Candidate Forums Ahead of the November Election

Please be sure to check LWVMA’s web calendar for candidate events ahead of the November election. In addition to the many local League sponsored forums (please send us your dates so we can add them to the calendar), LWVMA is partnering with the Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition to plan a forum for three state-wide races: Governor, Secretary of Commonwealth and Attorney General. Stay tuned!

Tune into Voting Rights – The Struggle to be Counted

Each Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m., Phil Portlock, a Washington D.C.-based photographer, film producer and voting rights activist, screens his 25-minute documentary about the history of African American voting rights in the United States and the continuing threats to those rights. Click here for the zoom link, and here to a Washington Post article about the film maker and the film.

Watch “Impact of the VOTES Act” Presentation

You can view the presentation by Michelle Tassinari, Director of Elections in the Secretary of State's office, here. Michelle offered a lot of great information and suggestions for how League members might help during this election season.

Read LWVMA Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021

Review our collective accomplishments in advocacy and activism, elections and voting as well as democracy education. Click here for the FY21 LWVMA Annual Report. As we reflect and take stock, we thank you all for everything you do to defend democracy and empower voters every single day!

Election Protection Help Wanted

LWVMA is working with partners ACLU Massachusetts, Common Cause, and the Urban League in an election protection effort spearheaded by Lawyers for Civil Rights. There will be opportunities to help with the Nov. 8 general election, including monitoring polls which have historically had problems on Election Day, working in the hotline call center on Election Day (for lawyers), and working from home leading up to the election to identify misinformation on social media sites. Read more.

Poll Workers Needed!

Poll workers are needed in many cities and towns. Poll workers are hired by local election officials. Contact your town clerk or city election officer for information on eligibility, hours, training and an application. Read more.

Youth Voters for a Thriving Democracy 

League of Women Voters of Maine and Tufts’ CIRCLE (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) shows us the impact youth voters made in past elections. See presentation here. If you are interested in doing a postcard campaign to youth voters, email Jen Goldman, LWVMA voter engagement committee, for a copy of the campaign.

LWVUS Seeking Your Input

The LWVUS board has drafted two policies that provide clarity on organization-wide expectations for LWVUS, Leagues, and members in the form of a League Rights & Responsibilities and Member Rights & Responsibilities which are formed from existing bylaws, policies, and legal or nonprofit best practices. As the LWVUS board and staff prepare to finalize and implement these policies, they are seeking additional input. League members are encouraged to submit their comments on these policies by October 11, 2022, via the forms posted on each page.

Legislative Session Ends with Victories

The League scored major legislative wins this session—in voting reforms, climate crisis, reproductive rights, immigration rights and meeting basic human needs. Many other bills came close as the formal session of the legislature ended July 31. Some 9,393 bills were filed in this session, and we followed about 170 of them. Read more. 

VOTE411 is Live!

Our online voters’ guide for the 2022 Massachusetts elections, is now live!

The guide covers all Massachusetts candidate races from U.S. Congress down through statewide races as well as contested county races. The guide also covers the Massachusetts Governor’s Council races and information about the general election ballot questions will be added soon. Read more.

Check out our Election 2022 Toolkit

Our Election 2022 Toolkit includes important dates, Vote411 yard signs with QR codes that can be downloaded, sample social media graphics and more.

Join us for the next LWVMA Townhall on September 21

The topic for the next quarterly LWVMA Townhall is “Nonpartisanship: What does it look like in these hyper-partisan times?” Many of you may be aware of the recent article in ProPublica about increasing Republican perception of the League as a partisan organization. The topic was the subject of much discussion on the League Leader google group. Read more.

Data Collection - Thank you!

A big shout out to League leaders for submitting the data collection form for your events, programs, activities and projects - we have received 157 forms to date - thank you!

For all those candidate forums that local Leagues have sponsored ahead of the primary election, just a reminder: if the forum was done in conjunction with other local Leagues, please have only one League submit the data collection form and list the co-sponsoring Leagues on the form. Read more.

November Candidate Forum? Check for Non-Party Candidates 

Planning a candidate forum for the November election? Be sure to check whether anyone has registered to run as a non-party candidate. August 2 is the last day for non-party candidates for state and federal offices to submit nomination papers for signature certification, and August 30 is the last day for non-party candidates to file those nomination papers with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Read more.

Need Larger Capacity for Virtual Zoom Forum? Zoom Webinar 500 Available

LWVMA has a webinar account available through October for local Leagues who need a webinar account with a 500-person capacity to hold virtual candidate forums. Please contact Brynne to reserve your dates. 

LWVMA Website Resource Highlights

Candidate Forums - General Information