November 5th, Election Day, is finally here! By this time, we hope you have made/carried out your voting plan. Whether you have already sent in your absentee ballot, voted early during one of the nine Early Voting days this past week, or plan to vote tomorrow on Election Day, your vote is the single most powerful tool you have in helping choose who you want to represent and lead our country, state, and local governments.

The LWV of Washtenaw County has been working tirelessly to inform voters, register voters, and empower voters ahead of the election. In this issue we will take time to highlight some of our members as well as the work we have been doing. This is only a snapshot of all the hours of volunteering. We value every member for their continued contributions to the league whether it be through membership, volunteering, or in leadership roles. Every effort leads to a stronger collective impact.

In addition, the League’s work will not end with an election. We carry on our work into the future, not only with voter services, but also with advocacy and education. Your continued engagement with the LWV Washtenaw County will allow us to do just this. Read on to find out how to renew your commitment to the League or perhaps become a new member.  

On a personal note, I am continually inspired by the dedication, commitment, and perseverance shown by our volunteers and leaders. It is a privilege to undertake this work together.

In League,

Lynne Kochmanski, President LWV-WC

It's Membership Renewal Time!

Stay informed. Stay involved. Stay a member.

This momentous election year has required LWV-WC to work harder than ever. In addition to registering voters, conducting candidate forums, and making sure voters have both on-line and print guides to candidates and issues, our members have been actively informing our community about early voting options, observing Public Accuracy Tests, serving as election observers and researching and sharing information about local proposals. (Whew!)

We thank you for your support during this crucial time. Now we ask you to Reflect, Renew, and Recommit. Renew (or join) and continue to Empower Voters and Defend Democracy. Dues are $70 for an individual, $105 for a household. Students are FREE.

Your dues make you a member of and support LWV-WC, LWVMI, and LWVUS. If you joined after July 1, 2024, you do not need to take any action at this time—you will receive a renewal notice in 2025.

Your dues support:

• Educating and registering voters of all ages
• Promoting/sharing reliable, factual information to keep voters fully informed on the issues
• Supporting safe, secure, and fair elections
• Ensuring ALL eligible voters have access to the ballot box
• And much more!

Click here to Renew/Join ON-LINE



Click here to Renew/Join VIA MAIL. Print the form, fill it out, and mail form and check to LWV- WC, P.O. Box 3832, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3832.

Questions? Email us at membership@lwvwashtenaw.org .

To learn more about LWV-WC, go to www.lwvwashtenaw.org

Thank You For Your Leadership and Service

Organizing 300 members is no easy task! The League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County is one of the largest local leagues in the state of Michigan, if not the largest. 

Helping all members feel engaged with our organization is one of the core objectives of the LWV-WC leadership team. Thankfully, we are fortunate to have leaders who give willingly of their time and talent to our local league to accomplish just this. These individuals work both behind the scenes and at the forefront of League business, and they are the reason our league is able to continue to do important work for voters. They have contributed hours and hours of time and organization on behalf of the LWV-WC.

Invitation to Attend Girls Group Annual Fundraiser

Saturday November 9, 2024

10:00 am - noon

In-person at Weber's Restaurant

3050 Jackson Rd, Ann Arbor 48103

Margaret Leary, our LWV-WC presentation coordinator, has purchased a table for 10 LWV-WC members at the Girls Group annual fundraiser. Seven seats are spoken for, and we would like to invite 3 more members, and perhaps one backup.

The program will feature young women who have participated in Girls Group (GG), which empowers them to achieve emotional and economic self-sufficiency, by ensuring they pursue their education. The organization is active in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas. GG was founded about 20 years ago by an Ann Arbor woman who was professionally successful and wanted to help others.

If you are interested in joining the LWV-WC table for this event please respond to Margaret Leary at mleary@umich.edu. This is a great opportunity to learn more about Girls Group as well as the potential for future LWV collaboration. A staff member from GG will join the LWV-WC table to answer your questions. Most GG participants and staff are women of color. This is consistent with our DEI commitment.

Click HERE to learn more about GG.

Your Input Is Important For Our 2025 Plan Share Your Feedback With Us!

Submitted by Lauren Hornberger, Program Director

The League of Women Voters Washtenaw County's important work doesn't end after the election. The board is seeking your feedback to shape our 2025 plans. We invite our members to share input through a short survey so that we can develop impactful education, advocacy, and membership events next year.

The survey is open now at the link HERE and will close November 15^th.

Congratulations Marina Brown on 50 Years of Membership!

Submitted by Betty Bishop, LWV-WC Treasurer



Marina Brown, shown receiving her 50-year LWV membership certificate, has been active in LWV-WC since moving to Ann Arbor in 1989. She has worked in voter registration and voter education, was Voter Services Director and a board member and still helps to register voters and update vote registrations for senior citizens at Brookhaven where she has lived for the past eight years.

She first joined the League of Women Voters in Seneca Falls, NY in 1974. The group there was active in creating the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Foundation to buy the house that Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) lived in when she was involved in the women's suffrage movement. It is now part of the Women's Rights National Historical Park, which was established in late 1980 with President Jimmy Carter signing the legislation to create the park. Thank you, Marina, for your continued membership and dedication to the LWV.

Lynne Kochmanski, President of LWV-WC with Marina Brown

A BIG Thank You to the Following Folks for Their Contributions to Voter Services

Marjorie Schuett

Voter outreach at high schools, UofM campus, WCC, farmers market, health clinic, senior residence communities, and Ypsilanti library, Pride Fest, and city festival; Voter Guide deliveries; Observer Corps.

“This work is meaningful to me because:

• People are so grateful to the LWV-WC for making it easy to register, to obtain absentee ballots, to learn about Early Voting and candidates, and for just being visible in the community. One UofM senior told us she found our work inspiring;
• I’m learning the importance of purposefully engaging with potential voters;
• I’m learning about the election process from several vantage points, which allows me to assure others that the system is secure;
• It allows me to meet LWV-WC members who are highly competent, interesting and fun to be around.”

Jeff Bieszki

“Promoting voting rights and education gets right to the foundation of our democratic values. Every election cycle reinforces this message for me. For some years now, Trudy Hughes (spouse and co-volunteer) and I have been attending voter services events in support of these values. Our roles in creating and packaging election related materials for use and distribution at venues around the county has been most satisfying. In so doing I get to keep my mind and PowerPoint skills in the game. I am so proud of and grateful to Trudy, our League and its trusty community of volunteers for helping keep the tradition of service to voters thriving in our county.”

Rena Brodkin

Rena Brodkin joined LWV-WC in early 2024 and immediately began attending Voter Services meetings and stepping up to volunteer at many tabling events where she helped register voters, educate voters about voting options and how to become better informed voters. Rena also designed several posters encouraging people to register to vote and to share resources available on Vote411.

Henriette Remmer

“Clerk Engagement means building and maintaining relationships to the City and Township Clerk’s offices in Washtenaw County. In an election year this happens by observing the Public Accuracy Tests of voting equipment (the tabulators) at as many of the county’s 27 jurisdictions as possible. For the General Election, 18 LWV-WC volunteers observed these tests at 20 Clerk’s offices. Often the LWV members are the only representatives of the public. The Public Accuracy Tests are a mandatory procedure in preparing for an election. A set of test ballots with correctly and incorrectly marked ballots are being tabulated to probe for the expected response and error messages of the tabulators. At these tests, the public can see first-hand how secure our elections are and how thoroughly they are being prepared. This is an important component of our democracy.”

Upcoming Advocacy Events

Money in Politics Post Election Meeting

Thursday, November 14

7pm via Zoom

Please join the LWV-WC Money in Politics Advocacy team for a post-election discussion of Washtenaw County’s election results. 

We will also discuss bills the LWVMI hopes to see the Michigan Legislature enact yet in 2024. 

Contact Robbi Duda at mip@lwvwashtenaw.org for the Zoom link.

Michigan Senator Jeff Irwin to Speak on

His Vision for Juvenile Justice Reform

Friday December 12

10am via Zoom

The LWV-WC’S small, but mighty, ‘Juvenile Justice & Justice for All’ Advocacy Team is pleased to invite everyone to an informative presentation on the state of Juvenile Justice Reform in Michigan on December 13 at 10am via zoom. 

Senator Jeff Irwin, who will be retiring as a Michigan legislator on January 1 of 2025, will present a recap of his work on Justice, specifically Juvenile Justice.  We know that Senator Irwin has been passionate about social justice. We will ask Senator Irwin for an update on reforms under the “Kids & Communities” Act of December 2023 and ask which child-centered policies are now enforced and funded and which still need work.  The Senator will present a retrospective of his years in the Michigan Legislature and what laws still need to be passed.  

Register in advance HERE for this meeting.

For more information, please contact:  justice@lwvwashtenaw.org

More than half of our members (150+) volunteered time this election season, which is a real testament to their commitment to voting and democracy. Many people volunteered in multiple areas of league work. Here are a few representative highlights. This is not a comprehensive list. We always acknowledge all member contributions at our annual meeting in May. If you do not see your name here, watch for our annual report in 2025. Thank you again for all your contributions.

Kathy Reilly: postcard project for new voters in Washtenaw County

Julie Caroff, June Swartz, Nancy Schewe, Melissa Vert, Deb Stern: Vote411 sign distribution

Sally Allen, Grace Bartley, Jill Cohen, Anne and John Farmer, Melanie McIntosh, Nancy Swierz, Kim Winokur, Sue and Geoff Smereck, Trudy Hughes: printed Voter Guide Distribution

Anne Jackson, Nancy Brucken, Maggie Conger, Kay Stremler, Linda Miller, Alan Jackson, Candace Friedman, Anne Venner: Vote411

Molly Maher, Vicki Paulissen, Shelley Schanfield, Linda Williams: Candidate Forums

Glenn Kimes, Cathy Whittaker, Julie Falbaum, Laura Khalainy, Robin Gleason, Joan Kellenberg, Annemarie Palinscar, Mary Brennan: tabling events

Donna Snyder, Joan Sampieri: presentations (our presentation team presented to over 1200 people on New Voting Rights and National Popular Vote Compact)

Marian Roberge, Barbara Steer, Marge Swan, Arnold Fleischmann: High School/Washtenaw Community College (WCC) voter registration

Holly Blais, Susan Wooley, Anne Gere: Observer Corps/Board of Canvassers

Thank You!

Thank you volunteers extraordinaire Trudy Hughes and Jeff Bieszki, for participating in the Ypsilanti Downtown Halloween Party

Love the creative Halloween costumes!

LWV-Washtenaw County presents:

“Coffee with your President”

Join us for an informal chat with LWV-WC President, Lynne Kochmanski. Find out about new initiatives, meet other members, and ask the questions that are on your mind. 

Thursday, November 21 at 10:00 a.m.

Joe and Rosie’s Coffee and Tea

8074 Main Street

Dexter, MI

Member Orientation 

Thursday, November 21, 2024

7:00-8:00 pm on Zoom

Register HERE

Even though the election will have occurred, work is ongoing for us at LWV-WC. Join us to learn more about long-term projects and how you can help. As a new, current or prospective member, you'll learn more about the League.

For more information, contact Catherine Murau and Mary Ann McGee at membership@lwvwashtenaw.org

2024

LWV-WC Calendar

For further information regarding these meetings, check our website calendar HERE or contact

vicepresident@lwvwashtenaw.org

November 2024

06 Justice Reform Group  9am

11 Observer Corps Committee  4pm

11 Voting Rights Group 7pm

14 Money in Politics Group 7pm

19 Advocacy Committee 3pm

21 Coffee with the President 10 am (in person) Joe and Rosie’s, Dexter, MI

21 Environmental State Network 11am

21 Member Orientation 7pm

26 LWV-WC Board Meeting 4pm

December 2024

04 Justice Reform Group 9:30am

09 Voting Rights Group 7pm

10 Voter Services Committee 4pm

12 Money in Politics Group 7pm

15 Healthcare Reform Group 1:30pm

17 Advocacy Committee 3pm

19 Environmental State Network 11 am

Welcome New Members!

Barbara Steer

Anne Gere

Kathleen Gould

Amy Lamb

Gabby Lamb

Melanie McIntosh

Michelle Eiden

SaMara Roberts

Erika Hathaway

Carolyn Green

Tamsyn Sweetman

Ava Leopold

John Ivancich

Robin Skodzinsky

Norma Verhey

Audra Beleisis

Gayle Harte

LWV WASHTENAW LEADERSHIP TEAM

Contact us: league@lwvwashtenaw.org

OFFICERS:

President: Lynne Kochmanski

Vice President: Catherine Murau

Treasurer: Betty Bishop

Interim Secretary: Jean Becker

DIRECTORS:

Voter Services:  Rebecca Shiemke

Advocacy:  Sandra Sorini Elser

Communications: Betsy Nisbet

Program: Lauren Hornberger

Membership: Mary Ann McGee

Student Leaders of Voter Services: Juliana Ramirez and Bavani Vijay

NOMINATING COMMITTEE: 

Chair: Donna Snyder

Gwen Alexander

Newsletter Editor: Mary Ellen Hagenauer

Presentation Coordinator: Margaret Leary

Mission Statement

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, 

encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, 

works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, 

and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

LWV-WC is an organization fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in principle and in practice. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to the organization’s current and future success in engaging all individuals, households, communities, and policy makers in creating a more perfect democracy.