 State Voter
League of Women Voters of New York State
January 2010
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Betsey's Briefs
Betsey Swan, LWVNYS President
Dear Fellow League Members:
As we approach our 90th birthday, I have taken the
opportunity to reflect on the League's future in an open letter to all League
members. I believe that membership and diversity are inextricably intertwined
and that, while Leagues are highly diverse throughout the state, they reflect
less diversity internally. Our challenge for the future will be to
bring the diversity of membership among our individual Leagues to the local
level, so that local League membership begins to reflect local diversity."
I have proposed a series of four suggestions for how this might be achieved and
invite League members from around the state to join in an electronic discussion
of this issue. Click here to read my entire letter.
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 1919 Society
Betsey Swan
LWVNYS President
In
celebration of the League's ninetieth birthday, we are happy to announce
creation of the 1919 Society, created to ensure that the League is able to
maintain its vibrant reputation in the twenty-first century. To join the 1919 Society, all you have to do
is include the LWVNYS in your will. We will not ask for either proof of the
bequest or its amount - we just want to honor your future support. As a member,
your name will be engraved on a plaque in the state League office, listed in the State
Voter, and on the website.
You have
worked so hard for the League for so many years. Why not help to ensure the future of the League by including
support for the League in your will? Your donation can specify the Centennial
Fund of the Education Foundation, a perpetually endowed fund, the general fund
of the Education Foundation or the League. The process is simple, and we can help you with the correct
language. Just contact Laura Ladd Bierman, Executive Director, LWVNYS, for more
information or to join this new Society.
If you
believe, as I do, that a strong League is vital to the health of our democracy,
I ask you to join me in becoming a member of the 1919 Society.
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Greetings from Grand Street
Laura Ladd Bierman
Executive Director
Happy
90th Birthday next month to the national League! The state League
will be celebrating the birthday during the reception on February 9th
in Albany. On that
day, we are co-sponsoring with the Rockefeller Institute in
Albany a forum, "Redistricting
Reforms: Visions for the Future of NYS." While not considered an exciting issue generally
by many people, the implications for competitive elections in New York are greatly affected by the redistricting process. So, come learn and celebrate the League's birthday with us! You will also be receiving the state League's direct mail appeal in February. Please give generously so that we may continue our many programs and advocacy work. We can't do it without your support. And, don't forget to visit the state League website to stay informed on our advocacy agenda, program and event details, and to see photos of events at various local Leagues around the state - send me your photos and I'll post them, too! Thanks for all your hard work and support of the League - it really shows!
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 Youth Programs
JoAnn Ross
LWVNYS Director of Citizen Education and Youth Programs
2010 Students Inside Albany Conference is
quickly approaching! Local Leagues are selecting their students and the state League is busy preparing the agenda for this year's conference. SIA will be held on April 11-14, 2010, at the Crowne Plaza in Albany. Over 30 students are expected to participate in this three day event culminating with shadowing their NYS legislators for an afternoon each day.
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Membership
Georgia DeGregorio
LWVNYS VP, Membership
As your state Membership Chair, I
had the pleasure of attending an informational meeting in Warwick, Orange County,
on January 5th with a large group of men and women interested in
forming a MAL. The League that was
there was disbanded several years ago and this group said they missed having a
non-partisan organization that could conduct candidate forums as well as
address local issues.
It's been said before and now
again: "We have a lot to be proud of;
as members we can let our light shine".
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 Resignation of JoAnn
Ross
LWVNYS Director of Citizen Education and Youth Programs
This is to inform you that I have
resigned from my NYS League of Women Voters board position effective February
1, 2010 and this will be my last formal report. My husband has been assigned to work in Baltimore where I intend
to join him. I will remain a member of
the Buffalo/Niagara League and will also continue to work with the NYS League
in a consultative capacity, when needed, in the finalization of projects that I
have started.
I appreciate the opportunities given
me as a board member and have enjoyed working with all of the New York State
local leagues in the area of Civic Education and Youth programs.
In League,
JoAnn Ross
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Moments in the Sun
from Convention 2009
 At the 2009 Convention in Syracuse, each local League was given a minute to present their most important activity, success or event during the past year. Here is a synopsis of those presentations. Get some great ideas of what your League could undertake. (click here) |
Travel with the LeagueFrom Iceland to Tibet, if you're considering an adventure, check out the Travel Concepts page. These tours are organized with League members in mind - meeting with Embassy officials and discussing policy issues. And, your local and state League receive a share of your cost. Click on Travel Concepts.
