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TODAY! Thursday, January 16, 2025, 2pm-3pm ET
League Policy Positions and How You Can Use Them!
LWVUS will cover Impact on Issues with updates made at the 2024 Convention, as well as applying LWV positions to advocate for change. Please join us to learn about the content of the League's policy position document and how to use it to inform your advocacy. The workshop will cover issues such as linking positions across areas and how to apply a position that is written generally to proposed legislation that is more specific.
| 2024-2026 Impact on Issues Available
| | Every two years, the LWVUS publishes an updated version of all League positions in a book titled Impact on Issues (positions can also be accessed on LWVUS website). The positions on government policy issues, adopted by the membership, are the basis for our advocacy work. The book is available on Amazon for $6.99. | | |  | National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
What it is, why you should care about it, and how to get involved
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement between states, as passed by each participating state’s legislature, and enacted into law. It instructs each state’s electors to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in the nation, rather than the state. NPVIC becomes effective when passed by states with cumulative 270 votes and does not require a Constitutional Amendment. Instead, NPV acts within the parameters of the electoral system. This results in the vote of every person (rural or urban) in every state counting equally.
What is the League doing to advocate for NPVIC?
A formal letter penned by LWV Wisconsin’s National Popular Voter Interstate Compact Committee will be sent to all state legislators this month. Two NPVIC Bills ( a Senate and Assembly Bill) were introduced in 2023 but were not given a hearing. Our letter urges representatives to sponsor and support a bill to pass the NPVIC in Wisconsin and to herald it through a public hearing and passage.
You can read the letter here.
League members who would like to advocate on this issue at the local level should contact Lorna Grade at l.grade@lwvmilwaukee.org. If you’d like to join the NPVIC committee at (in) the state League, you can register for their next meeting, Jan. 21 at noon here. For more information, contact NPVWisconsin@lwvwi.org |  |
Repro Rights Committee Awarded Women's Fund Grant
The LWVMC Reproductive Rights Committee is the recipient of a $5,000 grant from The Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee. The announcement read, "The Women's Fund of Greater Milwaukee is proud to announce its Grant Partners for 2025. With a focus on enhancing economic literacy and the financial well-being of women in our community, this year the Fund is investing $105,000 in 11 organizations."
Repro Rights Committee Co-Chair Gail Skodowska wrote the grant application. The committee's mission is "To educate citizens regarding reproductive care so they can more effectively advocate for equitable access and expansion of reproductive healthcare, inclusive of abortion and contraception, in Wisconsin."
Since its inception, the Women’s Fund has provided grants totaling more than $3 million, supporting over 150 organizations. This year’s grants, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, fund programs and organizations aimed at enhancing economic literacy, fostering independence, and building a more equitable future for people in our community. LWVMC is a previous recipient of a Women's Fund grant.
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#ResolveToVote
Don’t wait—Wisconsin’s first elections of 2025 are just around the corner! Voters will head to the polls for the Primary Election on February 18 and the General Spring Election on April 1.
Let’s make voting a party.  Encourage friends and family to join the resolution and support one another as we get closer to election days. Share the link MyVote.WI.Gov on social media and tag your crew. Need shareable content? Our handy voter toolkit has you covered!
Together, let’s celebrate the New Year and the power of voting in 2025. | | Organizations from across the state signed onto a letter calling on the Wisconsin State Legislature to protect the voting rights of Wisconsin voters and reject harmful legislation that will create barriers and disenfranchise eligible voters.
[read the full letter] |  | |
Tuesday Jan 21 | 12 noon
With Guest Michelle Bryant, Host of “Say Something Real” radio show
Michelle Bryant hosts two political talk and current affairs shows with WNOV 860 AM. Michelle is a former Chief of Staff with the Wisconsin State Legislature. A former Budget and Policy Director, Bryant staffed a member of the state’s powerful Joint Committee on Finance. Additionally, Michelle is the former Executive Director of African World Festival, Inc. Michelle will be joining us to share her life and professional experiences in Milwaukee. She is a trusted voice in the community, and she consistently educates and delivers pertinent politics and current affairs information to the African American community, in particular.
