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>> Early voting is underway in Indiana's two thousand twenty two midterm election as Election Day November eight is now just over a week away.

Voters will be electing U.S. congressional representatives and senators, state legislators, county officials, judges, township officials, town council members and all of that means someone needs to help.

>> And happily there is a Web site developed by the League of Women Voters is providing nonpartizan information on everything from polling locations to background on the candidates as well as the issues that are involved in the races ahead.

>> And we're going to learn more about the Web site vote for one one dot org on this week's prime time and good evening every since our guests are from the League of Women Voters Fort Wayne , Karen Eller and Sandra Junk are with us and we invite you to join this conversation with your questions and comments.

>> Please feel free to give a call with the number that you see on the screen as we widen out and say good evening to Karen and Sandy .

>> Thank you both for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you so much for having us.

Really our pleasure and a timely opportunity to get together particularly with four one one usually meaning it's about information put the word vote in front of it and now we know why that information is important.

>> But tell us more about what vote for one one Doug is.

Well, you gave a great introduction already so it is a nonpartisan website that is sponsored by the League of Women Voters and I like to think of it as like your one stop shopping for voter education.

>> So the great thing about vote for one one is that it has two different types of information you can go to it for tactical information like am I registered to vote?

>> Where is my polling place?

>> What time is it open?

Those sorts of things that you need to know in order to get to your polling location.

But it also serves as a very comprehensive voting guide and the thing that makes vote for one one so unique is that it asks candidates up and down the ballot for their responses to surveys and those surveys are then returned back to vote for one one and those answers from the candidates are put directly back into the website.

So when you are scrolling through vote for one one you can see the answer side by side and really do an apples to apples comparison on what the candidates believe in what their priorities are and how that resonates with you as a voter.

>> So it really provides an educational platform for you to make an informed choice to say this is a high calling because nonpartisan information related to elections is a hard asset to find these days.

>> It really is.

And we found when we called every candidate before we even sent out the survey and asked them if they would they would fill it out and they were all very excited to to do that for us.

I got so many comments that we love the League of Women Voters and I got that from both sides of the coin.

I called Republicans, Democrats, the independents so we're really proud of being able to get all that in one focused place for everyone.

>> The genesis of this though is also interesting because it seems, you know that you try to find a need and fill it.

>> What was it that you sense and that the league perhaps as expressed as the site was coming together, what did the league see as the situation that needed to be addressed and and what then the approach of four one one as a way to be the answer?

I I guess I'm a newer member to the League of Women Voters so I don't know that I have all those answers but I will tell you from doing tabling events out in the community when you're like hey, can I tell you about vote for a while when people are like yeah, I don't I don't know that I want to talk about that as soon as you say it's a nonpartisan website they stop and when you tell them what it is and what's on there they get very excited to hear about it.

So kind of gotten a spiel down in about 20 seconds so I can kind of get their attention there.

But I'm sure that that was what the League of Women Voters saw in their minds when they put this website together and I see it on the faces when I'm talking to people out in the community that they're just like oh wait, there is something out there that's nonpartisan and has good information on the candidates and where they stand gearing up for you I think I absolutely agree with that.

>> I think one of the things that I've experienced talking to voters is this reluctance to vote for someone that they don't know who is.

And so we are trying to eliminate obstacles to voting whatever educational obstacles may be, whether it's you don't know where your poll site is or you don't know who the candidates are and you're on your ballot and there are a number of websites out there where you can find the candidates listed on your ballot but to go through and have to painstakingly look up every single one and try to find them individually and their views individually is very complicated and I think we don't have time for that.

>> We we all have things going on.

We want to be able to get in and get out.

And so this Web site is such a great way to cut through the noise and be able to really focus in on who's my school board candidates what what is their focus for right now.

>> And I think that expediting that learning curve has been really influential in making this website happen and we touched on this in the open about the number of areas in which election attention will be paid for candidates up and down from national to very, very local and to have candidates in fact respond to questions that's that's a rather unique position, isn't it?

>> Yeah, I think so.

Like I said, we did call everyone that we sent surveys out to and people were excited to to return those we got I think our response rate is fifty two percent.

We got eighty five candidate responses and this is from your township trustees all the way up to our US Senate candidates there are responses and vote for one one and the website has developed even since the first iteration and so this year we have and this election we have school board candidates that are now listed in judges so you can find those more easily as well and that's one of the things that I am sure the website will address and we will take a tour momentarily.

