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Newsletter - April 18, 2024

LWVIN | Published on 4/18/2024
LWVIN EVENTS 2024-25
2024 President's Day
September/October 2024 Location to be determined

2025 League Day at the State House
Indianapolis, IN Exact mid-session date to be determined

2025 LWVIN Biennial Convention
June 6-8, 2025 Ft. Wayne, IN
VOTERS NEED INFORMATION

As voters, we deserve to know where candidates stand on the issues that matter. We voters are, after all, hiring representatives to serve in government bodies that make decisions affecting our daily lives.

League efforts to enable voters to make informed decisions include forums and VOTE411, but the success of either depends on candidates being willing to engage with voters. We’re having mixed success this spring.

The 5th and 6th Congressional District races can serve as examples. The Leagues of Women Voters of Muncie-Delaware County, Anderson-Madison County, Hamilton County, and Howard County in partnership with Woof Boom Radio and WXIN/FOX AND WTTV/CBS held a public Congressional District 5 Candidate Forum in Anderson. It was it broadcast live on Woof Boom Radio and live streamed on WXIN FOX & WTTV CBS. All eleven candidates participated. And each assured League members they would respond to the VOTE411 invitation in order to make their views more widely known. Only four of the 11 have responded as of April 17. The video recording is available at https://lwvmunciedelaware.org/-- but VOTE411 will reach more voters. The audio recording is also available HERE-- but again, VOTE411 will reach more voters.

Three Leagues in Indiana Congressional District 6—Hancock, Henry, and Johnson Counties—reached out through an op-ed to local newspapers to call on seven of the eight candidates running for US Representative from the 6th District to respond to their repeated invitations to participate in VOTE411. As of April 17, one of those seven has responded for a total of two of eight candidate responses.

The media likely made the difference in the Congressional District 5 forum participation, but the League’s goal to make candidate information available as broadly as possible can’t be met by forums alone. The information needs to be accessible to voters when they need it, when they are making their decisions about their vote. Candidates who ignore the free opportunity to provide voters their information and answers to questions voters care about show disrespect for the voters they seek to represent.

IF CANDIDATES FOR RACES IN YOUR AREA HAVE NOT RESPONDED TO YOUR LEAGUE’S INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN VOTE411, PLEASE URGE THEM TO DO SO!

VOTE411 is a nonpartisan, trusted source for voter information, offering election and candidate information all in one place. Candidates’ answers appear word for word as provided, and the public can compare candidates' information side-by-side.

Linda Hanson, LWVIN President

BUILDING CIVIC BRIDGES ACT

The Building Civic Bridges Act would set up a non-partisan pilot program under an Office of Civic Bridgebuilding, within AmeriCorps, the federal agency for volunteerism. Lawmakers say the pilot program would administer a grant program funding civic bridgebuilding efforts around the country, including in nonprofits, schools and religious groups, support AmeriCorps training as well as research in civic bridgebuilding, and launch a public conversation about the importance of the movement.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Kentucky, Rep. Derek Kilmer, a Washington Democrat, and others are co-sponsoring the Building Civic Bridges Act, aimed at promoting civic engagement and unity. The bill was introduced in the U.S. House on March 15. U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Todd Young (R-IN) will introduce BCBA as a standalone bill in the Senate. They spoke together at a Notre Dame event last week and announced their collaboration. The bill has been referred to the House education committee. It sets aside $25 million a year for fiscal years 2025 through 2027.

LWVIN, with blessing from LWVUS, has signed on to a letter of support being sent to the entire Indiana delegation. Initial sign-ons from Indiana based organizations included the YMCA, Veterans for All Voters, and Indiana Council for the Social Studies as well as LWVIN and LWVBC.

Individual Leagues may still sign on because support can help ensure the bill will move beyond committee hearings. Contact president@lwvin.org if your League opts to sign on.

BROWN COUNTY LEAGUE UPDATE

Our local newspaper, Brown County Democrat, is very supportive of LWVBC work and information. They publish candidate information from Vote411. We collaborate with them on an annual publication called Connections, with information about local government and local agencies and resources. (We used to publish our own stand-alone document, but for the last few years have done Connections instead.)

The BC Democrat published our letters to the Editor, keeping the public informed about the clandestine efforts to replace our paper-ballot voting systems with 20-year-old electronic machines discarded by another county, and the effort to create Vote Centers, excluding public input until a plan was developed. (These efforts have since died because the County Election Board GOP member who was involved in selecting current election equipment came back on the board and simply tabled Vote Centers to focus on 2024 elections and said the equipment would not change on his watch.)

in this week's newspaper, they published this cartoon (See graphic above). The artist, Irene Olds, has provided weekly cartoons about current events in our local paper for 30 years. It was very thoughtful of the BC Democrat newspaper to suggest LWVBC as the topic. We have permission to share as long as we recognize the artist and the Brown County Democrat newspaper.
Shari Frank, LWVBC President

VOTER REGISTRATION AND CIVICS AWARENESS PRESENTATION

The Indianapolis League Chapter was invited to give a voter registration and civics awareness presentation to a group of multi-generational Indian-Americans. This important connection was forged by Ritu Chokshi, an Indianapolis-area immigration attorney, to begin to engage newer citizens (the older generation) and young citizens (the students) in our electoral process.

A group of ~25 came for the Sunday, March 17 presentation. The basics of Indiana's elections were covered - election dates and registration deadlines, the difference between a Primary Election and General Election, the years Indiana has elections and the years Indiana does NOT have elections and what offices are on the ballot this year. Voter registration was covered in detail, with the idea to empower those in attendance to do their own voter registration drives.

Great ideas were generated by the audience to engage with other Indian-Americans. One couple in attendance with their teenagers intends to conduct voter registration drives at their Temple in Fishers, Indiana. In addition, the Holi Festival of Colors celebration was March 31 this year and there was a festival in Fishers where this couple staffed a booth to register voters. The Hamilton County League was there to help support their nascent efforts.

As we often say at the League, we desire outreach to diverse communities but that sometimes can be difficult given the composition of the League membership. But we can begin to forge connections such as the one we forged on 3/17 and act as a resource as we empower others to become civically engaged.

Barbara Tully

President, Indiana Vote By Mail
FORGOTTEN FOREMOTHERS
Profiles of lesser-known heroines in the fight for women's rights
Frances Thompson

Believed to be the first trans woman to testify before Congress, Frances Thompson asserted herself as a woman deserving of dignity and legal protection from sexual violence at a time when the country was still debating her very personhood. A profile for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. You can read the entire article HERE.

 

(Photo caption: Frances Thompson in an 1876 illustration forThe Days' Doings.Public Domain.)

Kathryn S Gardiner
Pam Locker, Editor, LWVIN Voter






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