What a welcome surprise to have Past President Sue Hansen call the meeting to order and lead the Club in reciting the 4-Way Test. Past President Sue introduced Bilky Joda-Miller for an inspiring Reflection which focused on the voting process in times of uncertainty. Bilky reminded that democracy depends on participation, that voices matter, and to vote with hope and conviction.
Hari Kern led Rotarians in singing America the Beautiful.
We had no guests to welcome today and with the health of the Club being good, Past President Sue brought up our Special Music guests. Jon Gerwitz, the Lead Music Faculty at Lansing Community College spoke about the upcoming “Swing Fling” on October 30 in the Gannon Commons. It’s a free event and they will have swing dance instructors for everyone dance to the live music. There are events going on all the time with the performing arts department. Check out future dates at
www.lll.edu/showinfo.
Jon introduced the ensemble from the Swing Fling and they entertained and showcased their talents by playing Blue Bayou and Autumn Leaves. The perfect music for a fall day!
Bilky introduced our very own Past President Chris Swope to talk about his very important job as Clerk for the City of Lansing. Chris was elected as Lansing’s 36th City Clerk in 2006. Chris has also served as a County Commissioner and worked with the Michigan House and Senate. He has served twice as the President of the MI Association of Municipal Clerks and the Capital Area Municipal Clerks Association.
Chris is the second longest serving Clerk and his predecessor who is the longest serving was the first woman to vote after suffrage so she was quite the trailblazer. The Clerk
not only handles voting and elections but participates in City Council meetings, supports certain city board and commissions, manages city records, handles passports and business licenses. Chris let us know the City has a new Elections Office at 701 W. Jolly and in mid-November, the Clerk’s office will be moving into the new City Hall in downtown Lansing.
There are three qualifications for citizens to vote. 1. You must me a U.S. citizen; 2. You must be 18 years old; and 3. You must be a resident for 30 days. There are also three ways to vote: vote by mailed or dropped off ballots (with postage paid on mailed ballots); vote early at the early polling sites; or vote on election day in person. There are 13 drop boxes and the Clerk will make sure a ballot gets to the right location if it is dropped off in the wrong municipality’s drop off location. Chris has done that himself!
The Clerk’s office has put many methods in place to allow the voting to be fully accessible to all citizens. Chris shared that there are online registration forms, large font forms, accessible ballots to complete on a home computer with a reader device and be mailed in. There are also voter assisted terminals (VATS) that have touch screens or audio to access the ballot. The election sites have a voting booth that is wheelchair accessible. Curbside pick up of ballots is also available and handled by two election works with one being a Democrat and one being a Republican. Voters with disabilities can also bring someone with them to vote as long as it is not a Union representative or employer.
There is a fun annual event coming up from the Clerk’s office called “Souls to the Polls”. It’s a trunk or treat event for all which started up in 2020. It is on October 31 from 2-4:00pm and you can early vote, register to vote and children can participate in mock voting.
Did you know you can become one of the many hardworking election day workers? See the clerk’s office for details and Republican workers are needed more in more Democratic city.
Chris told us some first-hand stories about how elections are under attack throughout the country. There are challenges related to the sharpie pens used in elections; stolen elections; validity of mail in voting; and Dept of Justice investigations with onsite visits. Chris went to Georgia during that contested election to help serve in the re-tabulation and the recount. He recently worked with the DOJ coming to Lansing to observe the last election although no follow up report has come his way.
There are extensive security measures for the tracking of ballots. All ballots that are mailed have bar codes that contain certain information for the Clerk’s office like tracking data and postage tracking. There is a 1-1 ratio for voters to ballots and all must balance. They also get balanced by the County Clerk.
Chris emphasized that he preserves the vote in order to protect our democracy. And, even with all the challenges to elections, he still has rose colored glasses (which he literally put on!).
Thanks for all you do Chris! And, thanks to Bilky for serving as our Chair of the Day and Chair of the Month!
Our next meeting will be on Friday, October 23 at LCC and our speaker will be the Rabbi Bigman from the Congregation Shaarey Zedek on the topic of “Living as a Jew in an Increasingly Antisemitic World". See you there!
Email for Julie Pingston: jpingston@lansing.org
Rabbi Amy Bigman grew up in the Detroit suburbs and graduated, with distinction, from the University of Michigan in 1987 and was ordained a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1992. Rabbi Bigman's rabbinic thesis dealt with issues relating to the treatment of terminally ill patients.
DowntownLansing Inc is having its annual Big Red Ball on Saturday, November 21, and they are looking for volunteers to help with the event. DLI’s mission is to “strengthen and nurture the culture, health, and sustainability of our downtown district.” Shifts on November 21 include event setup 2:30-5:30 pm, various shifts during the event from 5:30-10:00 pm, and event tear down and cleanup from 9:30-11:30 pm. More information can be found here: 