Please save this quarterly Zoom link:
|  | | Broadband infrastructure delivers connectivity across wireline and wireless modalities for residents and businesses. Challenges include delivering access in rural areas and to households of school children who need internet to complete homework. Wisconsin faces challenges maintaining electric grid reliability as energy demand increases and generation shifts to low-carbon fuel sources. Join ASCE-WI and LWVWI for the Broadband (C-) & Energy (C+) webinar on January 23, 2025 from 12:00 to 1:30 pm. 
This is one webinar in a nine-part series looking at the state of all areas of infrastructure in Wisconsin. Learn about the whole series: Back to the 2024 Report Card for Wisconsin's Infrastructure series page.
Click here for more information on the speakers. Click here to register for the event.
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Join the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin for a virtual webinar
6 pm to 7:30 pm | Tuesday, January 28
The program "Wisconsin Supreme Court Election: Ethics and Money," will provide voters with all the information they need for the next Wisconsin Supreme Court Election this spring.
Speakers include: Jay Heck from Common Cause; former Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske; Attorney Doug Keith from the Brennan Center; and Attorney Rob Yablon from the State Democracy Research Initiative. |  | Where Do We Go From Here?
Saturday, March 1, 2025, 2-3:30 pm
Meet and Mingle begins at 1:30 pm
Please join the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County for Post–Election Reflections: Empowering Voters, Protecting Civil Rights and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) with Karen Nelson, DEI Consultant, Nelstar Enterprises LLC.
Summit Place
6737 W. Washington Street, West Allis, WI
Use the Visitor Parking Lot and Entrance· 1st Floor Conference Room
Free and open to the public
Light refreshments will be served.
RSVP Suggested But Not Required | Meet the New Co-Leaders of the Library Team, Marsha Poulsen and Amy Germershausen | |
Marsha is nearly 4 years retired and a relatively new member of the LWVMC – about 3 years. She quickly began working on editing the Voter Resources email for Peg Schrader and then editing (in rotation) the Weekly Update. For the past year she has also been the liaison to the North Shore Library and organized two voter registration events there. In addition to those events, she has volunteered for several other voter registration events. Through involvement in the League, she has met like-minded people and made many new friends. She is certain this will continue as she joins Amy Germershausen as co-leads of the Library Outreach Committee. In her personal life she loves her cats, theater, reading and eating out with friends!
Amy began been volunteering with the LWVMC in 2021on the Communications Team and has been editing the Update and the Voter on a rotating basis. She enjoys this work as it keeps her updated on all the important business that the League is working on. She is very impressed with the energy and devotion of the other volunteers to their duty to be non-partisan advocates for voting in the city and the state, and looks forward to meeting more volunteers as she joins with Marsha in co-leading the Library Outreach Committee. Amy loves libraries, so is looking forward to working on this Committee. In her spare time she keeps up with her four daughters and their lives, and loves to travel with her husband, read, and play tennis.
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Friday, Jan 24, 2025 10:00am
East Library (near Beans & Barley Restaurant)
You’re invited to join our League Cafe. This month we share the research of David Daley's "Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections."
Journalist David Daley chronicled what he calls the far-right's long-running plan to control U.S. elections, including dismantling the Voting Rights Act.
The author accuses Supreme Court Justice John Roberts of a slow bleed of the Voting Rights Act, the most effective civil rights law in our nation's history, and shows how he effectively froze the mechanism that made it work after it cleared the US House 390 to 33.
If you’re interested and haven’t read this book, Marie Garnhart will have handouts to share. No registration is required - just show up!
We hope you’ll enjoy reading this and learning more about elected representatives and the will of the people. |  | Women's Rights are Human Rights: International Posters on Gender-Based Inequality, Violence and Discrimination
January 17 – March 8, 2025
Brooks Stevens Gallery, 273 E. Erie St., Milwaukee, WI
This exhibit showcases a powerful collection of international women’s rights and advocacy posters that highlight the ongoing struggle for gender equality. Also showcased are impactful poster designs by MIAD students, who have embraced the theme of women’s rights and gender equality with their distinctive interpretations and innovative creative approaches. More information here. |
Accessing Members-Only Resources on the LWVMC Website
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| Support Local 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! LWVMC
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