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Redistricting Reform: Visions for NYS Future and
LWVUS 90th Birthday Celebration
February 9, 2:00-4:00 pm
Rockefeller Institute, Albany
The state League is co-hosting a redistricting
forum with the Rockefeller Institute on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, from 2:00
until 4:00 pm. A reception will follow
in celebration of the League's 90th birthday. Call or email the state League office to make a reservation. Current confirmed panelists include Senator Martin Malave Dilan, Senior Assistant Majority Leader; Assemblyman Daniel J. Burling, Deputy Minority Whip; Gerald Benjamin, Associate VP for Regional
Engagement at SUNY New Paltz; and Blair Horner, Legislative Director at NYPIRG. Governor David Paterson and other legislative leaders have been invited, but confirmation has not yet been received. Susan Arbetter,
Capitol Correspondent for WCNY News will moderate, and the forum will be filmed
for airing on public television stations.
We invite League members to attend.
If you cannot attend, we plan to make DVDs of the forum available for
local viewing.
The Forum is presented in memory of
long-time state League and board member Ruth Shur and is funded, in part, by a
donation from her husband Walt. We will
remember Ruth at the reception. Anybody
who would like to speak or would like to send a remembrance should contact me.
We are also seeking corporate and individual sponsors for this event. Sponsorship will entitle the sponsor to a
reserved seat, along with recognition in the program and at the reception. If you know an individual or organization
that should receive a sponsorship letter, please contact Betsey Swan.
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Voter Service
Maggie Moehringer
LWVNYS VP, Voter Service
You
may remember that for 2006, State League worked with the local Leagues and
local media outlets to plan and execute debates for statewide offices. For
2010, planning so far is taking place for a centralized and statewide approach.
State League is participating in conversations with the major PBS affiliates to
co-sponsor a series of debates for statewide offices, and we hope to accomplish
a statewide "feed" for those debates that all the affiliates will
agree to broadcast.
We anticipate that the statewide voter's guides will once again be issued in
Part 1 (Facts for Voters) and Part 2 (Voter's Guide). Part 2 will include any
ballot proposals and a profile of the candidates for Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, AG, Comptroller, and US Senate.
Results from the survey of local League Voter Service activities last fall
present some interesting findings. One big take-away from this round is that
the mass broadcasting of your events via public access channels, radio, web
casting, video streaming, etc is becoming the rule rather than the exception,
and that co-sponsoring events is the way to go to lessen the load and increase
visibility. Read more.
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Issues and Advocacy
Sally Robinson
LWVNYS VP, Issues and Advocacy
The ethics and campaign finance
enforcement reform bill overwhelmingly passed both the NYS Assembly and the
Senate (59 to 1 with two absences) on Wednesday, January 20th. While this bill
is not a perfect bill, it is a distinct improvement on the status quo in
Albany. This legislation will have a four year sunset, so the League will
monitor the implementation of this legislation diligently and to make sure the
SBOE Enforcement Unit is effective in deterring the current lack of campaign
finance enforcement. The Ethics Investigative Unit is a new entity which
we hope holds the promise of better oversight of the legislature and its
activities. We urge the Governor to sign this legislation into law. Again
we wish to thank League members for their vigorous lobbying which insured a
positive outcome and hopefully will restore dignity to state government in
Albany. Copies of the 2010 Legislative Agenda brochures and "Fix Albany Now!" buttons are available from the state League office. Part II of the Legislative Packet will be available later in February. Many Issue Specialists have been actively preparing testimony and letters of comment on a number of issues, including gas drilling and civil legal services in NYS. Check out the website or read more here.
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Fair Pay Summit and
Advocacy Day
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Legislative Office Building, Albany
Prominent
researchers will discuss how pay equity gives women and people of color a way
out of poverty and removes discrimination imbedded in salaries.
Learn how pay equity
addresses salary discrimination left untouched by equal-pay for equal-work and
the Federal Ledbetter Act.
And, most importantly, hear from key State legislators
about what they are doing toward assuring Fair Pay in NYS and participate in
coordinated visits with numerous legislators.
Read more.
