April League Leader Update
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| LWVMA Calendar | |
Saturday May 5: LWVMA Council
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High School Voter Registration Project
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Local Leagues are planning high school voter registration drives throughout the month of May (and some even in early June). If you need advice to organize a voter registration drive for students in your town, contact the voter service committee at our new email address voterservice@lwvma.org and we will send you whatever you need. And if you run into a snag getting enough voter registration cards from your town clerk, the LWVMA office has plenty, in both English and Spanish, and can send you some.
Remember we want to make sure the League gets credit for this effort, so take a couple of photos at your registration drive and send them to Natalie. And be sure to let Nancy Brumback know your League name, the high school(s) you registered voters in, and how many new voters you signed up in each school. You can just send a quick email with that information to Nancy. We want to put out a press release that the League registered XXXX new voters this spring!
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Multi League Candidates Night
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With the 2012 election season in full swing, we encourage local Leagues to band together to explore organizing a LWVMA-sponsored candidates' event in each newly redrawn congressional district. It's a great opportunity to present the candidates to the voters. The key is getting started early. Our Council 2012 workshop on Multi-League Candidate Forums will cover the basics and will provide time for League members to connect and start planning their event. Extensive handouts will cover how to get started and how to keep things moving. It's a great way to meet other League members in your district and to create visibility for your local League. Click here to take a moment to look over the list of Leagues by district. We hope to see you at Council 2012. Back to top |
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Register for LWVMA Council
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It's not too late to register for Council. Every member counts! We need to meet quorum and we are still a few delegates short. For a registration form click here, and here for the delegate credential form.
Saturday, May 5, 2012; 10:00 am-3:30 pm
Winslow Academic Center, Lasell College
1844 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton, MA
The cost per person is $45 (pay in advance)
Our guest speaker will be Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman.
For local League leaders and Field Service Reps, a pre-Council meeting will begin at 10am with early registration at 9:30am.
Please bring samples of your League's membership materials, especially membership brochures, letters, membership booklets and other member materials, to share with other leagues. If you do not want them removed, please mark them 'not for removal.'
Click here for Call to Council. For the Council Workbook, click here. To view summaries of workshops at the event click here.
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| Local League Gifts at Council | | |
Traditionally local Leagues make donations to the LWVMA at Council. Please consider making a donation in honor of someone who has made a special contribution to your local League.
Click here for the local League donation form.
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League Serenades Speaker at Day on the Hill
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In a bit of spontaneous lobbying, League members attending Day on the Hill trooped up to Speaker Robert DeLeo's office after the morning's presentations to urge the Speaker to bring the updated bottle bill to the floor of the House for a vote. With a crowd of women singing "100 Bottles of Water on the Wall" outside the office, the Speaker's staff agreed to hear arguments in favor of the bill from LWVMA environmental specialists Launa Zimmaro and Lynn Wolbarst and president Eva Valentine.
The visit to the Speaker captured the essence of the call to action from Rep. Jay Kaufman of Lexington and Common Cause executive director Pam Wilmot, as well as the League's legislative specialists, at the annual Beacon Hill lobbying event.
Rep. Kaufman reminded League members of the importance of lobbying for citizen interests. "If you don't do this, all we (as legislators) hear are the other voices" from industries and special interests.
Wilmot urged League members to join the fight to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling and to become even more involved in government. "Our biggest problem is apathy and cynicism. People don't believe they can make a difference."
If you or your local League would like to add your voice in support of the updated bottle bill, SB1650/HB890, to require deposits on non-carbonated beverage containers such as bottled water and tea, call or email Speaker DeLeo and ask that the bill be brought to the House floor for a vote Robert.DeLeo@mahouse.gov 617-722-2500. See the Action Alert LWVMA sent out Thursday, April 26, to see what else must be done by Monday.
Click on the video below to see LWMVA members supporting the bottle bill outside Speaker DeLeo's office. And check out photos of the event on our Facebook page.
 | | LWVMA Bottle Bill |
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| Be on the Lookout for Photo ID to Vote questions | |
Ballot questions and town meeting warrant articles asking voters to support legislation requiring voters to show a photo ID to vote have cropped up in several Massachusetts towns this spring.
