Saratoga County League recently recognized three new 50 year members. Betty Gallagher, Louise Golub and Terry Lowenthal were each recognized for their membership. Each was asked why they stayed with the League. Betty said that that is just the type of person she is; for Louise, it was a good way to meet people and she enjoys being around thinking adults; and for Terry, it is being around interesting people.

League of Women Voters of Rochester Metro along with the National Council of Jewish Women will host Dr. Timothy Kneeland, Chair and Professor of History and Political Science at Nazareth College for a forum to discuss the Upcoming Election.  Topics to include: Are the issues being obscured by media focus on the personalities of the two major presidential candidates? What about the races that most affect us day-to-day? And what issues matter this year?  The forum will take place Thursday, September 22 7:00 P.M. Peace Theater in the Arts Center at Nazareth College.

The Tompkins County League will host a presentation by Dr. Donathan L. Brown, Associate Professor, Ithaca College, on the important issue of voting rights. Dr. Brown is a Fulbright Scholar, Chair of the Ithaca College Diversity Scholars Program, and lead author of the book Voting Rights under Fire. The event will be held September 26th at 7 p. m. at the Borg Warner Room, Tompkins County Public Library.

Some lucky League of Rensselaer County members spent a lovely summer evening on the deck of Barbara Bartoletti, NYS League Legislative Director, sharing her adventures in Russia and Armenia - engaging in their cultures in the process of teaching them about our governmental processes. In 1999, Barbara traveled to Russia with a group of women sponsored by the LWVUS to teach women from the former Soviet bloc countries how to participate in their government.

On October 6, 2016, the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York, Western New York Chapter, and the League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara will co-sponsor a panel discussion on the Effects of Big Money and Big Media on Political Campaigns.

National Voter Registration Day is September 27. The  League of Wom en Voters of the Hamptons  will have voter registration booths at fourteen separate locations that day. They plan to spread out across the Hamptons to provide voter registration registration forms, absentee ballot applications and general voting information.

The topic for the September program for LWV of Broome and Tioga Counties was "Reforming the Energy Vision" with presenter Adam Flint of the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition.

Mary Zawacki, Curator of the Schenectady County Historical Society will be the speaker at the September meeting of the LWV of Schenectady County. She will speak on the topic of Community & Culture and the Art of Storytelling.

During its planning meeting last December, the Voter Service Committee of the LWV of Chautauqua made getting SUNY students to vote a center of its annual activities. Among the activities taking place on campus, in addition to multiple voter registration drives, will be public screenings of the presidential and vice-presidential debates, and also of the local Meet the Candidates forum. For several years, the Voter Service Committee has been pushing for a shuttle service to take students from campus to the Wheelock School polling place on election day, and arrangements for such a service are now being made by Vice President Kevin Kearns' office.

LWV of Huntington will co-host two Meet the Candidates Nights for all candidates on the ballot for 1) the 3rd Congressional District at South Huntington Library on NOVEMBER 1ST as well as for 2) the 10th & 12th NYS Assembly Districts and 2nd & 5th NYS Senate Districts at Harborfields Library on OCTOBER 24

 

The League of Women Voters of the City of New York/Five Borough Voting Challenge has been underway at public libraries, college campuses, street fairs, and other events and locations across the five boroughs. Just over 80 new volunteers have joined our voter registration efforts in the last month. League volunteers staff voter registration tables with our banners and logos on display. This is being done in cooperation with the Borough Presidents. Visit our Five Borough Voting Challenge page  to learn about our voter registration activities, sign up to volunteer, and download education materials such as the Voter Registration Training Guide and the Electoral College Brochure:  http://www.lwvnyc.org/5_borough_voting_challenge.html.

On October 5th WABC, UNIVISION and LWVNYC will host a Town Hall which will stream live. Voter Registration will take place and questions from the audience and via social media will be answered by a panel of experts.

On August 31, 2016 Mayor de Blasio signed Intro No. 446-A banning discharge and use of certain oil and gas production wastes in New York City including from hydraulic fracturing. This is the most comprehensive New York State County Ban protecting the health of those in New York City into the future from various forms of cancers and other adverse health effects which can come with the toxic chemicals and radioactive elements in hydraulic fracturing wastes. The State accepts these wastes from Pennsylvania even though New York State has banned high volume hydraulic fracturing. The City League's Environmental Action Committee worked closely with Councilman Steve Levin, Ling Tsou of United for Action, Sean Dixon, Esq. of Riverkeeper, Ellen Weininger of Grassroots Environmental Education and Alex Beauchamp of Food & Water Watch to get this strong bill passed.