world.

While our country in the ’50s demonstrated its typical characteristics of energy and vitality, John and Jackie Kennedy added elegance and a sense of culture and sophistication. People around the world were impressed and grieved with us when Camelot was cut so tragically short.

The man from Texas, Lyndon Baines Johnson, whom so many of us had questioned and mistrusted as vice president, surprised us with a wellspring of great social progress. His initiatives aimed to eliminate poverty, and many of his policies shaped America and remain with us today. The Civil Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start and so many more reassured us that our country was secure enough to show compassion to the less fortunate.

But no leader is perfect, and LBJ’s record was marred by the escalating war in Vietnam.

Nostalgia can soften the edges of history, and a child might not have realized the injustices that remained in too many parts of the country, but with my college years came the awareness of much work to be done. Those were the times when young people, filled with idealism, set out to address those wrongs, believing that change was not only critical but within our reach. Protests against the war and a commitment to the civil rights movement all shaped my generation. We debated, we marched, we challenged authority, not always wisely, but with the conviction that we could make a difference.

And slowly, change came about. The gay liberation movement brought dignity and self-realization and eventually legal changes to benefit a formerly marginalized population. The fight for women’s equality and a desire to be full participants in America’s civic and political life gained momentum, and we saw it at the local level right here in Central Florida.

Progress wasn’t easy, but it was exciting and exhilarating. Each movement helped shape America’s vision of itself as more just, more inclusive, and more aligned with its original ideals.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union left Europe largely unified, and the United States encouraged an agreed-upon international order that promoted democracy, global cooperation and free markets.

Our generosity as a nation extended to those who suffered in other parts of the world, even as millions of people were lifted from abject poverty. It seemed that benefits were all around us. In Central Florida, Disney World was firmly established, Universal Studios on the way, and our new airport was filled with visitors. Suddenly Orlando was on the map, not just “five hours from Miami.” What a sense of optimism we felt!

I don’t overlook remaining political debates, the conflict in the Balkans, the Challenger tragedy and above all the terrible morning of Sept. 11. These latter events are imprinted in all our memories and will be forever: “Where were you when…”

But even the hard times seemed to bring us together in a spirit of unity. And when Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, we rejoiced… too soon… that our long national nightmare of racism was over. When did that optimism begin to fade? Surely with grinding wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Possibly with a growing resentment from some that “diversity, equity and inclusion” were not ideals to be promoted but impediments to those who formerly controlled the narrative. Surely with growing economic gaps between hard-working families and the super-rich.

And today that conviction that the future held unlimited promise and a better life for all seems to have vanished. The American Dream of opportunity feels out of reach for too many of us. Dissension, division and disunity are the order of the day. We will never give up on America. Instead, we hope for better news and better days ahead.

Vote by Mail

"Don’t forget to request mail ballots from election supervisors this week"

By Gina Hall, Voter Services Co-chair

Orlando Sentinel Repost

Nancy Albright is a passionate American citizen who cherishes her right to vote. But, since she now walks with a walker and cannot drive, it’s quite a chore to get to her Winter Park voting booth.

“I used to love going to vote,” she says. “But now, thank heavens, I can use Vote by Mail. It’s a welcomed necessity for me and many others that allows us to vote with independence and dignity.”

As soon as she mailed in her ballot for last November’s election, Albright renewed her Vote by Mail status, which she knew would expire Dec. 31.And then she wrote 500 postcards urging others to renew, too. A reminder is helpful, because the changed law apparently confused some voters: In 2020, 40 percent of Orange County voters used vote-by-mail, versus only 22 percent in 2024, according to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office.

Be like Nancy Albright. If you want to vote by mail, now is the time to renew your Vote by Mail status with your Supervisor of Elections (SOE).

In Orange County, be sure your SOE receives your request before Feb. 27, if you want to vote by mail in the March 11 local elections in Belle Isle, Maitland, Ocoee, Windermere and Winter Park. Orange County residents can renew through their Supervisor of Elections, at ocfelections.com. Beyond Orange County, other Florida counties have SOEs, too.

You have other options to vote in Orange County, of course, including same-day voting in your precinct and early voting at specific sites, all detailed on the Supervisor of Elections website or by phone.

If you thought you didn’t need to renew vote-by-mail again this year, you have a lot of company with other similarly confused would-be voters. Many people don’t know that their Vote by Mail reservation was deleted Dec. 31, 2024, after the general election, thanks to a 2021 change in Florida law. And, despite the popularity of mail-in balloting, the voting numbers took a huge dive after the new law required voters to renew every two years. If some legislator intended to suppress the vote with the 2021 law, it’s working.