Local Leagues should keep an eye out for these questions and articles and actively oppose them. And if you notice articles in your local papers about photo ID questions in towns around you that don't have a local League, please forward that information to Nancy Brumback,so that the state League can respond and urge voters NOT to support requirements to show a photo ID to vote. For the arguments against photo ID, click here for a letter to the editor template LWVMA is using, and you can adapt it to your town's situation.
Requiring a photo ID to vote is an expensive and unfair solution to a problem that does not exist. Investigations into reports of voter fraud around the country have found virtually no cases of in-person voter impersonation, not even of dead voters, the only kind of voter fraud a photo ID would address. About 10% of voters do not have a photo ID, and the percentage is higher for the elderly, low-income voters, students, and people of color. Implementing a photo ID requirement is expensive, using scarce state resources for an unnecessary program. States would have to make photo IDs available free to voters and provide them at readily accessible locations, and also train election workers.
If you have questions about this issue, contact Nancy. For more information on photo ID requirements, visit the Brennan Center for Justice's excellent website, www.brennancenter.org, and click on Voting Rights and Elections.
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Explore What LWVMA has to Offer
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The 2011-2013 Nominating Committee, now five members strong, encourages you to attend LWVMA's Council in Newton on May 5th. Join with others from across Massachusetts to network, learn and rediscover the energy generated whenever League members come together. We hope to see you there. We also welcome your calls and emails anytime to discuss your interests and how you could get more involved with the state League.
There are many ways to make a difference with LWVMA. Which of these opportunities catch your eye? For more details on the below positions, read the descriptions in the Nominating Committee's article from the League Leader Update in March here.
- Field Service Representative, Metro/South. Region includes Boston, Brookline, Hingham, Milton, Norwood, Stoughton-Sharon, Westwood-Walpole and Weymouth. Contact Karen Price.
- Development Committee Member, Volunteer or Advisor. Contact Anne Borg.
- Good Governance Specialist. Contact Carole Pelchat.
- Child Protection Specialist. Contact Carole Pelchat.
- Legislative Director. Contact Carole Pelchat.
- State Coaches for Local Leagues (Membership and Leadership Development Program). Contact Pam Holland.
- Finance Committee Member. Contact Elizabeth Handler.
- Membership and Local League Services Committee Member. Contact Karen Price.
In addition, members with legal, accounting, finance, investment, management and development backgrounds are always needed to help the Massachusetts League thrive.
If you'd like to talk about what's happening at LWVMA and your interests, please contact a Nominating Committee member: Erin Pastuszenski, Chair (Concord-Carlisle), Nancy Brumback (Sudbury), Andrea Kozinetz (Newton), Florence Seldin (Cape Cod Area) and Terry Yoffie (Newton). We'd love to hear from you!
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Public Forum: Pushing Back on Money Politics, 2012
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Save the Date, May 17
Concerned about the big spending in the 2012 political campaigns? Is money putting our democracy at risk?
Hear a panel of experts on this issue: Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School, and Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University; Jeff Clements, attorney and author of Corporations Are Not People; and Mimi Marziani, Counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law.
They will be speaking at a public forum, Pushing Back on Money Politics, 2012 on Thursday, May 17, 7:30-9:30 p.m., at the Concord-Carlisle High School, 500 Walden Street, Concord.
Moderating the conversation will be Tom Ashbrook, Host of On Point, a production of 90.9 WBUR, Boston's NPR news station. The forum is free and open to the public, with doors opening at 7:00 p.m. No reserved seating.
Questions from the audience will be taken after the panel discussion.
Pushing Back on Money Politics, 2012 is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle (LWVCC), the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, and 90.9 WBUR. It is part of a LWVCC project, Democracy in the Balance: Money, Speech & Power. For more information about the May 17 public forum, contact PushingBack@lwvcc.org or 978-254-1598. Click here for an event flier.
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Sign Up For LWVMA Emails
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We are tailoring the way you get emails from us so you only receive notices and topics that interest you. Please click here to sign up for the types of LWVMA correspondence you would like to get and forward along the link to your League members.
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