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LWVIN launched an 18-month statewide campaign at the State Convention

(You may see the PDF of the presentationat lwvin.org/convention)

Democracy Lives in the Light serendipitously aligns with the LWV Unite & Rise 8.5 campaign, designed to carry us through elections in 2026.

Key to our DEMOCRACY LIVES IN THE LIGHT campaign is communications. A new State Board member who teaches communications is coordinating a statewide social media team that should include someone from each local league.We need a volunteer from each League!

LWVIN has also engaged an intern with considerable social media experience to work with the social media team and is encouraging League members to follow, like, and share social media posts from LWVIN, LWVUS, and other local Leagues on your own social media to expand League visibility. We're not asking that you open new social media accounts, but if you're on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), BlueSky, TikTok, or LinkedIn, please follow us!

LWVIN is beneficiary to a small MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK grant associated with the UNITE & RISE 8.5 initiative. The micro-campaigns for the initiative span 3 months, each with a different focus.The national initiative aims to mobilize 8.5 million people using the power of voter engagement. In Indiana, that translates into 178,000 people. But we can do this!

Our statewide goals are these:

• Greater visibility for LWV throughout Indiana
• Increase in membership and involvement
• Increase in voter registration
• Increase in voter turnout
• Increase in citizen engagement

These are measurable goals—and we will be reporting the data regularly to LWVUS.If you’d like to help keep track of our progress, please contact your local League leadership!

The first micro campaign (May-July) focused onshifting the power narrative, making clear what was at stake with the SAVE Act, the lack of due process provided to immigrants, and the impact of the budget reconciliation legislation.

For the second micro campaign (August-October), we are holding power accountable. We focus on voting rights, midcycle redistricting;economic justice; transparency (building a nationwide network of government and election observers); and highlighting the role of the courts in our system of checks and balances.

ACTION ITEMS

• For the 60-year anniversary of the signing of theVoting Rights Act, LWVUS sent a letter co-signed by all 51 state League presidents calling on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that will modernize and restore the vital protections of the VRA. Please use the LWVUS action alert to tell your members of Congress to protect the freedom to vote and support the passage of the JLVRAA.

• Please use the LWVUS action alert to hold Congress accountable for the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” LWVUS provides special guidance for the congressional recess and offers a blog supporting people contacting their members of Congress during recess.

THE GLOBAL RISE IN AUTHORITARIANISM

LWV CEO Celina Stewart spoke at the Chautauqua Institute Lecture series on July 28 and said this about the League:

We are nonpartisan, but we ain’t neutral. We are fierce defenders of the right to vote, the right to be heard, and the right to live in a country where democracy is not just a word that describes our past, but defines our future.

And I want to be clear: this moment we are in — this moment of constitutional crisis — is not just a moment. It is a test. A test of our values, our institutions, and our willingness to act.

Read her full remarks on LWV.org.

SAVE THE DATE - SAVE DEMOCRACY

October 4, 2025 Presidents Day

Join us at the Marion County Fairgrounds on October 4 to share ideas, coordinate efforts, and hone our leadership skills. We will be meeting in the newly built The Cottage, which has a capacity for over 100 people and has a full and spacious kitchen area.

The Special Events committee is brainstorming and one of our ideas is breakout sessions for the Presidents and VPs, the Treasurers, and the Membership/Portal chairs. It has been a momentous year for all of us and we need to share our experiences and ideas.

If Democracy Dies in darkness, then we need to be the light that shines so democracy can thrive.

League members attended the rally on August 7 to tell Governor Braun and the Indiana legislature to Say NO to mid-term redistricting. The news covered the rallies, press conference, and sit-ins, but the Indiana visit from VP Vance and the Texas legislature's effort to gerrymander 5 more Republican congressional seats raise serious questions about whether we will indeed have free and fair elections in 2026. We are indeed in a constitutional crisis. For relevant articles, read Constitutional Crisis-free and fair elections.

LWVIN STATEMENT ON VP VANCE'S VISIT TO GOVERNOR BRAUN

Potential mid-term redistricting is an affront to all citizens of the United States, particularly in the context of the recent 60^thanniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That historical legislation cemented into Federal law prohibitions on racial discrimination in voting and provided nationwide protections for voting rights.

Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to Indiana on August 7, 2025, to make a personal redistricting appeal to Indiana Governor Mike Braun is political theater at best, and baseless and indefensible at worst. Such redistricting would focus on the 1^stand 7^thCongressional Districts, the only two with Democratic Representatives.

Indiana holds nine Congressional Districts, two held by Democratic Representatives, and seven held by Republicans. The State is already redistricted within an inch of its life, according to a Women4Change study written by a national expert on gerrymandering. In fact, the study concludes, “Indiana’s maps are unfair…they are more biased towards one party than 95% of all U.S. districting plans for which data is available enacted over the last 50 years.”

All IN for Democracy, a coalition created by LWVIN, Common Cause Indiana, and Count Us IN, among others interested in protecting voting rights in Indiana, created the Indiana Citizens’ Redistricting Commission (ICRC) to address the problems with drawing fair maps after the 2020 U.S. census. The Commission was composed of citizens throughout Indiana and was balanced across the political spectrum. They created maps in an open and transparent process.

The Indiana Legislature rejected all efforts by the ICRC and instead held a small number of redistricting hearings throughout the State to get public input before maps were created to present to citizens at those hearings. LWVIN deplored the Legislature’s naked attempt, largely successful, to draw maps in a way for legislators to choose their own voters.

Two facts about Indiana and our voting culture here. 1.) The Hoosier state has historically low voter turnout, ranking in the bottom ten states approaching three decades, not a statistic of which we should be proud. 2.) Indiana leads in layering on unnecessary and convoluted voting laws, all under the guise of “election security”, when our elections have been proven time and again to be completely safe.

The Vice President’s visit to Indiana does nothing for the voters of Indiana. Indiana’s Legislature does nothing to address voter turnout in the State.

Instead of enacting perplexing and tangled voting laws that suppress the vote in this great Hoosier State, and instead of considering an interim and needless redistricting plan, our Legislature should adopt voter-centric practices for the benefit of all our citizens, while ensuring our elections continue to remain as safe as they have proven to be in the past.

Go HERE to read the LWV Statement on Mid-Cycle Redistricting.

Barb Tully, LWVIN VP