When Monica Schaffer retired as a pediatrician, she didn’t retreat from service — she leaned in.
Schaffer, drawing from her experience as a health care professional and a family legacy of activism, helped launch a new unit of the League of Women Voters in the Wasatch Back. The Pinebrook resident is now using her time to empower voters by using the organization’s nonpartisan platform to educate, register and mobilize the community ahead of the upcoming election season.
The League of Women Voters was formed in 1920, the same year the 19th Amendment was ratified, as a way to “empower voters and defend democracy” by encouraging everyone who can cast a ballot to do so, and to do it informed. The organization is known for striving to improve elections by increasing turnout and hosting candidate debates.
“I thought, ‘What can I, as a single person, do to kind of get involved?’ So I joined the League because I remember my mom was in the league back in the day,” Schaffer recalled.
Her interest in politics was sparked by her mother’s activism during the Salvadoran civil war in the 1980s and her parents’ medical careers. Schaffer followed their path, focusing on pediatric care. Work brought Schaffer and her husband to Utah in 1999, and they settled into Pinebrook. She poured her heart and soul into her career, raising two kids along the way, and retired about two years ago.
With some newfound free time, Schaffer wanted to become more engaged with the Park City community. There was a big election coming up, and she felt the League of Women Voters, as well as the Park City Twilight Rotary Club, would be a good way to become involved.
At the time, Park City didn’t have its own League of Women Voters chapter because it was disbanded during the coronavirus pandemic. So Schaffer started volunteering for the Salt Lake League of Women Voters.
Her first assignment was helping people who had just completed their naturalization ceremonies register to vote. Schaffer said everyone was excited to be considered a part of the country and to take advantage of their newly minted citizenship. There was about a 99% success rate.
It was an empowering, meaningful experience for Schaffer that served as a reminder of how lucky Americans are to be able to vote. The League of Women Voters is also dedicated to providing voters with information about important issues at the local, state and national levels.
Schaffer said being nonpartisan doesn’t mean the League of Women Voters isn’t political: It’s about principles, not parties.
The league doesn’t support specific affiliations or candidates, but the group is very outspoken on political issues that align with its mission, such as universal health care, women’s health, affordable child care, LGBTQ+ rights, clean water and gun control. The league is opposed to anything that promotes voter suppression or delegitimizes votes, such as reducing the number of ballot drop-off boxes or passing laws that require people to opt in to mail-in voting.
“Issues-based, but not necessarily blue or red,” Schaffer said, adding that human rights are a major focus. “We’re about uniting people and rallying around not a set of platforms, but a set of issues that just mean you’re doing the right thing for an individual.”
The most important thing is to make sure voters understand the issues while breaking through political echo chambers of misinformation. Schaffer said most people often care about the same issues when they’re able to see through political parties, especially if they can connect at a personal level.
She revived the League of Women Voters Wasatch Back unit in April. While it can be difficult to recruit volunteers in a civic-minded town like Park City, where people already have commitments, more than 20 people attended to brainstorm ways to improve voter education and increase civic engagement.
The general election in November will be a big focus for the group with several contested city council and mayoral campaigns in Park City and eastern Summit County.
Its current goals are to engage residents at community events such as the Park Silly Sunday Market and the Summit County Fair to register them to vote and inform them about key issues; host town hall discussions and forums that provide candidates the opportunity to differentiate themselves, share their platform and answer questions about local issues; utilize the vote411.org website, which can serve as a “one-stop-shop” for election related information; grow the league’s visibility to increase participation.
Schaffer recognized that a lot of the fledgling organization’s aspirations involve boots-on-the-ground work, but she said the volunteers are committed and passionate. They’ve been meeting on the third Tuesday of every month, planning educational outreach before the Aug. 12 primary election, as well as calling Utah’s senators and asking them to denounce the broad legislative package known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis voted for the bill, which passed in the Senate on Tuesday. Lee ultimately removed the sale of public lands provision from the legislation before it was approved, due in part to intense pushback, something Schaffer attributed to constituents who influenced the decision by reaching out to their representatives.
“If you’re not letting your vote, your voice, be known, it’s almost like a vote for the other team,” she said. “Every vote truly matters.”
The League of Women Voters Wasatch Back is technically a subgroup of the Salt Lake chapter, which formed in 1922. Schaffer said she hopes to learn from the knowledge and expertise of those organizers and expects to become independent in a year or two. Utah has seven registered League of Women Voters chapters, including local leagues and state affiliates.
Information about various committees and volunteer opportunities is available at lwvsl.org or by emailing Schaffer directly at [email protected]. The national League website is best for information about positions and statements about current issues.