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The Voter
League of Women Voters of the Midland Area
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Board Meetings are held 9:30-11:30 the first Thursday of each month in Conference Room A of the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library. All members are invited to attend.
Oct 11, 7pm
Candidate Forum
MPS Board
MPS Administration Bldg
Oct 12, 10am - 3pm
Senior Expo
Midland Mall
Oct 19, 7pm
Candidate Forum
MCESA Board
MPS Adminstrative Bldg
Oct 31, 1-3pm
LWV Planning Meeting
Location??
All members invited to attend
Nov 3, 9:30am
Board Meeting
Grace A Dow Library
Conf Rm A
Nov 8, 7am - 8pm
General Election
Dec 7, 6pm
Holiday Gathering
More info in November
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Educational booklet for new voters
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Board of Directors
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President
VP Membership
VP Program
Secretary
Treasurer
Directors
Fran Hamburg - Director at Large
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MPS School Board Candidate Forum Tuesday, October 11 at 7pm.
MPS Administration Bldg.
see below for more info.
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President's Letter
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Our September 14
Community Conversation on Restoring Trust in State Government was a great event to kick off the year. Discussion was lively among the 40 participants representing LWV, AAUW, elected local officials, and other leaders and interested members in the community. In general the group gave low ratings on all aspects of trust in our state government. The conclusions of the group were the subject of an editorial in the Midland Daily News about low trust in government. Thanks to Program co-chairs Judy Donahue and Sharron Such for organizing the event, which was co-sponsored and facilitated by the Center for Michigan.
See below for more voter service activities. We would not be able to offer these information resources to our area residents without the efforts of Board Director Co-chairs for Voter Service Carole Swinehart and Kim Steinke; and Terry Townley, Board Director for Education who has organized the school board forums.
Sue McCollister
President
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Meet the School Board Candidates
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Two forums are scheduled for school board candidate races.
The Midland Public Schools (MPS) Board Candidates' Forum is Tuesday, October 11 in the board room of the Midland Public Schools Administration Building at 600 E. Carpenter in Midland. The one-hour live telecast will begin at 7:00 pm. Eight candidates are running for four openings. The four incumbent candidates are
Lynn M. Baker,
Yvonne Gorton,
Scott McFarland, and
Gerald L. Wasserman. The four new candidates are
Brad Donald Blasy, Mary Fredell, Michael Knoff, and
Kurt Yockey.
The Midland County Educational Service Agency (MCESA) Board Candidates' Forum is Wednesday, October 19, also to be held in the MPS Administration Building with a live telecast at 7:00 pm. Four candidates are competing for two seats. Annmarie F. Hawkins is running as an incumbent. The other 3 candidates are Rhonda Henning, Nancy J. Royster, and Jeffrey J. Wagner.
Midland Area LWV and the Midland branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) are co-sponsoring the two forums. Mary Franek, president of AAUW will serve as moderator for the MPS forum. Jodi Gardner from AAUW will moderate the MCESA forum.
The forums will be televised live on MPS-TV 98. The programs will also be available online at the MPS website
and on YOUTUBE
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VOTE411, our online voter guide, is live!
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Go to
VOTE411.org, enter your address, click on
"get personalized information on candidates and issues" (green bar) to see the races on your ballot, from the presidential candidates to selected Township races. Then click on two candidates in a race to compare their backgrounds and responses to questions. Tell others about Vote411.
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Senior Expo, October 12, Midland Mall
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Stop by our booth at the Senior Expo on Wednesday, October 12, 10-2, at the Midland Mall. We will have election materials for everyone and will do demonstrations of Vote411.org. Please come see us near Christopher & Banks (no. 240 on map). Mall Map
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Voter Guide
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The printed
Voter Guide will be included in the
Sunday, October 16 Midland Daily News. If you don't have it delivered, consider purchasing the newspaper that day. Copies will be delivered in the community on
Monday, October 17. Please contact Carole Swinehart (989-636-7239) or Kim Steinke (1-860-921-1983) if you are able to help.
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Our candidate forum on October 3 featured the 98th State House District race between Gary Glenn (R) and Geoff Malicoat (D), District 1 County Commissioner candidates Jeanette Snyder (R) and Connie Methner (D), and the District 4 Commissioner race between Gaye Terwillegar (R) and Eric Anders (D). The forum, which was well attended, can be viewed on MCTV Channel 191 - see the broadcast schedule
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Looking Ahead
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This election season WILL come to an end, and our League will move on to other priorities. To decide which ones will be on our schedule for the second half of 2016-17, a planning meeting is set for Monday, October 31, 1:00 p.m. at Grace A. Dow Library (Conference room to be announced). Here are the must-do agenda items:
- Fund-raising - We will no longer be using Radio Days, our traditional fundraiser, due to business constraints with our WMPX sponsors. We are very grateful to them for supporting us in this successful program for many years. We need to consider an alternative approach, which will be a significant topic of discussion at the meeting. If you have any ideas or just want to take part in the discussion, please come! All members are welcome and encouraged to participate.
- A state LWV study is on the schedule for early 2017. Our current state position on Taxation and Budgeting needs updating (position renamed Government Finance), and study materials are available from LWVMI. We will set a schedule to meet the consensus deadline of March 1. At this point we are planning to have a community program early after the first of the year on the challenges of funding local governments at a time of declining revenues. Stay tuned for details!
On a lighter note for future focus, mark your calendars for
Wednesday, December 7, 6:00 pm for our annual Holiday Gathering! This year Terry Townley will be hosting us, with further details to be determined.
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Delta College Voter Registration
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The last week of September found a group of us at Delta College helping with their voter registration drive which resulted in a total of 460 individuals newly empowered to vote. Many thanks to Linda Carey, Judy Donahue, Judy Frock, Fran Hamburg, Katherine Redwine, Julie Schmidt, Karen Sherwood, Kim Steinke, Sharron Such, Carole Swinehart, Terry Townley, Dave Wirth, and Jane Wirth for guiding students and gathering information needed to complete the process.
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Membership
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If you are interested in joining, please fill out the form below, and send it in. If you have questions, please email Judy McDowell, VP Membership.
mail to: LWV - Midland Area
P.O. Box 1203
Midland, MI 48641-1203
e-newsletter editor.
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