But when you are finally encountering your ballot for the you know, the first time that that can be pretty intimidating to see, you know, how many names are coming back into two eyeballs to be able to find out how that works out.

>> And so to have people walk or frame the information in such a way that you can walk through the races and be more familiar takes the fear of voting away or at least the anxiety perhaps of voting and you're nodding your head.

>> Absolutely.

I it's funny I've heard some feedback before people go into their ballot of why is the website set up this way?

This doesn't make any sense.

>> Well, it's set up exactly how your ballot is set up.

So when you walk through it you can actually even print out we'll go through this later but you can print out a copy of what your what your voting choices are and when you walk through it with your ballot it makes perfect sense.

>> Well, let's go ahead and perhaps take a tour.

Yes.

And Sandy , you're going to be our guide I'm going to be your guide today on that tour.

>> Let's take a look indeed at vote for one one dog and this would be the home page that pops up.

>> Yes, this is the home page and again you're going to go into your Web browser, make sure you vote for one one dog in there and this is our home page and we're just going to scroll down down the page.

Here's where you put it personalized voting information and we'll go back to that.

We are a national organization so you can check out any state that you might have questions about or or maybe parents that live in a different state and you want to check on that for them.

Hmm.

You go a little bit farther down on the home screen.

You can find about making a voting plan and we do have eight hundred numbers you can call if you run into any problems on election Day.

>> So you might want to keep those numbers with you and I want to come back to voting play this along with in fact you could do it if you're doing the tour because I'm not sure folks thinking that way.

>> Yeah.

So a voting plan is really double checking that you're registered if you like to do the early voting option like I do, you can find out what those are if you want to do day of voting which lots of people like to do, find out your polling place researcher candidate and then of course share it with your friends and family and then this provides you some more information in here on everything you need to do to go vote especially helpful for our younger voters and then here's some information on our social media accounts.

I see Instagram is missing there but we are on Instagram and of course we have national sponsors to help keep this great website going.

>> So what we're going to do from here is go up to our sample ballot and you're just going to click on that box there for today's purposes we're going to use the downtown Allen County Library.

>> But of course if you're sitting at home you're going to want to use your own personal address and you want to just type that in there.

And it's important to use your address because we know different places the in the county in the city you're going to have a different ballot than other folks.

>> So you put that information in and click submit and that will take you to your voter's guide.

This is where the magic happens .

So if you go down here, the first thing you might see is select your your party.

We're going to worry about that for the general election in Indiana that comes up in the primaries and the next thing is go to my races and here is your sample ballot for the for the downtown library address.

>> Here's a sample ballot and what you can do is you can click on a position and you can read all about the like the US Senate position.

>> What are the qualifications to run for that?

What are the responsibilities for that seat?

>> And you can look at all of them if you're wondering like a township trustee or something.

And now here's the magic a vote for one one.

We're going to go down to the Allen County sheriff's race.

Both candidates responded.

So here you'll see biographical information and what their qualifications are education things you could probably find on their website.

But if you scroll down a little bit farther we will see.

Here's the three questions we asked each candidate and we asked very specific questions for their position and you can read their responses side by side and then you the voter can make a determination of who Moat's suits your values and you would want to vote for three good questions and then at the bottom there it says I think it says make your selection.

>> We won't do that here so we don't influence anyone and then we're going to take this back and what we're going to do is take three to four of the uncontested races and we're going to go ahead and pick those candidates so that we can show you what that looks like when you have your your sample ballot all completed because every time you go in there and you review the candidates, you can pick who you like.

>> All right.

And now you can see if you scroll down there you can see all the candidates that you picked and you feel good about that.

>> You do a double check and go back up to the top and click finish and that's going to take you to this last page where you can put in your your phone number or your email address and have that information just sent right over to you and you can take that with you on voting.

You can take that with you on voting day.

Yeah.

So I have already built I have my cliff notes if you will of what I need and I can take that to the polls with me.

>> Yeah.

So if you're looking at that yeah.

If you're you know maybe you're looking at that two weeks ahead of time and you go vote on Election Day and then you're like oh I can't remember those three school board candidate names that I that I checked and but you'll have it right there on your phone and I'm assuming tremendous benefit for all of us as we age and intake information in different ways but certainly for first time voters this is the security blanket that probably a lot more folks wish they had.

>> Yes.

So when you're looking at younger voters, first time voters, those that want additional information, the one thing I kept seeing over and over with the league talk about this the importance of not only the not partizanship but of being a trusted source online as a broker for all of this detail.

