LWVWoodland - The Voter

THE VOTER

May 2018

Save the Date...

The Woodland League of Women Voters Annual Meeting will be held June 6, 2018, 5:30 pm at American Legion Hall ( 530 Bush St, Woodland). We have invited a speaker from Valley Clean Energy.

Our business meeting will begin at 7:00.

Savory Cafe will cater -- $20.00 per person

Please RSVP to Laura at 530-668-0345. Designate vegetarian or chicken entree. Please leave a message if no answer.

Minutes of Last Year's

Annual Meeting ( June 1 2017)

The League of Women Voters of Woodland held its Annual Meeting on June 1, 2017. Dinner was served at 6 pm, followed by a discussion lead by Rachel Iskow (Executive Director) and Ann Marie Flynn of Mutual Housing of Woodland on their organization and the services it provides. The evening concluded with a business meeting.

Maria Lago acted as Secretary pro tem, as Karen Urbano was called out of town. Detailed minutes of the meeting can be read here.

Grace Hefner Award

This award was created by the Woodland League in 2011 to honor one of our founding members, Grace Hefner, who gave of her time and talents in the development of the League. She was strongly committed to the purpose of the League and, more importantly. was also available to help, no matter what the task.

The following criteria were adopted in selecting the recipient of the Grace Hefner Award. The Award certificate will be presented at the annual meeting:

* Active membership for at least 10 years.
* Current member.
* Held or holding a League office with leadership experience.
* Participated or participating in a Study or other League activity.

Prior recipients:

2012 Lois Linford
2013 B.J. Ford
2014 Pat Murray
2015 Janet Ruggiero
2016 Carol Souza-Cole
2017 Lucinda Talkington

From our PDF Library...

(click following links to read...)

* LWV 2018 Annual Meeting Pamphlet

* LWV City & County Positions

* Proposed Budget 2018-19 Final

Voter Guide

The Easy Voter Guide is now available, providing you with information on how the primary election works and the five California State Propositions in this June election.The Guide can be viewed on line here or picked up at the Woodland Public Library, Senior/Community Center. Call Gil Walker for other locations or if you need additional copies for members of your associations, (530-661-6449).

New from the National LWV

LWV National Convention 2018

The 53rd National Convention is June 28-July 1 in Chicago, IL. All available information on the convention can be found here. Please contact membership@lwv.org with any Convention related questions or concerns.

Hotel Reservations
The discounted rate rooms in our room block are sold out and the hotel is unable to add more. You can use this link to reserve non-discounted rooms at the Hilton Chicago.
We have also reserved a block of rooms at the Travelodge by Wyndham Downtown Chicago. The hotel is located 2 blocks from the Hilton Chicago and rooms are $199/night.

New of the Week

Ohio voters approved a ballot issue in their primary to create new rules for drawing congressional districts.This victory is a testament to the hard work of the Ohio League and redistricting reform activists.

In a letter to the editor, the Charleston League highlighted the importance of VOTE411.org in the state's upcoming primary elections.

North Carolina celebrated more women on the ballot in this primary election than ever before, a trend we are seeing nationwide in 2018.

High School Voter Registration: New Partnerships to Consider

We wanted to pass along two important notes related to youth voter registration: 1) Parkland student activists had encouraged every high school in American to host a voter registration drive this year, meaning there may be student groups in your area in need of assistance. 2) LWVUS has forged a partnership with the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS), which represents 70 of the largest urban school districts in the country. CGCS will be encouraging their member school districts to reach out to local League volunteers to help plan and carry out voter registration drives. If you hear from local students or school personnel, we strongly encourage you to prioritize this critical and timely work to empower first-time voters! Our training manual (new edition coming soon!) can help.

House Holds Hearing on Census Citizenship Question

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the proposed inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The League commends Chairman Gowdy for demanding DOJ official answer census citizenship questions. Read our blog for more information on the hearing and sign our petition to tell Congress to correct this issue before it is too late.

Forum Pics & Videos

The three recent forums for supervisor, DA, and Elections,clerk-recorder/assessor are on the Woodland City website and also on WAVE TV,channel 21 at various times during the weeks ahead.

