Where she’s from
Danielle grew up in Nebraska, spending her childhood in a small town of about 2,000 people. Then she spent eight years in Lincoln, NE for high school and college. After college, Danielle moved to Johnson County and worked for Cerner for the first six years she lived here. This summer will mark her10th year as a Kansas resident!
Why she joined the League
Danielle joined the League of Women Voters over five years ago because she was frustrated with politics
in general and wanted to channel that frustration into action. Danielle appreciates that the league is non-partisan and focuses on improving the democratic process through voter registration and education and also works on important issues like voting rights and the principle of “one person, one vote.”
What she thinks the League does well
The League does a fabulous job educating citizens through many activities, including: our relevant and engaging monthly programs, our legislative coffees that let constituents hear the latest news from the capitol directly from the senators and representatives that choose to participate, and last but not least, our Vote411 website that helps voter’s make informed choices about the candidates on their ballots.
Where she would like to see the League focus in the future
Danielle may be biased, but she is excited about leading our newly re-formed Advocacy Committee along with Laurel Burchfield. Danielle would love to see our league help members and non-members become more civically engaged and take direct action to impact legislation. The committee’s short term focus is on building up a robust library of videos and resources to educate citizens on ways to take action and their long term vision is to make our state legislature and other local governing bodies more transparent and accountable to voters.
What she does to strengthen our democracy
Danielle votes in EVERY election and checks in with family and friends to make sure they have all voted too. She stays informed about issues that are important to her and researches candidates so she can select the one that most closely aligns with herviews. Danielle volunteers for campaigns by writing postcards for her preferred candidates in local elections.
Fun Fact
Growing up in a rural Nebraska town, a highlight of her summers was sewing clothing as a 4-H’er for the county fair and modeling it at the State Fair. Danielle no longer sews her own clothing, but her sewing skills translated to quilting very nicely, and she has been quilting for the past four years. Danielle spends all day working on a computer and does all of her reading on a Kindle, so the tactile element of working with fabrics and turning them into a tangible object is very appealing and a nice escape from so much screen time!