By Chantel Balzell - Daily News Staff - cbalzell@rhinelanderdailynews.com

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Wisconsin Women Equal Prosperity formed for women in diverse situations

In 1920, women won the right to vote. Almost 90 years later, many women still fail to exercise their earned right.

According to Wisconsin Women Equal Prosperity (WW=P) member Anne Cirilli, the percentage of female voters during the off-presidential election is significantly lower than the percentage of males.

So after the Institute for Women's Policy Research gave the state a ‘C-' grade for the status of Wisconsin women, which was partly based on women's leadership and political participation, WW=P formed a non-partisan coalition to act as a catalyst for progress for women in diverse situations. Besides building women's leadership and political participation, the other areas of focus for WW=P members is enhancing women's economic sufficiency, health, safety, well-being and educational achievement.

While the WW=P network tries to fulfill issues from each pillar, due to the upcoming Nov. 7 election, the group is now touting its ‘One woman, one vote' campaign to boost the turnout for women voters.

“Research shows that women's issues go closer to education, health care, and then, of course, after 9/11 it was security,” WW=P member Kay Hoff said.

The reasoning behind the ‘One woman, one vote' campaign is that by increasing the number of women voters, candidates and elected officials will start addressing women's issues more.

“The original thing is that more women are registered to vote and a higher percentage of women than men vote, but when you look at the drop-off voters, women drop off in the non-presidential years at a greater percent than men,” Hoff said. “So this [project] was specifically designed to turn her into a habitual voter because they did research that women who are habitual voters in every election generally come from a family or a circle where the family and her co-workers are also habitual voters.”

By turning one woman into a habitual voter, the idea is, she will influence her family and friends to vote.

The problem with the ‘One woman, one vote' campaign, WW=P members say, is that the program was designed for a metropolitan area.

“When we tried to apply that model up here, well, just think of all the different townships in Oneida County alone, and how do you set up a table at Trig's or something in order to register people to vote, when you really need to deal with multiple municipalities,” Cirilli said. “It's a daunting proposition.”

To increase women voters in Oneida County, WW=P is focusing on membership lists and networks, calling residents directly, encouraging them to vote.

“WW=P is a network of networks,” WW=P member Brenda Halminiak said.

The group has also made buttons with the ‘One woman, one vote' slogan to heighten awareness.

While the group is dedicated to mobilizing women to the polls, WW=P members also encourage women to engage in politics so they know what the candidates represent.

Hoff recommends logging onto www.vote-smart.org, which she says is “a balanced site containing biographical information.”

“I just tell women now, if you've got any time at all, go to that [Web site], go to the candidate that you're concerned about, and look at the cross-candidate,” she said. “You can get informed without devoting your whole life to it.”

According to a movie released by onevotefilm.com, the 19th amendment was passed by one vote in one state legislature.

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