In Orange County, in 2020, before the change in the state law, 40% of voters signed up for ballots; after the state law, that number dropped to 22%, according to Scott Hottenstein, director of outreach and education for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. Of those who request Vote by Mail ballots, 93% follow through to vote. “So, if you request a Vote by Mail ballot, you are going to vote,” Hottenstein said.



The Florida association of supervisors of elections is advocating a change in the law again to make it easier for people to vote by mail.

“There’s no reason for it to expire after two years,” says the Rev. Kathy Schmitz, president of the Orange County League of Women Voters. “That just adds another barrier for our voters, and we’re all about removing barriers to voting.

“People are confused about why the Legislature would make it harder for people to vote,” she said. “Vote-by-mail is a really convenient way to vote. It’s secure and safe, and it ensures that people who have busy lives can vote, even if they aren’t always available on a Tuesday.”

“If you sign up for vote by mail, you may still vote in person,” said Scott Hottenstein of the SOE office.

“In the 2024 general election, 90 percent of voters who requested VBM and voted, voted by mail. And 1 out of 10 VBM voters voted in person.”

Gina Hall is co-chair of the Voter Services Committee of

the League of Women Voters of Orange County.

A Call for Compassion and Action

Written by Joanie Schirm | Orlando Sentinel Repost

When I recently, like the rest of America, heard the soft-spoken voice of Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, from the pulpit of the Washington National Cathedral, ask President Trump to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” I felt my heart leap. When the Bishop reminded us that “the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals but good neighbors and faithful members of religious communities,” I was struck by how vital it is to carry this truth in our minds and hearts.

I felt hopeful that her words would ignite a heart-filled outpouring of support across the nation, with religious leaders, law enforcement, and other critical voices speaking up for the importance of immigrants to the fabric of our country. But instead, primarily crickets.

As an author, I view myself as a curious wanderer through the landscapes of history, family, and the human spirit. My writing often weaves personal experiences with larger narratives, encouraging readers to reflect, connect and discover. I draw deeply from the well of my family’s history, marked by resilience, loss, and survival across continents and generations.

At the core of my recent work is my Czech Jewish father’s incredible escape from Nazi-occupied Europe to the tenuous refuge of China — a desperate journey shared by thousands of others seeking safety. His survival, contrasted with the heartbreaking loss of over forty relatives, including his parents and grandmother who perished in the Holocaust, has shaped my understanding of the fragility of freedom and the strength of the human spirit.

My father’s story also highlights the responsibility that comes with the privilege of safety. After finding a new life in America — a country that once hesitated to embrace Jewish refugees — my father dedicated his life as a family doctor to helping others. He and my mother opened their hearts and homes to people in need, including a Cuban family fleeing violence. Their example taught me that our shared humanity demands kindness, empathy, and action. Bishop Budde’s words resonated deeply with me, a daughter of a refugee who owes her very existence to America’s willingness to welcome him.

Unfortunately, immigration reform in America has long been sidelined by Congress, used as little more than a political football. While I believe we all can agree that violent crimes — whether committed by citizens or migrants — demand swift enforcement of the law, our inability to craft a comprehensive immigration policy has left millions of lives in limbo and weakened our nation’s moral standing. Partisan gridlock is to blame.

For instance, in 2013, a bipartisan group of senators known as the “Gang of Eight” introduced the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. It passed the Senate with overwhelming support (68-32) but was never taken up by the House. The legislation died, not because of its content but because of political gamesmanship. A similar story unfolded in the 2024 U.S. Congress, with then-former President Donald Trump killing a bipartisan Senate bill that didn’t make it out of the House.

Today, we find ourselves trapped in the same cycle. Whether it’s then-President Joe Biden’s proposed reforms or Trump’s campaign promises, comprehensive immigration reform is repeatedly blocked by those more concerned with wielding power than solving problems.

We deserve better. Immigrants deserve better. America deserves better.

I urge our leaders to rise above the partisan fray and craft legislation that honors our nation’s legacy as a beacon of hope and opportunity. We need reforms that secure our borders, enforce our laws, and uphold the values of compassion and fairness that define us as Americans.



Immigration is not just about politics; it’s about people like my father, whose contributions to his adopted country were immeasurable. It’s about the millions of families who enrich our communities, strengthen our economy, and remind us of the extraordinary power of the human spirit to overcome hardship.

Let us not allow fear and division to dictate our policies. Instead, let us remember Bishop Budde’s call for mercy and action. It’s time to demand that Congress stop playing politics with people’s lives and pass comprehensive immigration reform that reflects the best of who we are as a nation.

The heart of America beats the strongest when it beats for others. Let us not forget that.

Joanie Holzer Schirm is an Orlando writer and community activist.

