Happy Thursday! Here is your Weekly Update from the League of Women Voters Milwaukee County (LWVMC). Something for everyone! |  |  |
Wisconsin Supreme Court Election April 4th
Consider these issues as you consider who you want to represent you on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.
- Courts uphold our freedoms.
- Laws protecting our freedom are only as strong as the judges who uphold them.
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court has significant power and the people choose the justices who hold that power.
- The court hears roughly 60 cases each year and the seven justices on the court decide the policies that impact the freedoms we have as Wisconsinites. The justices who make up the Wisconsin Supreme Court have split ideologies, which means court decisions are often decided by just one vote.
- On April 4, the power is in the hands of the people – Wisconsinites will vote to choose who will be the next justice on the Supreme Court.
- In the past, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on cases about voting maps, ballot drop boxes, COVID-19 emergency orders, the governor’s veto power and environmental protections.
- Future cases that will likely come before the court include the legality of the criminal abortion ban, the make-up of voting maps, election rules, environmental protections, LGBTQ+ rights, gun issues, and more.
- This election has long-term implications.
- The Supreme Court will likely take cases in the near future that have to do with voting rights, fair voting maps, abortion, climate regulations, and more. The decisions the justices make will have impacts on our state for generations.
- Wisconsin Supreme Court justices serve for 10 years. Their decisions will impact our children, and our children's children.
- Laws should serve our communities.
- Wisconsinites of every background can agree that our state courts should focus on delivering equal justice that ensures we all have the freedom to live safely and take care of our families.
- This April, we can come together to elect a justice who will uphold laws that ensure everyone’s voice is heard.
- The court should be nonpartisan and maintain our system of checks and balances.
- It is the court’s job to ensure our system is set up fairly and not benefitting one party. The court should be our nonpartisan third branch of government that upholds the state’s checks and balances.
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Are Changes Necessary?
View the Panel Discussion
Four proposed amendments to the WI Constitution, which are opposed by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, are likely to be on the ballot this spring. Our panelists discuss the implication of changes to how bail is granted, voter eligibility, election administration, and the authority of the governor. With Dustin Brown, Senior Staff Attorney, State Democracy Research Initiative at University of Wisconsin Law School; Jerome Dillard, Executive Director, Co-Founder of EXPO; and Jeff Mandell, Founder, President, Lead Counsel at Law Forward. Sponsored by The League of Women Voters of Dane County and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.
Watch here | Resources here |  |  |
There are very important elections coming up for the April Elections.
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State Supreme Court Judge
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Special Election for Senate District 8
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City of Milwaukee Alder Districts 1, 5, 9
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Milwaukee School Directors District 1 & 2, and At Large Director
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MKE City Municipal Judge Branches 2
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And there is a Primary Election for Milwaukee County Supervisor District 14 (Special Election)
Below you can link to a calendar that outlines the important dates for the April election and lists the candidates for each of the contested races noted above.
2023 April Election Calendar and Contested Races
Bilingual 2023 April Election Calendar and Candidates Races
We have gathered resources that you might find useful. Of these resources the first five fliers provide information about the various levels of the Courts and the importance of the upcoming judicial elections. Click a link below.
LWVMC Resources 2023 Elections
Bilingual Resources for 2023 Elections
Please contact me at p.schrader@lwvmilwaukee.org if you have any questions or requests for printed materials.
|  | The Voter Guide on Vote411.org is PUBLISHED!
The Spring 2023 Voter Guide is your resource for the election on April 4 which will include races for state-wide and local offices. Go to Vote411.org and type in your address. You will see the races that appear on your ballot and the candidates running for these offices. Candidates participate by entering their campaign information and answering the League’s questions. All candidate responses to our questions come directly from the candidates and are unedited by the League of Women Voters.
