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Have a wonderful holiday season
and our best for the New Year!
The LWVMA Board and Staff
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Friday, Dec. 15
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LWVMA/LESF Board Meeting & Holiday Lunch, LWVMA Office, Boston, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.
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Tuesday, Jan. 16
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Deadline to apply for a Daniel Scharfman Citizen Education Grant
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Friday
, Jan. 26
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LWVMA/LESF Board Meeting, Framingham Main Library, J Program Room, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.
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Wednesday, Jan. 31
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Deadline to update LWVUS Roster
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Wednesday, Jan. 31
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Automatic Voter Registration Lobby Day, Massachusetts State House, Room 428, from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m.
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Thursday, Feb. 1
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"Get in the Game and Vote" Student Video Contest kick-off
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Thursday, Feb. 15
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Moderator Training, ActonTV's Studios
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Regional Field Service Meetings Coming Up
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Field Service Representatives Bonnie Carter and Sharyn Roberts |
The LWVMA Field Service program provides opportunities for local League leaders to meet, share, and plan within defined geographical areas. The goal of the program is to support local League leaders, strengthen local Leagues and encourage regional collaboration.
Winter Field Service meetings:
- Metro Northwest/Central, Sunday, Jan. 7, 3-4:30 p.m., Acton Memorial Library, Acton. Contact Lora Goldenberg
- South Shore, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard: Tuesday, Jan. 9, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Mattapoisett Free Library. Contact Phyllis Walsh
- Metro West: Saturday, Jan. 13, 10:15 a.m.-1 p.m., NewTV, Newton. Contact Sharyn Roberts
- Merrimack Valley/North Shore: Thursday, Jan. 25, 8:30-10:30 a.m. Friendly's, Peabody. Contact Karen Price
- Metro/South: Saturday, Jan. 27, 12-2 p.m., Westwood. Contact Kate Boland
- West: Saturday, Feb. 3. 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Mocha Maya's, Shelburne Falls. Contact Nancy Polan
For questions, please contact Field Service Director
Karen Price.
For further information on the Field Service program
click here.
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Video Contest Launches in February
Get ready--the fifth annual LWVMA high school video contest kicks off in February! This year's theme is "Get In the Game -- and Vote!" Students will be invited to submit 30-second public service announcements encouraging voter participation in Massachusetts' 2018 election. We will publicize the winning videos via social and traditional media and use them to inspire eligible voters to get off the sidelines in 2018. Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Please help spread the word. In the past, local Leagues have played a key role in publicizing the contest in their communities. Stay tuned--we will send out more information in January, including a toolkit with ideas to help promote the contest.
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League Holiday Shopping
When you shop at Amazon and Giving Assistant for the holidays, you can support our Citizen Education Fund, helping to educate and empower voters throughout Massachusetts!
Amazon will donate 0.5% of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to League of Women Voters Lotte E. Scharfman Memorial Fund when you shop via our AmazonSmile link.
There are over 3,000 popular stores on Giving Assistant, and a portion of every purchase you make
here
will be donated to the Scharfman Fund.
LWVMA also offers a wide variety of League logo items. In addition to favorites like the rhinestone LWV and VOTE pins, you'll find shirts, tote bags, mugs, water bottles, note cards and other items. Perfect for the League members on your list! Find these items
here
.
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Automatic Voter Registration Push in January
We will be working hard to get the automatic voter registration bill out of the Joint Committee on Election Laws and to the floor of the House for a vote in January.
Plan to join LWVMA and the other members of the Election Modernization Coalition for a lobby day on automatic voter registration at the State House Wednesday, Jan. 31. Please let your members know about this lobby day and come in to Boston. We need your help!
If your League has not already sent a letter backing AVR to your local newspaper, now is the time. Please take five minutes and send a letter from your League.
You can find a template for the letter
here
. Sign up
here
to let us know that you are submitting a letter to your local newspaper, so we can track our statewide outreach and impact. There's a fact sheet on automatic voter registration
here.
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New Policy on Bills Affecting a Single City or Town
The LWVMA Legislative Action Committee (LAC) has adopted a new policy covering bills before the state legislature that affect only one town or city or region, for example, when a town passes a rule allowing 17-year-olds to vote in town election but that rule requires approval by the state legislature.
If local Leagues want to support or oppose such municipality-specific bills, they will need to work with the LAC to assure that there are League positions covering such actions. The LAC will also provide advice and help on advocacy on such bills. The new policy can be found on the website here.
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Please Fill out Moderator Survey
Save the date: LWVMA is planning a training for new and existing moderators
at ActonTV's studios on
Thursday, February 15. More details and a sign-up form will follow shortly.
LWVMA is also updating our moderator training materials. As we undertake these revisions, we want to hear from your local League to ensure that we develop materials that will be useful for you.
LWVMA has sent out an online survey to local Leagues. If your League has already responded to our survey--thank you! If your League has not responded, we would appreciate it if one person from your local League's leadership team would complete this survey by the extended deadline of Friday, Dec. 15. It should take about 10 minutes. You can take the survey by clicking here.
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Scharfman Grant Deadline Jan. 16
The next deadline for Daniel Scharfman Citizen Education grant applications is Jan. 16. Local Leagues can apply for grants up to $250 for a project; three or more Leagues collaborating on a project can apply for up to $500. The application and requirements are here.
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LWVUS Program Planning Information
The LWVUS Program Planning Leaders' Guide is now available. Responses from local and state Leagues are due by March 1. Program planning will lead to adoption of a program of education and action at Convention 2018 in Chicago in June. Questions should be directed to Karen Nicholson, chair of the LWV Education and Advocacy Committee.
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LWVUS reminds all Leagues that roster updates are due by Jan. 31. This is especially important now that we have
launched our new national website
, and
all state and local League information is pulled directly from our database.
To access your League's database, visit the
login page. LWVUS staff can provide assistance and walk you through the updating process if necessary. You can email
rostersupport@lwv.org with any questions or consult the
online manual.
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LWVUS Convention Coming in June
The national League hopes to see you in Chicago for Convention 2018 June 28-July 1. To help you plan, LWVUS has updated its website with helpful information and links. Recent updates include:
For more key dates, see the
full Countdown article
.
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The League Leader Update is distributed to local League board members and LWVMA leaders. Anyone can request the Update by clicking here. Please review this Update for articles of interest to your League and include them in your local Bulletin.
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