Editor's note: League of Women Voters of McLean County president Faith Russell spoke this month at the Day of Action Rally in downtown Bloomington. Here's the text of her speech.
I'm Faith Russell from the League of Women Voters. and I’d like to know how you’d answer these questions:
- How many seeds are in a watermelon?
- How do you spell backwards, forwards?
- If Congress cannot agree on adjournment, who sets the time?
As you may know, these are real questions that were part of literacy tests used during the Jim Crow era to refuse the vote to black voters. So today isn’t the first time that the ability to vote has been at risk. Just the tactics have changed.
Instead of literacy tests, poll taxes and grandfather clauses, we have:
- Mid-cycle redistricting - to create districts favorable to a political party
- Attempted constraints on mail-in voting
- Disinformation to confuse voters and create distrust in election security
- Demands for states’ voter rolls that contain sensitive, private information that could be misused
- Firings of members of the Election Assistance Commission
- Threats to place federal agents at polling places
- Gutting of the Voting Rights Act through the recent Supreme Court decisions (Shelby v. Holder, and Louisiana v. Callais)
It’s no secret that this administration doesn’t want you to vote.
Why? Because your vote is your power!!! And together we are a formidable power!
Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that I as an individual can do much about the problems we face in this country. But then I think about what I do through my membership in the LWV. The League is a credible, respected, effective organization. As a member, I’m part of a force! And through my membership, I add more weight to that force.
As one person, you are a vote. As part of a group of concerned citizens like we are here today, you are a powerful force!
No matter how hard they try to make it for us to vote, we can overcome the efforts against us, just like those marchers who laid the foundation for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
So here are four actions you can take:
- Number 1: Make your own Voting Plan
- Inform yourself on the candidates, your polling place, your ballot by using LWV Vote 411. (lwvmclean.org)
- Double check your registration.
- Vote early, The biggest threats are likely to come on Election Day, according to Celina Stewart our LWV CEO.
- Number 2: Commit to talk with five eligible nonvoters in your circle about the importance of voting.
- Number 3: Join a pro-democracy organization like the LWV where your voice can be amplified.
- Number 4: Contact our U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and tell them to vote for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
The way to overcome the threats to voting is to do whatever you need to to vote. And help others do the same.
As the author Alice Walker said, “ We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!”
Photo: League President Faith Russell speaks at the Day of Action Rally on August 8, 2026.