Thank the candidates who responded to our questions. If a candidate on your ballot has not answered the League’s questions, contact him/her and ask that they do so! Voters want to be informed on the issues. If a candidate cannot find his/her invite, they can contact Sarajane Kennedy at voterguide@lwvmilwaukee.org. | Library Outreach Committee
The LWVMC Library Outreach Committee has launched and volunteers are coordinating literature distribution and league introductions at all public libraries within Milwaukee County. Out of the 27 library locations, there are still 3 open that need a main contact volunteer for including: St. Francis Library, Atkinson Branch, and Villard Square Branch. Please email Heather Lesko at h.lesko@lwvmilwaukee.org if you would like more information about volunteering with the Library Outreach Committee.
Call for Library Outreach Committee Co-Chair: If you are interested in helping to co-chair the committee with Heather Lesko, please email Peg Schrader at p.schrader@lwvmilwaukee.org. | Jail-Based Voting - Equipment Need
We continue to work with the Milwaukee County Jail and the Community Reintegration Center (CRC) formally the HOC to register eligible residents and to request absentee ballots. Year to date we have registered 41 people and requested 79 absentee ballots. (Total number of absentee ballots is greater than the number of people registered because there are multiple elections and some of the people we registered last year [not in the YTD count] are still incarcerated.)
We are using iPads to do this work. The connectivity of these devices work well in the work that we do, however we need more of them. So if you have an iPad that you are no longer using or if you are thinking about upgrading would you please consider donating your old iPad to the LWVMC/Voter Services?
You can contact me if you have questions about this or to arrange for pickup, p.schrader@lwvmilwaukee.org.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request. |  |
Early Voting Schedule for the 2023 Spring & Special Elections
Tuesday, March 21 - Saturday, April 1
(Voter Registration, including address changes, ends on Friday, March 31, at all locations)
Midtown Shopping Center, 5740 W Capitol Dr
Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N Broadway
Zablocki Library, 3501 W Oklahoma Ave
Additional Locations
Tuesday, March 21 - Saturday, April 1
Good Hope Library, 7715 W Good Hope Rd
Mitchell Street Library, 906 W Historic Mitchell St
Villard Square Library, 5190 N 35th St
Washington Park Library, 2121 N Sherman Blvd.
Not in the City of Milwaukee? To find out about early voting in your city go to
My Municipal Clerk and call or email them. |  | League Cafe Book Club
March 24 at 9:30 a.m.
Join the League Cafe Book Club for a discussion of The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama. The book is widely available in the Milwaukee Public Library System and is also available with a 20% discount at Boswell Book Company.
“Miraculously, these self-help bromides don’t come across as cloying, mainly because Obama is so disarmingly honest about her fears, failures and all-too-human flaws. . . . You can’t argue with the hard-fought wisdom of such an accomplished woman.” - The Guardian.
League Cafe meets monthly and welcomes League members old and new, as well as community members. In a small-group setting, we get to know each other better, share knowledge and have interesting conversations. In rotating months, we meet as a general discussion group, and in opposite months, convene as a book club to discuss noteworthy books on racial equity, immigration and/or voting.
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UPDATE on the Milwaukee City-County Climate and Economic Equity Plan.
The Milwaukee County League has again expressed support for the City-County Climate and Economic Equity Plan, most recently at the City of Milwaukee’s February 22nd virtual webinar sponsored by the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Task Force. The ARPA Task Force has received comments from community members about where those dollars, specifically $92.7m, should be allocated and spent by the 2026 deadline.
Our statement supported an appropriation to the City’s Environmental Collaboration Office (ECO) since is it poised to work with other City departments and community stakeholders. We asserted the ECO deserves an “allocation of ARPA funds commensurate with the challenge of meeting the Plan’s climate and equity goals so that all in our community thrive.” The two overarching goals of the Plan are:
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Reduce community-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% by the year 2030 and achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner.
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Reduce racial and income inequality by assuring that greenhouse gas reduction investments and policies will create the maximum number of permanent living wage green jobs for people who live in the most impoverished Milwaukee neighborhoods with limited economic opportunity.
To Prepare to advocate for the Plan, PLEASE read the Executive Summary of the latest Plan draft HERE. Many League positions support the Plan. We will monitor the Plan as it moves forward and will solicit your timely support as it is considered by the City Plan Commission and appropriate Committees - and, if recommended, by the Common Council. |  | | Share Your Experience with New Members
We’d love you to share your experience with LVWMC, so new members learn how LWVMC’s work is reflected in our community and how they can get involved.
