President's Column

Aedín Clements

Moving into my second year of this co-presidency, I’m privileged to attend a lot of meetings and gatherings of League members, and I’m constantly encouraged and inspired by the work that is done.

The steady, reliable ways that we work to support democracy are very important. As our democracy is being dismantled, we are paying increasing attention to our role as an advocacy group.

You can find information on the League’s positions on social and economic justice on the positions page on the LWVKA website.

Watch for emails from the national LWV, and from LWVMI asking you to contact representatives, and see Denise Hartsough’s article on Unite and Rise 8.5, to learn more about actions we can take.

We will contact you by email as we work on events and actions that we can take over the coming months, along with requests for volunteers. Watch also our Facebook page where we highlight the League’s concerns as well as events and information from other organizations.



Thank you all for your dedication!

Calendar

July/August 2025

JULY

NO BOARD MEETING THIS MONTH

N4 Independence Day (Indivisible will be outside Rep. Huizenga's office,

NN5228 Lovers Lane from noon to 1pm)

N9 Development Committee Meeting 10am, Zoom (Ken Manley)

12 Kalamazoo Farmers Market Voter information table

15 Book Group Kazoo Books, 6:30 (social time 6-6:30pm)

17 Good Trouble Lives On, 6-8pm, Maple Lake Amphitheater,

NN112 W. Michigan Ave., Paw Paw

AUGUST

N1 Climate Change, Biodiversity & Environmental Justice Meeting

NN9am (Chris Kuthe)

N4 Girls Scouts Planning Meeting 10am (Aimee Bedard)

N5 Election Day

13 Development Committee Meeting 10am, Zoom (Ken Manley)

16 E.V.E.N.T.S. Meeting 10:30am, Zoom (Barb Dircks)

24 Voter articles due for September Issue

25 LWVKA Board Meeting

26 Women’s Equality Day

Membership

Terri McDonald

LWVKA is pleased to welcome

NNNBelinda Armstrong of Springfield and

NNNCarol Harms of Gobles!

Voter Services Update 

Aimée Bedard

In June, the League tabled at Kalamazoo Pride. The event had such great, positive energy. We connected with individuals and families of all ages. We handed out nearly all of our rainbow “I Vote” league bracelets and almost ran out of our bookmarks. The positive atmosphere at Pride energized the crowd and our volunteers. Thank you to Kimberly Bender, Aedín Clements, Moira Macleod, and Carol Pauly who assisted in table set-up, clean-up and connecting with potential voters and new league members.

Please be on the look-out for League Volunteer Blasts for upcoming volunteering opportunities including the Farmers Market and WMU Bronco Bash. I would also like to get interested members together to discuss and brainstorm around Voter Education opportunities. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all our volunteers!! You keep our League moving forward.

July

Disability Pride Month



NNn1 26th Amendment Anniversary lowered voting age to 18

NNn4 US Independence Day

19-20 Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848

NN20 Anniversary of the founding of LWVKA in 1920

In May LWVUS launched the Unite and Rise 8.5 initiative which is to activate 8.5 million voters through civic engagement, education, and collective power. They now have a form which members and non-members who support the initiative can sign. Sign the form here

Recently LWVUS declared a Constitutional Crisis. The League urged the government to adhere to the Constitution and respect the First Amendment right to protest.

LWVUS responded to the US Supreme Court ruling that migrants may be deported to countries other than their country of origin without due process with the following statement: "As a pro-democracy organization, the League of Women Voters rejects this ruling. We remain steadfast in our demand for a country where all people are treated with humanity, fairness and receive due process."

Watch for LWVUS Facebook postings as events unfold.

LWVKA/Calhoun County Geographical Unit

Summary of June board meeting

The June board meeting was held at Dark Horse Brewery and provided members a time to socialize before discussing the business at hand. The importance of preparing for the 2026 election season as well as ways for members to become more involved were discussed. The Treasury report was given and a decision was made to purchase additional bracelets and bookmarks out of our general fund.

Tabling events that have taken place included: Battle Creek Cereal Festival 6/14, Juneteenth Battle Creek 6/21 and Marshall Pride Festival 6/14. Anne Flynn reported that these were well attended. The next tabling event will be Battle Creek Pridefest on July 19th.

We did not have any new members this month although several people have expressed interest in joining. A decision was made to have a gathering on July 17th that will be in place of a meeting. We discussed the possibility of having Senator Slotkin speak at our annual meeting in September. We will not be posting a VOTE411 site or recruiting observers for the board of canvassers as there are no proposals or races in Calhoun County for the August 5th election. Posting of League information and announcements will continue on social media as well as emails and text to members as appropriate.

LWVKA Book Group

Aedín Clements

We look forward to discussing Percival Everett’s James on Tuesday, July 22nd. We meet at Kazoo Books on Parkview (parking in rear), socializing from 6pm and beginning our discussion at 6:30pm.

Our September selection is True Biz: A Novel, by Sara Nović 

“Part tender coming-of-age story, part electrifying tale of political awakening, part heartfelt love letter to Deaf culture, True Biz is wholly a wonder.” – Celeste Ng.



That meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 16