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Spring Fling Weekend in NYC
May 14-16, 2010
 Spend a weekend in New York City and help raise funds for the League's Education Foundation.
The kick-off will be a Friday evening cocktail
party at the lovely Manhattan home of Sally Robinson, state League Director of Issues and
Advocacy, followed by a grab bag of events from which participants can pick and
chose. More information will be available soon, but mark your calendars now for this fun event!
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Elections
Aimee Allaud, LWVNYS Issue Specialist on Elections
(Full report here)
A milestone in the six year saga of the state's
implementation of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was reached on
December 15, 2009, when the NYS Board of Elections voted unanimously to approve
two voting systems for use by the voters of New York. The two systems (1) Dominion Voting Systems
Democracy Suite with ImageCast precinct-based scanner, and (2) Election Systems
& Software (ES&S) DS200, Unity Suite precinct-based scanner and the
AutoMARK Voter Assist Terminal ballot-marking device met the requirements
of NYS statute and regulations, as well
as the EAC's 2005 voluntary voting system guidelines. The findings of New York's testing contractors, SysTest and
NYSTEC, formed the basis for the recommendations by the NYSBOE Elections
Operations Unit that formal approval occur.
Under the NYS enabling statute
(2007) a Citizen Advisory Committee was created to advise the NYSBOE
commissioners about approving the voting machines. The LWVNYS was represented on the Advisory Committee by Bo
Lipari, LWVNYS member and founder and past
Executive Director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting. Over the past two and one-half years Bo has
represented the League in monitoring the certification testing process from his
technical perspective as a retired software engineer. He has been given access to proprietary documents over this
period in order to make independent evaluations of the systems and processes
which NYS will employ in the implementation.
His expertise and commitment to obtaining the best voting technology
available to NYS at the current time was invaluable to the CEMAC and the voters
in this state.
You may have thought that our job would be over
after the selection of voting machines occurred - True, the advocacy portion is
over, but the "in the field" part has just begun. Leaguers will be needed to educate voters on using the machines
and to monitor the voting machines in use in their counties and provide
feedback to election administrators and policymakers on how to make the voting
experience more user-friendly as well as secure and accurate.
The League testified at NYS Senate Hearing on November 30, with a summary of the results of the online survey of our members' experiences in voting on the
new equipment. Problems with the new equipment and process were identified and recommendations for improvement presented. Read more.
Legislation from the 2009 legislative session
will be re-introduced very soon and we will renew our efforts to pass the
absentee ballot application revision bill as well as others.
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Domestic Violence
Georgia DeGregorio, LWVNYS Issue Specialist on Domestic Violence
Using approximately $1.5 million in federal American Reinvestment and
Recovery Act aid, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
(DCJS) and the state's Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV)
are developing a centralized, electronic "Domestic Incident Report" repository.
The repository will give police officers, sheriff's deputies, prosecutors,
probation and parole officials the ability to search - by victim or offender
name, incident address or document number -Domestic Incident Reports (DIRs)
filed by more than 550 police agencies in the 57 counties outside of New York
City.
The repository will be developed by the end of 2010 and operational in early
2011. Read more.
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Local League Activities and News
Local Leagues are celebrating
the national League's 90th birthday in the next few months with a
variety of events and activities. In Syracuse, on February 7th, a
program will take participants back to a 19th century meeting for
women's suffrage; the Onondaga Historical Association will offer a presentation
in which Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her husband, Henry Stanton, two major
suffragist leaders, engage in a conversation about the issues of the day. In
Cazenovia, a professor from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University will
discuss the political stakes of the census count for state and localities on
Feb. 3rd. The
Buffalo/Niagara League is planning a spring gala to celebrate the birthday.
And, the Rochester League is celebrating both the national League's 90th
and their own 85th birthdays with a party in April - watch for more
details!
Three League members in
Plattsburgh presented information on voter registration and importance of
voting to classes at Plattsburgh High School; League history and current League
activities were also discussed. (see photo) Congratulations to Alice Brooks
of the Broome/Tioga League who was honored as a Woman of Achievement at the
annual dinner of the Status of Women Council - another great way to pay tribute
to the hard work of our League members and leaders.
Betsey Swan has continued her
goal of visiting every local League by traveling to the western part of the
state recently and also meeting with many of the Leagues in Westchester County,
including the board in Scarsdale (see photo).
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