On Tuesday, September 24th, please join us to “Kick off,” our new program year. Our hardworking Leaders will report on what’s coming up and let you know how you can get involved!

This year we will meet at Dead Bird Brewing on Dr. William Finlayson St. (5th) and West Walnut. Admission is $20 per person. Includes appetizers and support for our League work. There will be a raffle and a cash bar. Beer, wine-based cocktails, mocktails, ciders and craft sodas are served.

Please come and mingle with your fellow members and also feel free to bring guests who may be interested in our League!

REGISTER NOW!

VOLUNTEER TO HELP!

Future Voters Fest

Wed. Sept. 25, 2024 at 4:30-6:00 p.m. at La Plazita parklet (16th & Forest Home Ave)

Future Voters Fest/Festival de Futuros Votantes, an informative fun event to promote voting, will be held September 25 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. at La Plazita Parklet (16th & Forest Home Ave). Event sponsors are:  Cristo Rey Admissions office; the Don & Sallie Davis Boys and Girls Club; La Causa Charter School; League of Women Voters Milwaukee County; Muskego Way Forward; Safe and Sound, District 2; UMOS Raices Program; VIA; WI Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign (WIVEC); and VoteRiders. 

In the interest of appealing to youth to better understand the voting process, and, by extension, their families, this event will provide hands-on, engaging activities to provide youth with the idea that voting is a key responsibility in supporting our democracy. 

If you want a fun and informative place for children to learn about voting, you should put this on your calendar. 

Please contact e.gomez@lwvmilwaukee.org  if you have any questions or want to contribute to the school supplies or giveaways.

November 2024 Constitutional Amendment

This November, voters will have another harmful, divisive constitutional amendment on their ballot. We will show up and vote no and keep Wisconsin moving forward.

Our voting rights are literally on the ballot with this amendment. The change from "every" to "only" is a downgrade to all of our voting rights. The language changes our constitutionally protected voting rights from a guarantee for all citizens to a limitation that could be used to erode our voting rights. 

In fact lawmakers have already discussed this being a step on the path to further limit our right to vote. Including by implementing a proof of citizenship requirements despite knowing that 1 in 10 US Citizens don't have the documents to prove their citizenship.

Via The Brennan Center: Convenience matters when it comes to consistent participation in American elections. Even if a citizen is certain that a passport or birth certificate is in a safety deposit box at the bank, voters are busy; an additional trip to the bank would surely prevent some voters from registering to vote if such documents were required. (We consider a document to be readily available if respondents “could quickly find it if [they] had to show it tomorrow.”)

READ MORE ON BALLOTPEDIA

The League is gearing up to stand amongst our partners and voters to take down this bad constitutional amendment. We won’t let the legislature erode our voting rights. Follow LWVWI on Facebook and read our biweekly updates to stay informed on future resources and programs.

Prepare yourself to help people register to vote!

Learn how to register people to vote using MyVote.wi.gov.

A video tutorial has been posted and is now available on our website. To access this tutorial, go to our website, lwvmilwaukee.org, click on voting, and click on voting resources. The written presentation is also available on this page. You may want to download the presentation and print it for further reference. 

You can access this tutorial using this link. 

MyVote Online Voter Registration Tutorial 

Once you have completed this training, you are eligible to volunteer for voter registration events. Each team also has team training. Reach out to voterservices@lwvmilwaukee.org to get connected with the team you are interested in.

Wanted:  High School Outreach Coordinators

The High School Voter Education and Registration Team is looking to expand our group of Outreach Coodinators.  Coordinators work with school personnel to set up and run registrations in high schools.  This includes working with school personnel to set dates and times, training student helpers, providing information to volunteers, gathering materials, attending the registrations, and taking registrations to election clerks, if necessary.  We provide much support - volunteers, training slides, publicity and registration materials, checklists, and a team of coordinators ready to answer any questions.

This is an exciting election season.  School personnel have been contacting us asking for registrations and we want to provide them. Being an Outreach Coordinator is a great opportunity to get to know the hard-working dedicated staff members and the enthusiastic students - and to help usher these students into participating in the democratic process.  Please consider this opportunity - coordinating in one or several schools.  Any questions?  Contact Judy Winn at j.winn@lwvmilwaukee.org.

Our annual coffee sale has a new name – Coffee for a Strong Democracy

What else is new?

1)  New partner – East View Coffee Company, founded and owned by Jenny Ulbricht.  East View is a local, woman-owned business that uses sustainable practices.  Jenny works with women-owned coffee bean producers in Columbia and Brazil, where women have traditionally supplied a majority of the labor but are rarely the owners.  They use smart packaging and carbon-neutral shipping to ensure that our love for coffee doesn’t come at the expense of our planet.  

 2)  New ordering – All orders are placed online at the LWVMC website.    Each 12 oz. bag of coffee is $17.50 and is available in either whole bean or ground. Descriptions of the four coffee blends are on the website. 

3)   New delivery – All orders will be shipped directly from East View.  Orders for three or more 12 oz. bags ship free to a single address in the mainland USA.  Orders for 1 or 2 bags have a $5 shipping charge.

Fall Voter Guide Available on VOTE411.org 

The Fall Voter Guide is published on VOTE411.org.  You will find essential information about the upcoming election on November 5.  We can all visit the site at VOTE411.org and type in our address to see our ballot and information about the candidates.  We can compare candidate answers to the League’s questions side by side. 

What’s on the ballot? U.S. President and Vice President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, State Senate, State Assembly, District Attorney, Proposed Constitutional Amendment and other local races. The contested local races in Milwaukee County are County Clerk, County Treasurer, County Register of  Deeds, and Milwaukee City School Board Director, District 4.  The contested local races in Waukesha County are County Clerk, County Treasurer, and County Register of Deeds. 

With limited opportunities to learn about the candidates in person, online voter guides like ours are especially important for voters making their plans to vote.  If candidates have not responded to the League’s questions, contact them.  Ask them to answer the League’s questions so you know where they stand on the issues important to you. 

Access VOTE411.org here.