>> Yeah.

So we we really want people to have information we want and I think that we all know that the younger demographics are some of the demographics that are slower to come to the voting process.

>> So the the league is really encouraging all people to vote and for all elections and so what I think is important about this is that especially for the younger subset Sandy mentioned having a voting plan, having a plan.

Research has been done on this and is one of the critical components to getting people to the polls.

So when I was working with students at PUEDO one of the things I had them do was write out a postcard and fill out their name and address and it had them write out where they're voting, what time they're voting the they're voting and who they're bringing with them.

And before the election got under way I dropped those postcards in the mail so they got something there to tell them that they could go vote.

So they're just they're fun ways to get people engaged and involved.

But you don't have to be a younger voter to need a voting plan.

We encourage everyone Sandy mentioned this but we encourage everyone to make a calendar request for yourself.

>> Sandy just said she'd already voted.

I still have it voted.

I need to do that.

I need to put it on my calendar and we need to include all of those components.

>> Early voting is underway so we can all be voting in Allen County right now and in fact to that point we have some additional information and we're sure a pencil and paper handy for you because early voting will continue right up to Election Day and here is the information that's all available variety of different precincts and all of this can also be found on vote for one one dog.

I'm sure that every so often to there is that proverbial question where is my polling place where they keep moving in on me and I keep having to try to find it?

>> You have that in there too.

>> I assume it's what type in the address type in the zip code something along that line.

Yeah, one of the links I'd vote for one will take you it actually takes you to the Indiana voting website but if you put in your address there it will tell you exactly where your polling location is and it is important to check it even if you've been going to the same one for twenty years.

>> They do they do randomly change the and write because a lot of that is going to deal with capacity and certainly with early voting there is a variety of locations from which to choose so that's a tremendous plus it's also a tremendous plus to know that the non partizanship nature, the the idea of it being accessible to all was picked up by a number of those who look online to see how this information is stewarded and daily.

Last year gave its nonprofit communications Campaign of the Year award to vote for one one dog my would say right here.

>> So that's gotten a tremendous amount posture improver to have all of that best marketing campaign, best visual storytelling and it's quite a visual it's quite a story to tell with with those visuals.

>> Yeah, yeah.

I think the I think the website is very intuitive for younger older I don't think it's intimidating in any way you can take it at your own time, your own pace.

>> I think it's fantastic and it's very live I mean right now I just saw a note about this in my emails if a candidate sees this broadcast and decides that they forgot that they've to send in their information, that information can still be updated.

And so and I just saw that they added a banner for possibilities for discounted rides on Election Day.

So there it's it's constantly being evolved and updated.

So this is not a static process .

>> This is very much in the moment right now and I had heard this once before and I'd like to get your comments.

It's a phrase that goes along the lines of voter education increases voter participation.

>> What does that mean to you and how does that work?

I would say that probably kind of sums up the reason I got involved with the League of Women Voters to begin with is I think learning there was a lot that went on with the election a couple of years ago and I didn't understand a lot that was happening and and so I started trying to learn more about our own voters in Indiana and our own voting system nationally and how that works.

>> And I think every time I I fill in that piece of a missing puzzle is I feel more empowered myself to make good decisions when I go to the to the polls to vote for you.

>> Yeah, that really resonates with me as well.

I think when when we first moved back to Indiana I was I didn't know any of the candidates.

>> I didn't know how the process worked.

I voted before but I think that I hadn't paid as much attention and having a resource where everything's consolidated just made it makes it so much easier because I do see myself as one of those people who hedged on voting because I didn't want to vote for something that I didn't understand.

And so I think that knowledge and having a succinct way to try to get to that knowledge and you know, at a time where we're all getting inundated with ads and emails and text message and all of those things that you can kind of cut out the noise and and really focus.

And of course there are all kinds of other websites in each of these candidates have websites as well.

>> This is one tool to help you access all of that knowledge.

Yeah, a fair point.

I mean this is not to say don't go anywhere else but it is safe to include us along the way as you do to see how things you know living out between the other sources of information with which you might find the League of Women Voters Fort Wayne is greatly connected to this site.

>> It's also greatly connected to a variety of other things.

And I'm wondering what about the league locally connected with you both to become active and you mentioned the importance of the election.

Tell me a little bit more about how you and the league got together.

Well, I as I was learning more about the election like some processes voters and things, they just started kind of popping up on my social media and so then I followed them and then I liked them and then I showed up to events that they were at and just a bunch of so such smart wonderful women with such great experience.

