A little over a year ago, we were poised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the League of Women Voters. The Seminole League had planned our most elaborate celebration in memory. The plan was to unveil our history project at that time. Events, as we all know, intervened and we have yet to meet together in person.
The hard work of our history committee should be shared. So, as Women’s History Month comes to a close, we plan to begin to roll out our history.
We can’t do this without acknowledging the members who worked tirelessly to comb through boxes with decades of paperwork and records. Thanks to everyone who helped at various points, but especially those who spearheaded the project with countless hours of work. So thanks to Kathie Holland, Zelda Ladan, Debbie Carswell for your dedication and hard work and special thanks to Susan Squires for pulling it together and writing our history so beautifully.
It seems fitting that we start with an introduction. Look for further segments of our history in the coming weeks and months.
INTRODUCTION
Shoulder to Shoulder: The League of Women Voters of Seminole County
On April 18, 1966, a small group of women came together to establish the League of Women Voters of Seminole County. They were “housewives” in the vernacular of that time, and generally known by their husbands’ names, rather than by their own. Most were young, college-educated mothers, looking for stimulation and hoping to do some good. They met in each other’s homes and brought their children along. They would go on to meet in libraries, churches and board rooms, and their forums would fill auditoriums.
“To me, the League was our outlet for doing something beyond taking care of our children and our households, and I always considered League my continuing education,” said Marilyn Crotty (LWVSC president 1973-74).
Seminole County in 1966 was largely rural. But Central Florida was about to change, quickly and dramatically. Early League leaders worried that county government wasn’t prepared.
“There were no rules. There were no regulations. I-4 was under construction, and we saw a need,” Pat Burkett (LWVSC parks committee chairwoman 1969-77) said.
Seminole County was without a comprehensive land use plan or even a planning department. There were neither county library nor parks systems. It didn’t have enough schools, and the schools it had weren’t accredited. Juveniles who had been charged with crimes shared jails with adults. The League of Women Voters Seminole County changed all of that in its first few, remarkable years.
“Seminole County in those days, and perhaps much of Florida at that time, was fairly unsophisticated,” Ms. Crotty said. “It wasn’t a politically-active community, so if there was a group of people who had some interest in issues, you could have a really big impact because nobody else was doing anything.
There were five referendum questions on the ballot in November, 1970. Three – parks, a juvenile justice center and a mental health center – were League initiatives. All passed.
“One of the reasons Seminole County’s League was so successful, even though we were such a small group, is that nobody else was coming forward with ideas and positions and pushing the elected officials to actually do some of these things we saw were lacking in our community,” Ms. Crotty said.
The small League also became a force, Lynda Mays (LWVSC president 1979) believes, because of its esprit de corps.
“We were a group,” Ms. Mays said. “Even if we didn’t like each other, we worked together.”
The Seminole League would see successes in later years, too, such as SunRail, enhanced-911 service and solar energy cooperatives. It fought off threats to the founding members’ achievements, such as the Environmental Studies Center, and resisted efforts to privatize emergency response services and the libraries. But there were years in the doldrums, too, when it barely managed to tend to its core services, such as voter registration and education.
“Survival,” was the greatest achievement of her presidency from 2005-2007, Pat Southward said. “Our membership was down in the 30s. There was no money and no energy to do anything.”
The kind of women who had founded the League and sustained it through its early history had entered the workforce in larger numbers as their career opportunities became more interesting and lucrative. Fewer members were able to do the League’s demanding, often exhausting work.
Also, much of the state Legislature, which had once welcomed the League’s public policy recommendations, dismissed it as a “liberal” organization for its positions on charter school accountability, fairly-drawn legislative districts, environmental protection, affordable health care and gun safety.
“We used to be able to introduce bills and see them pass, though not always,” Ms. Crotty said. “But now the Legislature has become opposed to so many of the things the League is for that now our role seems to be fighting.”
The Seminole League has certainly fought hard, but it has also adapted and found new ways to serve its community. Where it succeeded on its own in the early years, leaders found collaborating with the Orange County and state Leagues essential to the Seminole County League’s continuing relevance.
Ms. Southward credits former Orange County League and state League President Deirdre Macnab with revitalizing the organization locally and statewide.
“Deirdre saved us and the League of Florida,” Ms. Southward said. “With her skills, her personality, she made League a political power. And she dragged us with her.”
In recent years, Seminole League members have worked successfully to restore former felons’ voting rights and ensure fairly- drawn legislative districts, advocated for early voting on college campuses and fought misleading constitutional amendments. It also increased its membership to more than 180 and deliberately broadened the diversity of its members.
“There were a lot of years the League wasn’t willing to step up and fight for the things we agreed we believed in,” Ms. Crotty said. “But now we are a recognized force, and most of that is due to the (statewide) League’s willingness to litigate. And successfully. It really makes you proud to be a League member.”
It is indeed with pride that we present this history of the League of Women Voters Seminole County, and humbly dedicate it to the women who revolutionized Seminole County and to those who have kept the League alive and dynamic.