5 things I can do now for democracy

By Ann Patton, Communications Coordinator

Orlando Sentinel, Op Ed



In a time of political turmoil, such as today, many of us are asking: What can I do now for

democracy?

Here’s my thought on five things I can do now.

1.Find the heroes and give them my support.

When I peer out from my occasional moments of despair, I see there are heroes everywhere.

They give me hope.

Some are leaders doing big things. Some are working in groups, such as the League of Women Voters of Orange County. And many are just everyday folk stoking the essential fires of life, working against the odds, in whatever circumstance they find themselves.

It can be lonely, even dangerous, out there on the hero circuit. And we all love to criticize more than we like to praise. Maybe an occasional token of my appreciation might help some warrior: a little donation to a leader, a volunteer hour to a nonprofit, a word of thanks to anybody making life better.

These heroes inspire me and, perhaps, give me strength in case life someday challenges me to leave my safe zone and speak up for what I believe.

2. Renew my vote-by-mail ballot.

I want to be ready to exercise and secure my precious right to vote. Orange County will hold local elections right away, in February and March, in Windermere, Ocoee, Winter Park, Belle Isle and Maitland.

We have several choices when we vote, including my personal favorite, vote by mail. According to recent Florida law, vote-by-mail requests expire after each federal general election cycle, which means all vote-by-mail requests, including mine, expired on Dec. 31, 2024.

If I want to continue voting by mail — which I do — I need to submit a new vote-by-mail request now so I can continue to vote in this safe, convenient way over the coming elections. I can request my updated ballot by phone, mail, or online from my local Supervisor of Elections, in my case ocfelections.com. Takes less than 5 minutes.

3. Guard my trusted sources of accurate information.

In tough times, it’s tempting to try to hide from the news. But in fact, if we are responsible citizens of a democracy, we need to understand what’s happening in fair weather and foul.

Today, in a historic age of purposeful disinformation, it’s no small task to find accurate information — essential elements of a free society. Are we prisoners of somebody’s algorithm?

We can choose our information sources carefully. Do they follow long-established journalistic practices? Are they fully transparent, so we know where they get their information and funding? Do they have a record of truth-telling, whether in straight news or editorial opinions — and do they honor the difference?

And when I choose my information diet, how can I support it? As I can afford, that means paying for subscriptions, speaking up to support my trusted sources and occasionally offering my thanks for their excellent work. (Thank you, Orlando Sentinel.)

4. Do something to help somebody who needs it.

Our world offers no shortage of people who need a hand now and then, and some are at particular risk right now. Perhaps I can find some small way to help them, knowing that in a time of turmoil, some acts may bear a political cost.

I can reach out and help somebody, whether individually or through some helping group, such as the local Hope CommUnity Center that supports farm workers.

Democracy functions best when we help each other. And seizing a little chance to help others invariably makes me feel that life is worth living.

5. Take care of my personal support circle.

Now more than ever, we need each other. I am blessed to have a magnificent support circle of thoughtful friends and family, mutually dedicated to preserving democracy. If you don’t have such a support group, find one, and make mutual support a priority.

My small contributions may be no more than grains of sand; but, together, we may ride the waves of turbulent seas and help shore up the foundation of our priceless democracy.

Ann Patton is an Orlando-based writer and author of several local history books on social justice issues.

Fight for DEIA to help those with disabilities

By Marilyn Baldwin, DEIA Co-chair

Orlando Sentinel letter to editor

We must fight to keep the DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility) programs for people with disabilities. Accessibility and employment matter and will positively impact our diverse DEIA community and our entire community. Please help us work to give people with disabilities the quality of life that we deserve with employment opportunities and accessible accommodations, so that we can live independently with dignity in our local communities.

I am an African American citizen with a disability living in our local Central Florida community. I am legally blind, with limited vision and hearing loss, and a degree from Florida’s Bethune-Cookman University. Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act and a wonderful employer, I was able to work for years as a productive, tax-paying employee in local government. And now, I am able to assume a leadership role as co-chair of the DEIA Committee of the League of Women Voters of Orange County.

Without DEIA, I and others in my situation would likely have spent our years struggling to rise above dependency on others and perhaps on American taxpayers.

The Americans with Disabilities Act and other DEIA programs helped make the journey to independence possible for me and countless others. I want to ensure that all people with disabilities like me have the same opportunities that I had for employment in jobs that they are qualified to hold.

Shown right/below: Marilyn being assisted by Supervisor of Elections office on how to cast a ballot using adaptive technology for voters with disabilities.

Marilyn Baldwin is co-chair of the DEIA Committee of the League of Women Voters of

Orange County.