>> They've been very welcoming and encouraging and just provided so much information to me and so help me get out into the community to help engage the community more in voting.

And that's been so much it's been so much fun.

You'll see us sometimes down at the farmer's market and things and just talking out to members of the community is it's that's actually been kind of a ton of fun.

>> Yeah.

Growing up as you well you know when we moved back to Indiana we moved from Colorado which is one hundred percent vote by mail and so we've really high voting rates in Colorado and when we moved back to Indiana it was really surprised to see what the voting rates were here and very puzzled.

And so I started digging in right away to just to try to figure out what what's happening what's happening with our elections and what would inspire people to vote.

And I immediately was drawn to the league.

>> I love the bipartisan nature, the nonpartisan nature of it because it helps level the playing field for everyone like I want everyone to vote.

>> I want everyone to vote for their candidate and so having an organization that allows us to talk about that and for me to be able to go out in the community and just say hey, are you registered to vote?

>> I don't care who you're voting for just I I believe in the participation and it's a really great experience in my first meeting I have to tell you I brought my newborn with me to the library and it was such a welcoming group of people and not disturbing at all and it was so lovely to just be able to come as I am with my child in tow and have them welcomed me into the group and that was really meaningful .

Wow.

We're going to have you receive a chance to have a first encounter with the League of Women Voters.

Let's let's hear a little bit of a video tour of the League of Women Voters Fort Wayne Web site if we could.

This is the additional site in Santiago.

I'll give it all to you because this also can broaden out beyond online what activities the league is involved in.

>> Yeah, yes.

This is a great website to go to for a variety of different things to find out more than just vote for one one about the League of Women Voters.

>> First of all, I do want to give a little attention to this spot that we just scroll back quickly.

But we did have a list of thank you's to all the candidates that filled out their candidate surveys.

>> Again, thank you to all those candidates if you're out there watching us today, we do truly appreciate that.

>> Of course one of our our main focus here is voting and getting voter education out.

So we have several things under the voting info tab that you can go to teachers out there.

We even have teacher toolkits that you can look at if you're a civics teacher, government teacher or something that you would like to give some more information to your students about.

>> There's information on here for first time voters what you might want to take with you new voter if it's Spanish speaking, Burmese speaking, we have voter guides for you as well and then I can't quite read that down.

>> So here's some early voting hours for everybody you can probably find this in a variety of different places and we do also have that in Spanish and we've been sharing vote for one one dog.

But then there is also the league of Women Voters Fort Wayne Web site and which we're looking at and we'll share that right there with you.

You can write it all down and reach out to them by phone as well.

A great 20th century tool three three zero four eight four give your computer the afternoon off.

>> Say hello to these folks and give a call this whole experience we have a couple of minutes to go through about about a minute of peace on all of this.

>> You were mentioning the importance of I want people involved.

The engagement rate seems to be getting better.

Over six million visited the site in twenty twenty alone which is a very large number in anybody's calculator but for each of you, what are your aspirations for your work with the League of Women Voters?

What do you want to hope you can look back on and feel good about as you go forward if you will through the November election?

OK, what I would like after the November election I'd like to get my feet grounded a little bit more in the organization I started in June.

So it's been like all hands on deck since then and when I'd like to do heading into the next elections especially with the candidate surveys we did have a fifty two percent response rate.

Eighty five candidate responses.

I'd like to see that go up.

Certainly we want people to get on the website more and do that .

>> Most of what I would like to do though is when I'm out at some of these events and I ask people they're registered to vote and they say no and they don't want to register and I hurts my soul a little bit because I truly believe that your vote is your voice and so I want to be out there connecting with people and helping them to understand that and why it's it's important to them.

It's important to our communities.

>> It's important to this this country and in a couple of moments oh gosh.

Sandy said so well I also just recently stepped onto the board of the League of Women Voters and now I am the VP of Voter Services which is a very large overview.

>> I'm so excited for us to try to continue to work on getting out the vote with our younger subset.

I feel like there are just inspiring groups of younger voters who really want to make a difference and need the knowledge and the someone to just show them how to do that and how to be involved.

>> So if you see me on the street I will probably ask you if you're registered to vote and you can find out the power of that answer by visiting vote for one one dog and you have the league women voters support wains encouragement.

You have Karen Eller and Sandra Junk both available to help you as well.

We'll put the contact information up on the way out for all of us with prime time, I'm Bruce Haines.

Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your Friday night and we'll see you back here next week.

>> Take care