2020 LWVLA Annual Meeting
Available online on June 8
The LWV-La Crosse is providing its Annual Member Meeting via Zoom technology due to COVID-19 concerns and the need for physical distancing. The purpose of the annual meeting is to highlight successes of the past year and to ask members to vote their approval of our past annual meeting minutes, upcoming budget, program priorities, and League officers and directors.
We invite you to view a video of the meeting created through the Zoom platform, which the LWVWI has endorsed for the purpose of holding virtual annual meetings. Beginning on June 8, a recording of the meeting will be available for your viewing here on our website and will be linked in the June newsletter. Voting will be conducted via a ConstantContact survey that you will receive prior to our posting the video online; we ask that you return your survey by June 12.
We are including links below to four documents with the information you will need for voting.
Along with the survey for voting, you will receive a link to an electronic copy of our Annual Report. Our membership list, which is typically handed out at our annual meeting, will be available electronically upon request. We will not be posting that link on our website out of concern for confidentiality, and we ask that if you receive this list electronically, you do not share it outside of League membership.
Any questions, comments, or requests for the electronic membership list can be sent to lwvlawi@gmail.com.
2020 LWVLA Membership Approval Documents
Please review each of the following documents:
To review: a survey ballot will be emailed to you by June 8, 2020, in order to obtain your vote on whether or not to approve each document. Ballot responses are needed by June 12, 20Please submit questions to: lwvlawi@gmail.com.
Thank you,
LWV La Crosse Area Board and Officers
Upcoming Events
Braver Angels
Virtual Workshops
Great Rivers United Way, LeaderEthics-Wisconsin, and .be. are partnering to bring two Braver Angels workshops on civil discourse to the Coulee Region, virtually. Interested? Here’s what you need to know:
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Pre-registration is required — you will not receive the meeting link until you register.
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It is highly recommended, though not required, that you register for both sessions because they work hand-in-hand.
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Skip these sessions if you attended either/both in-person events (facilitated by the same group, using the name Better Angels) in February and March.
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We’re limited to 100 attendees at each session, so register today!
If you were only at the Skills Workshop and would like to attend the Depolarizing Within, we’d love to have you!
The dates are May 14 at 7 pm and May 21 at 7pm
Here is the link to register:
LeadershipEthics received a number of requests from those who could not attend the April 28th presentation by Tom Thibodeau, at the Ethical Leaders During Crisis, Helping Our Neighbors, Helping Our Communities program. The video from that event is now available here. Go to the Scroll Down section on the homepage and scroll down to Presentations and Articles.
There is a three minute program gap near the beginning of the video, due to technical difficulties. Hang in there, be patient...it is worth it!
Ethical Leadership and the American Democracy: A Virtual Program
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
10am to 11:00am
Executive Director Lee Rasch will provide an overview of Leader Ethics-Wisconsin, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to promoting principles of ethical leadership among elected officials. The presentation will include an overview of the 2020 Citizen's Guide to Ethical Leadership Among Elected Officials...a practical guide to promote integrity in a politically divided climate.
Following the presentation, there will be an opportunity for questions and open dialogue.
Registration: The program is free, but registration is required through their website here. Registrants will receive an email with the access code on the day of the event.
Speaking of Democracy
Join the Conversation at
the LWV Book Club
TBA
Our next read for Book Club is
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
by Jennifer L Eberhardt
When it is safe, we'll meet again. Watch our news updates, FB, and this site.
In lieu of the LWVWI’s cancelled in-person 2020 Annual Meeting, the state League will hold a virtual Annual Meeting of League members and friends of the League on Saturday, June 13th. Although the exact time and details of the meeting are yet to be announced, please save the date and watch this space and the LWVWI website events calendar for updates. We couldn’t have imagined the added significance of our theme a mere three months ago. Today we dare to dream that our coronavirus stricken world will heal and right itself. Today we persevere through previously unimaginable new lifeways with compassion, kindness and respect for one another.
SAVE THE DATE - Notice of 2020 LWVWI Virtual Annual Meeting
If you are interested in representing our League as a delegate,
please let us know by email: lwvlawi@gmail.com.