We’re creating videos to supplement our new member orientation, so new members can learn about the League right after joining. These videos will help new members feel connected to the League and hopefully lean into getting involved in something of their interest.
What we’re asking
Take a few minutes during a scheduled time for Melissa Kelley to interview you with a few questions while recording your testimonial on a topic of your choice. Or Melissa can share a few questions to help you start your video, and you can record yourself on your phone or tablet and then email the video to us.
Video Topics
Email Melissa at m.kelley@lwvmilwaukee.org if you’re interested in helping. |  |  | | In “Brief and Incomplete,” National Museum of History educators ask us to take a look at the histories we think we know and ask: What have we chosen to remember? Who’s missing? And what’s the whole story?
As 19th-century women formed national organizations to work toward woman suffrage, white organizers often marginalized women of color and excluded them from the movement. To advocate for suffrage and address the myriad challenges racism caused their communities, Black women organized through the Black women’s club movement.
Watch here.
Or browse the online exhibit Creating Icons: How We Remember Woman Suffrage at the Smithsonian. |  |
Women's History Month: The 1913 Suffrage Parade
From PBS’ “American Experience”: In March of 1913, thousands of women from all over the country descended on Washington, D.C. to make their great demand. The parade began without incident, but after the first few blocks the crowd of 100,000 men surrounding the marchers turned violent. The hostile mob insulted, tripped, shoved and grabbed the women, who were forced at times to walk single-file through a gauntlet.
The women’s defiant advocacy, despite physical violence and verbal abuse, revived the crusade for a federal suffrage amendment and established a tradition of highly visible public protest in the nation’s capital. From Milwaukee PBS, learn how the day suffragists paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue was a turning point in the movement in this video.
| Censor, Cancel, Condemn: On the front lines of the book ban wars |  | |
Thursday, Mar. 30, 7:00 p.m.
Jewish Museum Milwaukee
1360 N Prospect Avenue
Museum Members $8 | Nonmembers $15
Register here.
Join Jewish Museum Milwaukee for a panel discussion that offers insights about a new wave of censorship emerging in school districts and libraries across the country.
Book bans and educational gag orders have made their way from online discussion boards to state-wide legislation. The targets of these censorship efforts often include representations of disenfranchised groups or aspects of U.S. history deemed to be ‘un-American’.
The panel includes individuals from the Milwaukee area who have direct experience with these renewed efforts to silence diverse voices in our communities. Through their perspectives, we’ll garner a greater picture of what is at stake in this moment. Panelists include: Vince Tripi III, Director of Education & Outreach, Milwaukee Pride; Ron Kuramoto, President of the Japanese American Citizens League-Wisconsin Chapter; and Paula Phillips, Director – Equity Operations, Milwaukee County Office of Equity. | Groundwater and Surface Water - Critical and Vulnerable | | Webinar | Monday Apr. 3 | 1 to 3pm
Groundwater and surface water in the Driftless Area are inextricably linked, and what happens on the land affects both. In this meeting, we will examine how the system works and how human activities are impacting our water resources. We'll look at two examples - the Winona-La Crescent watershed in Minnesota and Bloody Run in Iowa.
LWV Upper Mississippi River Region's April 3 meeting will focus on groundwater and surface water in the Driftless Area. Our speakers will be Jeff Broberg, Paul Wotzka and Larry Stone - details on our blog post here. They'll explain how groundwater moves from the surface, through the ground, to come to the surface again in this Karst landscape, and then look at specific examples of how land use and drinking water quality are as integrally linked as surface and groundwater are.
To register for this webinar, CLICK THIS LINK | | If you are unable to scan the QR code in the flyer above,
| Support Democracy. Support your League.
Your support is critical to help our nonpartisan grassroots organization reach voters play a critical role in democracy. It would not be possible to empower voters and defend democracy without your support.
Thank you!
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