Oct. 14 LWVOC Hot Topics Panel Focuses on Election Security
League of Women Voters of Orange County Lunch and Discussion Series
ORLANDO, Fla. (Sept. 30, 2026) — The League of Women Voters of Orange County will host a Oct. 14 Hot Topics panel discussion — “Election Anxiety: What Could Possibly Go Wrong … or Right?” — that focuses on election security and plans to safeguard voting in the Nov. 3 election.
Doors open at 10:30 a.m. at the Winter Park Events Center for a buffet lunch. The program starts at 11:45 a.m. at 1050 W. Morse Blvd. in Winter Park and ends at 1 p.m. Tickets are $30 for League members, $37 non-members. Register at www.LWVOC.org/HotTopics.
The moderator is Sandi Vidal, vice president of community strategies and initiatives for Central Florida Foundation. Panelists include attorney Nick Shannin, general counsel for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office; Laudi Campo, Florida state director of the Hispanic Federation, and Brad Ashwell, Florida state director of All Voting Is Local.
A Hot Topics Overtime session will be held 1:15-2:00 p.m. upstairs at the events center and will include a presentation about the three state constitutional amendments on the ballot and a proposed extension of the half-cent sales tax for Orange County public education.
For nearly two years, voters have heard about potential plans to disrupt the Nov. 3 midterm election. The threats are serious and have created anxiety among voters. Two‑thirds of U.S. adults expressed concern in a July Gallup poll about political pressure on elections, ranging from mishandled ballots to voter intimidation at polling places.
This Hot Topics program will tackle those concerns head-on — exploring the scenarios that keep people awake at night while also highlighting the national work underway to safeguard the vote.
Among the issues to be discussed at Hot Topics:
- What has occurred that has created election anxiety?
- What might happen before the election, on Election Day or afterward?
- What are voting rights groups doing to prepare for those possibilities?
The panel discussion will be streamed live on the League’s Facebook page Facebook and an edited version will be available on the League’s YouTube channel, League of Women Voters Orange County - YouTube.
Visionary sponsors: Phil and Jennifer Anderson. Silver sponsors: Lyn and David Berelsman; Voting Voices — Michele Levy, Caroline Emmons-Schramm and Laurie and Richard Wack; The Kindred Three — Lee Rambeau, Sue Foreman and Joan Erwin; Friends of the League — the Hon. Fred Lauten and Shelley Lauten, the Hon. Bob LeBlanc and Joanie Schuler LeBlanc, and Dr. Gloria Pickar, and new Silver sponsors, Jenny Green Chan and Ella Chan, and Emerson R. Thompson, Jr. Bronze sponsors: Alex and the Hon. Cynthia Mackinnon.