Please join us as we come together online on June 13th to continue the course of League action. Feel resilience, inspiration and hope as we share the League’s recent accomplishments and plans for the new fiscal year.
If you have any questions or concerns about our upcoming virtual annual meeting, please contact the LWVWI office - email: lwvwisconsin@lwvwi.org or phone: 608-256-0827.
*** Program Agenda Will be Posted When Available ***
Update on LWVUS Convention 2020
The LWVUS board and staff have been observing the COVID-19 pandemic closely and considering how it could impact our upcoming 54th LWVUS Convention scheduled to be held at the end of June in Washington, DC and we know many of you have been wondering the same. We appreciate your messages and the support offered as we’ve taken the time needed to thoughtfully consider all options.
This was far from an easy decision but with the health and safety of our members as our primary concern, we have decided to transition Convention to a virtual event.
More information is available here.
League News
2020 April 7 Election Outcomes
42.59% of La Crosse County registered voters cast ballots in the April 7 election.
NPR analysis of April 7 Wisconsin election data available here.
Fair Maps: The LWVLA supported and assisted with citizen advisory referendums calling for the Wisconsin Legislature to establish a nonpartisan redistricting process in Monroe and Trempealeau Counties. In both cases the referendums passed, by 74.5% in Monroe and by 76.6% in Trempealeau County. Thanks to Deb Lutjen and Pam Knudtson for their work with these Fair Maps campaigns.
Vote411: 1466 users from the Coulee Region sought information on candidates between January and April 2020. Thanks to the members of LWVLA's Vote 411 committee for their efforts to provide valuable voter information for our local elections: Deb Lutjen (Chair), Monta Clark, Nora Garland, Jade Johnson, Fred and Janet Kusch, Martha Linville, Mary Nugent, and Robin Schmidt.
Visit the Wisconsin Election Commission website (here) for more information about thApril election, including data about absentee voting and links to all Wisconsin county clerks' websites.
LWVWI Statement on the April 7 Election: Following Tuesday’s Spring election, in which hundreds of thousands of voters experienced ballot shortages, long lines, confusion, and the choice between their health and their constitutional right to vote, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Executive Director Debra Cronmiller issued a statement, available here.
LWVWI invites your participation in the following surveys:
Share your April 2020 Voter Experience with the LWVWI
Many of you served as poll workers or in other capacities in your communities alongside your local election officials, and others made the difficult decision to stay home out of concern for your and your loved ones' health and safety. It is not fair that these were the choices we and voters were forced to make. Voting should not be like this.
To that end, LWVWI and our Election Protection Coalition partners are collecting stories from voters about their experience voting Tuesday. If you can, please fill out here and share this form. We will use this information to work with policy makers to make improvements to voting in Wisconsin.
UMRR-ILO News
LWVUS News
LWVLA is a member of an Inter-League Organization (ILO) with nearly 50 other Leagues in MN, IA, Il, and WI interested in protection of the Upper Mississippi River.
Stay informed by following them on Facebook or on their website. Recent blog entries include updates about
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copper mine and pipeline challenges in MN,
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sustainable farming land trusts in IA, and
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the National Environmental Policy Act.
Check out the History page on LWV.org, and you will find a new, interactive historical timeline highlighting the League’s achievements over our 100-year history. We hope this glimpse at the breadth of our work over these past 100 years will spark us all with inspiration and solidarity as we celebrate our birthday this week!
LWVUS Current Calls to Action:
Demand
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funding for November election security here.
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a Senate hearing on the For the People Act here.
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support for S.J. Res. 6, to remove the ERA’s ratification deadline here.
Sign the petition for D.C. Statehood here.
League Joins Letter Urging Increased Election System Security
Recent news reports have disclosed troubling weaknesses in commercially marketed voting systems and disturbing conduct by voting system vendors, raising significant questions. Voting system vendors have operated with little oversight and no regulation for decades. Given the gravity and urgency of this issue, LWVUS joined partners urging Senate committees to hold a hearing on election system security. Read our letter here.
Calls to Action