Standing Together, Defending Democracy!

June 2025

The moment we have all been waiting for is rapidly approaching as we step into June! The 2025 Convention is right around the corner and LWVNYS cannot wait for you to join us in Albany in just a few weeks! Here is a look at your June State Voter.

State Leaders Message

Nancy Rosenthal, President, nancyrosenthal9@gmail.com

Erica Smitka, Executive Director, erica@lwvny.org

The convention is just three weeks away! This will be a fantastic opportunity for us to come together and delve into our shared dedication to defending democracy.

Thanks to our local League Support Committee, the Convention Committee has heard members' strong desire to connect and discuss how we can adapt our approaches in light of the current political landscape in Washington, D.C., which stands in stark contrast to the League's positions.

Dianna Wynn, President of the LWVUS, will be kicking off the Convention on Friday by addressing this very important question. Furthermore, we will continue the conversation about how to approach League work differently in these times during Friday night's breakout sessions and after Saturday's workshops. If you haven't registered yet, you can do so here. The deadline to register is June 10th.

Looking forward to seeing you all there! June 20-22, 2025!



In League,

Nancy and Erica

Board of Directors Announcements

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Regina Tillman, 3rd Vice President/ Diversity, Equity & Inclusion



I am very much looking forward to the DEI&A discussions at the LWVNYS Conference later this month, and hope you are as well.

I am also happy to share that we had a greater number of submissions of the DEI Self-Assessment Survey compared to the years 2020 and 2023. In those submissions, there are stories to be told of failed attempts to move past current habits or change current procedures to make attaining your identified goals easier. There are also tales to be told of successes and wins in favor of our higher selves, and in strengthening our mission of creating “community” with folks that believe we can indeed have a more perfect Union… but to get there requires the inclusion of all voices.

Let us know at the State Convention what you have done lately to become more inclusive in our work of defending democracy… be it around the Board table, with your choice of programming and locations, with your active recruitment of new members, with community events and meetings you, as an individual, may be attending… etc., etc.

To read the full DEI update from Regina Tillman, 3rd Vice President, click here.

Updates from the State League



LWVNYS Convention 2025- The League of Women Voters of New York State Convention is an opportunity for members to gather in person and for delegates to take an active role in moving the League of Women Voters forward for the next two years. All members are encouraged to attend convention, either as a delegate or as a visitor. Our theme this year is "Standing Together, Defending Democracy." Convention will be held June 20-22, 2025 at the Crowne Plaza Desmond Hotel in Albany, NY. Click here to access the 2025 Convention Registration Kit and register here TODAY!

Lobby Day 2025- LWVNYS would like to thank everyone who joined us and participated in this year's Lobby Day at the NYS Capitol. We had the opportunity to speak with representatives about our legislative priorities for this year and hosted a press conference with our partners at the NY BIPOC Democracy Table to highlight key democracy issues here in New York. This year we held 50 meetings with lawmakers and had 65 advocates join us to lobby. We had members join us from as far west as Chautauqua (west of Buffalo!) and as far south as Long Island. 

Students Inside Albany was a success!

The League of Women Voters New York State would like to give all the participating students of Students Inside Albany a special shout out for joining us to explore how NYS government works. Having the opportunity to shadow their NYS representatives and explore careers within the political field, students took full advantage of this opportunity to connect with professionals as well as their peers with similar interests. A special thanks to all of our local leagues for your efforts during the selection process and bringing such bright minds to Albany! To read more details about the students' time in Albany, click here to read the 2025 Students Inside Albany Summary. Be sure to visit us on social media to view additional pictures from the program.

We look forward to having our next cohort joining us inside Albany in 2026.

Join us in becoming a Democracy Defender! The League of Women Voters of New York State thanks all who attended last month’s episodes of our civic education and advocacy webinar series, Democracy Defenders. For our next episode we will hear from former LWVNYS Executive Director, Laura Bierman, who will host a moderator training, reviewing effective ways to host a debate or forum. Be sure to join us on June 16th at 6pm. Click here to register today!

Local League Happenings

Check out these updates from our Local Leagues!

League of Women Voters Saratoga County- LWV Saratoga will be hosting two events during the month of June. On June 11th from 7:00pm-8:30pm Saratoga will be hosting "Deeds, Not Words" with Patricia Nugent, LWVSC. Click here to register.

Saratoga will also be hosting "Gender, Power, and Persecution in Cold War America on June 25th from 7:00pm-8:30pm at SUNY Adirondack with Associate professor of Political Science, Wendy Johnston. Visit lwvsaratoga.org for more information.

League of Women Voters Tompkins County- LWV Tompkins will be moderating three Candidate Forums for Democratic Primaries on June 4 for County Legislative District 13 and Danby Town Council, on June 5 for Count Legislative District 3, and on June 11 for Ithaca City Wards 1 and 5. 

LWV Tompkins' Annual Meeting takes place on June 2nd.

League of Women Voters Syracuse Metropolitan Area- LWV Syracuse Metro Area will be hosting their annual dinner and business meeting on June 12th at Vito's Ristorante in East Syracuse. Special guest will include their Syracuse Metro representative from Students Inside Albany. On May 28th, Fahey Glisson & Donna Oppedisano of the Syracuse League were at Corcoran High School in Syracuse registering and educating new voters

League of Women Voters of New York City (May 10th and 21st)- LWVNYC was approached by the Riverbay Corporation (Co-op City) Board Election Committee to assist in conducting their Board of Director candidate forums in order to help address concerns about impartiality. League volunteers helped develop a format and procedures and are serving as moderators for 3 candidate forums to elect directors for the Co-op City, the 15,372-unit Mitchell-Lama housing development, the world's largest housing cooperative.

In May, LWVNYC also kicked off its annual Summer Internship Program with more than 20 interns from high schools and colleges around both the city and country. At a lively first meeting, interns learned about voter registration, Citywide Participatory Budgeting, advocacy efforts, and more. They are excited to spend the summer hitting the streets to register voters and working on projects to help make voting more accessible to New Yorkers.

League of Women Voters of St. Lawerence MAL- North Country Matters host Donna Seymour talks with Kathleen Stein, the president of the St. Lawrence County League of Women Voters, and Aveline Hellings, a junior at LaFargeville Central School, who was our League’s 2025 Students Inside Albany conference attendee. Aveline talks with enthusiasm about what she learned from League members, state officials - including her own legislators - and the other students who participated. She also talks about her own efforts to bring the Dolly Pardon Imagination Library to her home community. To watch the full interview, click here.

League of Women Voters of New York State

1 Steuben Place

Albany, NY 12207

lwvny.org