“I remember knocking on doors for candidates with my mom every election season since I was very little. We’d pick people up and drive them to the polls. I was just always raised with a sense of civic duty and a calling to get involved. Then I became more active in this work in my high school years, and I registered to vote as soon as I could.

People often assume that if you work in elections or voter advocacy, you must belong to a particular political party. That’s not the case. The League of Women Voters in Metro Columbus is a strictly nonpartisan organization. So we will never endorse or call out a specific political party or candidate, nor tell anyone how to vote. But we have values, and we have a heart. Our role is to ensure voters have accurate information and equal access to the ballot.

One of the issues we are focusing on right now is voter access. Especially for Absentee Voters, sharing that their ballot needs to be received by Election Day is incredibly important. If you apply for an absentee ballot and fill it out at home, you now have to mail it back to the BOE with plenty of time for it to be received, or bring it to the BOE yourself. But our mail system can take a while, so that really hurts people who already have a reason to be voting in this way. Maybe they don’t have transportation. Maybe they’re homebound. Maybe they aren’t able to get off of work, so they have to vote by absentee. These restrictions make it more difficult for them to participate. My role is to help as many people as possible understand these new voting laws and assist them in registering to vote and casting their ballot.

We never want anybody to feel like their vote doesn’t matter. We need people to continue to vote. But I also empathize and understand why people want to throw their hands up and say, ‘What’s the point?’ Especially when we talk to young folks who have a lot of apathy because they have not seen the needle move in the direction that they want it to move, or they’ve been disappointed several times. But statistically, there are more young people in our region, and if they all voted, they would see the change they can make possible. Each year, over 155,000 young people in Ohio turn 18, enough new voters to make a real difference in elections. We share this stat when we visit local high schools, and we really try to empower the students we talk to that their voice is valuable, and voting is one way to use their voice.

We are not oblivious to the fact that voting isn’t the only thing that’s going to change our world.  Some members of our community cannot vote due to age or citizenship status. Civic engagement takes many forms like contacting elected officials, organizing, attending public meetings, or peacefully protesting. Our mission is to provide nonpartisan resources, education, and tools so that every person can participate in democracy in the ways available to them.” 

– Sophia Lombardo is the Operations Manager for the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus.