Fall 2024 League Lookout - LWVNAZ News/Events Northern Arizona and Greater Verde Valley
| LWVNAZ Members and Supporters:
We are changing our newsletter to a quarterly format covering events for the next few months, supplementing this with periodic emails on specific events. We hope this new format will provide you with useful, timely information.
We are providing information that the League is sponsoring as well as information about events that you might find of interest. Feel free to share this information with anyone you think would benefit from this information!
To get information about other league activities, see our website.
| Message from the Board
Hello fellow Leaguers,
Welcome to fall! We can start to look forward to cooler weather.
As stated above, we are changing from a monthly to a quarterly newsletter, so this one will be filled with lots of useful information for the election.
I am Kathy Henry and am the acting spokesperson for the League since we currently don't have a president. Maryann Kenney has been our president for the past two years and has done a wonderful job.
Election season is heating up and the League is busy with lots of election activity as you can read in this newsletter. We are hosting candidate forums, having the Yavapai Recorder do a presentation on ballot chain of custody, and continuing to have voter registration events at libraries and farmers markets. League members will be visiting local high schools to talk about the importance of participating in elections and to register students who will be first-time voters. We will be planning a number of voter education presentations, so stay tuned for information about those. We hope to see you at some of these events.
We are always looking for volunteers to get involved with our activities. As a volunteer organization, we can't continue without dedicated volunteers. One volunteer position we are looking for is the Treasurer position, which is a board position. If you are interested in volunteering for this position or another, send an email to lwvnaz@gmail.com.
The Political Book Club is starting its new year with an interesting selection of books, so feel free to join any of those meetings.
Yours in league,
Kathy Henry
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Are you ready to Vote?
Voter Registration
Deadline to Register for
Nov 5 Election is OCT 7
| | | National Voter Registration Day Events
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September 16, 1:00 PM
Michelle Burchill, Yavapai County Recorder
Ballot Chain of Custody Practices
Sedona Public Library
3250 White Bear Road
This event is free, but space is limited, so help us plan by registering at lwvnaz@gmail.com
| | | All are welcome to attend this informative lecture by elected Yavapai County recorder Michelle Burchill who will describe the chain of custody of your ballot from the drop box to the tabulated vote. The mission of the office of county recorder as public servants is to promote the success of the democratic process in the administration of voter Registration and Election procedures by promoting public trust and confidence at the highest level. Voter registration and updates to your voter registration will be made available by volunteers with the League of Women Voters of Northern Arizona before and after Michelle’s lecture.
September 17
National Voter Registration Day
Sedona Public Library
Volunteers available all day in the lobby
Camp Verde Library
Volunteers available from 10:00 - 4:00
Coconino Community College Flagstaff
Partnering with Rural Organizing Initiative
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Ongoing
Registration
Events | |
Camp Verde Farmer's Market -
1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month
Clarkdale Library -
times vary, check with library
Sedona -
Tuesdays 1:00 - 3:00
VOC Library –
Tuesdays 11:00 - 1:00
Flagstaff -
times vary, check with library
Local High Schools
Including Mingus Union, and Red Rock High School, registering and educating seniors on the importance of voting
| | | | And, varied times in Cottonwood | | Rec Center
Sept 3 (11-1) Sept 12 (9-11) Sept 18 (11-1) Sept 23 (10-12) Oct 2 (11-1) Oct 7 (11-1)
Mt Hope Foods
Sept 2, 9, 20, 25, Oct 3 (all times 9 - 11)
Library
Sept 6 (10-12) Sept 11 (11-1) Sept 16 (11-1) Sept 26 (9-11) Oct 4 (10-12)
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NAU Suffrage Cantata
October 26 - 2 pm, Flagstaff
Ardrey Auditorium
Join us for this very special event! NAU is hosting a concert celebrating women's suffrage, with a performance by the Los Angeles-based choir, Vox Femina, along with the NAU choir. Our Flagstaff team of volunteers, Mary Grove and Sue Strobel, will be staffing a table with vote411 information and also giving a short talk to the audience about the League of Women Voters. | | | What does the recent SCOTUS decision mean for registration in Arizona?
- Proof of citizenship has been required to register to vote in Arizona since 2004. Arizona is the only state that requires voters to prove their citizenship when they register, a provision adopted in a 2004 ballot measure known as Proposition 200. Voters can demonstrate citizenship by providing a driver’s license or tribal ID number, or they can attach a copy of a birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents. Voters already registered at that time in 2004 were grandfathered in. This requirement has not changed.
- The county recorders say that voters who do not provide proof of citizenship or have problems with their registration form are contacted and asked to clarify and provide valid proof of citizenship. Previously, voters who did not meet the states requirement were automatically registered as a “Federal Only” voter which only requires that voters sign to ascertain that they are citizens.
- Voters who want to register now as a “Federal Only” voter must download the federal form themselves, complete and mail in.
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Monday, September 23rd
6:30 - 8:00 PM
Via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Iwdlpr26RPuafVgyAGhhwQ
This is a webinar, so you must register for the event.
Six candidates running for three open positions
Jackie Baker, Brian Bolton, Robert Foreman, Jerry Geronimo Martin, Jessie Murdock, Patricia Seybold
If you have questions for the candidates, send them to campverdeforum@gmail.com
Cottonwood Town Council
Location and time TBD (check our website as details become available)
Mingus Union High School Governing Board Forum
Location and time TBD (check our website as details become available)
The League of Women Voters is a
nonpartisan political organization open to all individuals. It
encourages informed and active participation in government and works to
influence public policy through education and advocacy. LWVNAZ is fully
committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in principle and practice.
For voting information, see www.lwvnaz.org under the Voting and
Registration tab. | GOTV – Getting voters to the polls – especially first time and younger voters who may not vote as frequently – is important to a vibrant democracy. The League has long been a leader in these efforts. This year the LWV Arizona will be running a coordinated statewide text banking campaign to Get Out the Vote.
This is very easy to do from your phone or computer via the League Tool OUTREACH CIRCLE.Your contact info and name are not used – messages are sent in a blinded manner.
Get started by downloading the app at GOTV Outreach
| | Need more information on voting - what races are on your ballot? What propositions? The nationally acclaimed Voter Information Site VOTE411.org can help. Enter your address and get specific information.
The site is building now for the November 5 election and expects to be fully loaded by late September. Go to Vote411.org to check your address.
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The Political Book Club meets at 3:00 pm MST on the last Monday of the month.
Upcoming books for the Fall are:
September 30 The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt.
Haidt shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and why each side is actually right about many of its concerns.
October 28 On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service, by Doctor Anthony Fauci.
Doctor Fauci's memoir reaching from his boyhood in Brooklyn to the corridors of power in Washington where he advised seven presidents.
November 25 Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, by Anne Applebaum.
Applebaum calls for democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of threat.
No meeting in December
The only requirement to join us is to have read the book. We are still meeting via Zoom. If you would like to join the group, contact ann.holland99@gmail.com to obtain the Zoom link for the meeting.
We are still meeting via Zoom. If you would like to join the group, contact ann.holland99@gmail.com to obtain the Zoom link for the meeting.
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Highlights from the LWV National Convention
| | | Convention this year was held in June in Washington DC. Over 1200 league members and staff from all 50 states, DC and the US Virgin Islands attended either in person or virtually by Zoom. In person members were able to participate in Lobby Day on June 27. Members scheduled over 120 meetings that day and contacted 20% of Congress directly – a great example of the League in action.
League Leadership
This year the League lost a wonderful advocate, the dearly loved President Deborah Ann Turner, and convention gathered in a tribute for her true personal warmth and many accomplishments. You may watch here. Dianna Wynn was elected as the new President. She has a long and respected career in planning, communication, education and training. Her extensive experience includes national board membership, Pres. LWV Wake County North Carolina, Pres. ACLU of North Carolina and a history of fighting for Voter Rights.
| | One Person One Vote - a program aimed at electing the President by direct popular vote. For a short term approach LWV is supporting the growing popular Vote Compact which is an agreement by states that electoral votes will be awarded to the popular vote winner. Several more states are needed for this to become effective. The longer term approach is a Constitutional Amendment to abolish the Electoral College. This is a big, challenging goal that will take great effort, but accomplishing important things usually does. To learn more, go to One Person One Vote Campaign or watch the League panel discussion here. | | | Other New Program Actions
- Added a League Position to Support Local News –
- “The League of Women Voters believes it is the responsibility of the government to provide support for conditions under which credible local journalism can survive and thrive. The League defines local news as accurate, in-depth coverage of government entities, including but not limited to, city councils, county councils, county boards of commissioners, health departments, schools, and school boards.”
- Launched a LWVUS-led, league wide study of the Federal Judiciary.This very critical and timely study is expected to be completed in one year.
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