Below are some still photos of the events:

Where do My Dues Go?

You may not be aware that a significant portion of our dues go to the National ( $1408) and California ( $1232 ) Leagues. Check these websites to learn about the work of the national, state and local leagues and to follow their advocacy and studies.

Men Welcome as League Members!

True, our name says women voters, but our membership extends to all concerned about the vitality of our democracy and especially about ensuring voting rights.

As women won suffrage nationally nearly one hundred years ago -- and earlier in progressive California and other like-minded states -- gratitude must go to the enlightened male voters who were necessary to make women's enfranchisement possible.

The League of Women Voters welcomes men to membership as we study policies and share work to protect democratic institutions and encourage all eligible citizens to vote.

Additional Participation Opportunities

Voter Services-Forums

Gil Walker is busy at work planning candidate forums prior to our next elections. To help, email him at walkergil at hotmail.com.

Student Voter Registration Results

Maria Lago reports the following registration data:

Esparto High School

Students present 68

Completed registrations 48

Taken home 9

Previously registered 5

Pioneer High School

Students present 181

Completed registrations 121

Taken home 35

Previously registered 12

Woodland High School*

Students present 224

Completed registrations 139

Taken home 36

Previously registered 9

Cache Creek High School

Students present 7

Completed registrations 4

Taken home 3

Previously registered 0

Total number completed registrations delivered to Elections Office: 312

* 21 studeents from 5 classes failed to entern their places of birth.

Teachers were requested by email to provide the missing information.

Maria Lago will complete the forms as the data arrives. Forms which remain incomplete will be destroyed. For further information, contact her at mlago343 at aol.com.

Mark Your Calendar...

June

6 Annual Dinner Meeting, Elections, and Business Meeting

July

Vacations

August

14 Board Meeting, TBA

15 "The Voter"

Policy Regarding "The Voter"

-- Laura Kofoid, Vice President for Communications

In an effort to make The Voter more useful and informative, it will be issued electronically only four times during the calendar year. Print copies will be mailed to the few members who have not provided email addresses.

We encourage all members to share by forwarding The Voter to friends who might be encouraged to join or merely have an interest in our work in the community.

I anticipate putting out issues in mid August, November, January and April. Eric and I will also email important alerts and notices to the WLWV membership list. You will be blind copied, so your address will not be shared, and there will be no need to reply. In this way, we will provide specific details of times, places, and speakers as they become confirmed and available.

For the present, the calendar may read TBA (to be announced). If you have an article about committee work or a suggestion for content, such as past league positions or previous studies, send it to me, Laura Caruso-Kofoid (lcaruso.kofoid@gmail.com).

While we take positions about issues, please remember that we never endorse candidates or parties.

WE NEED OBSERVERS!

OBSERVER MEETING DAYS AND TIME

Board of Supervisors 2nd & 4th Tuesday (9:00 AM)

Woodland City Council 1st & 3rd Tuesday (6:00 PM)

WJUSD Board Meetings 2nd & 4th Thursday (6:30 PM)

Transparency is important and must be documented.

If you can attend school board meetings, or other local government meetings, contact President Janet Ruggiero (jmruggiero@sbcglobal.net) to receive an observer badge and template for taking notes.

Visit the City of Woodland website for meeting times, and agendas and think about your interest and strengths. We welcome League members to join us at Woodland City Council Meetings as observers, first and third Tuesdays, 6PM. Meetings are cordial, informative, about Woodland, and often feature special presentations. Public commentary is typically welcomed.

A primary function of observers is to determine how League policies are affected by Council votes.
In the Fall, some City Council members will stand for reelection; some have already filed for candidacy. For additional information, contact Gil Walker, 661-6449

STUDIES

If you want to review our positions, help to update them, or participate in our next study, contact Janet (jmruggiero@sbcglobal.net) or, even better, attend the February board meeting which take place at 2:00 pm on the second Monday of the month. All members are welcome.

Our next meeting will be in January. Call Laura at 530-668-0345 to confirm the location.