With the presidential election coming up, we have a number of opportunities to help engage others in the political process, to discover voter registration needs, and to learn about the electoral process.

Help Register Young Voters

In April and May, we are looking for volunteers to conduct voter registration and education programs for eligible students in St. Paul high schools. We are also planning to partner with the Minnesota Justice Foundation to run a program called Street Law in area charter and alternative schools. In the program, law students will be conducting classes and League volunteers are needed to help register voters in classes for senior students.

We'd love to welcome our returning volunteers as well as new volunteers to these upcoming opportunities. Please email mail@lwvsp.org or call 651-789-0118 if you'd like to learn more or to be notified of our upcoming voter registration plans.

Learn More About The Elections

To prepare for registering voters and learn more about the need for support this election cycle, we're encouraging our volunteers and members to attend Secretary of State Steve Simon's address on the state of the elections and corresponding workshops:

• What happens at a precinct caucus? Join representatives from the two major parties to learn how to participate in each party’s precinct caucus process on Tuesday, March 1.
  
• Building the next generation of poll workers. Learn how you can be involved with recruiting new people to serve as poll workers, with a special emphasis on bilingual citizens, youth, and people of color.
  

The event takes place on Thursday, February 25 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. You can register here.

Questions about the candidates? Check out the televised City Council debates in Wards 2, 4 5 and 6 and the School Board election at this link!

CMAL, the Council of Metropolitan Area Leagues, is made up of representatives of the 15 or 16 local Leagues of Women Voters in the metropolitan area.  Its function is to monitor regional issues such as transportation and involves keeping an eye on the Metropolitan Council, in particular.  They have four meetings each year.  As with every League meeting, CMAL's meetings are free and open to the public and are a means of helping to educate citizens on issues important to the well-being of our entire area.

Your city in 2027: Planning future metro development 

Saturday, October 17, 2015 

10:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m. (10:00 check-in)

Edina Library, 5280 Grandview Square

Speaker: Lisa Barajas, Local Planning Assistance Manager, Metropolitan Council

CMAL Board Members

This year, the CMAL Board Members include: Karen Schaffer (Roseville/Maplewood/Falcon Heights), Susan Anderson (Anoka/Blaine/Coon Rapids), Liz Lauder (White Bear Lake Area), Lynn Gitelis (Golden Valley), Lynne Markus (Woodbury/Cottage Grove), and Geneva MacMillan (Minnetonka/Eden Prairie/Hopkins). 

An Opportunity for a Saint Paul League Member

We are looking for a League member who is interested in acting as our representative at these events. This person must attend all four CMAL meetings in various metro locations or send a substitute. After the events, the representative must provide a report meeting to the St. Paul League Board (via email is acceptable). Contact Mary Vik (shack194849@gmail.com) if you are interested. 

In June, a number of our delegates attended the State Convention. Conversations surrounded the theme, “Innovation and Inclusion.” A highlight of the event was the keynote address from MayKao Hang. 

We’d like to highlight a few items to our members at the local level:

Need for Policy Education & Outreach Volunteers

LWV Minnesota no longer has a Policy Education & Outreach individual due to funding cuts. If you want to see that changed, please share your voice. Ask the LWV Minnesota to include funding for this role in the next budget—voting takes place at the 2017 convention. This budget cut means that policy outreach and action work will land almost exclusively on volunteers. It may be easier for members of our chapter to get involved because we are close tot he capitol. If you would like to help in this capacity, please let us know. This is a great opportunity for our League to stand out and show our dedication!

Slight Increase in Membership Fees Expected

Second, due to budget concerns, per-member payments to LWV Minnesota will likely rise after next year by a few dollars. Per-Member Payments (PMPs) are essentially the state portion of the dues you pay.  Our local chapter will most likely raise our dues to cover this increase.

Learn More About Campaign Finance Reform

Finally, LWV Minnesota is doing a program update on campaign finance that we hope you will attend. “Campaign finance” includes issues about how candidate campaigns are funded and how money in politics affects law and policy.To learn more about campaign finance, check out the resources available on the LWV Minnesota site.

Check out this St. Paul Dispatch article about the League of Women Voters St. Paul from 1949!! The article was found in a wall during a renovation.

Thanks to everyone who attended the League of Women Voters St. Paul's 95th Annual Meeting on Monday. Special thanks to this year's outgoing board of directors. And congratulations to this year's board, Nicole Mickelson as recipient of the Sunrise Award, and Marge Anderson as recipient of the Faye Lyksett Award!!

Joan Newmark welcomes Sally Patterson.

Special guests Fiona and Seda presenting as Carrie Chapman Catt and Maud Wood Park.

Marge Anderson accepting the Faye Lyksett Award as presented by Judy Screaton.

Marge and her family. Congrats Marge!!

Photos from 65A Candidate Forum held on Oct. 29, 2014.

LWV St. Paul has developed an excellent voter guide available here for download. Share far and wide to help educate voters on the candidates running for office.

Be sure to share this report on the Comparison of Voter Turnout by St. Paul Planning District by Type of Election by Selected Demographics 2010 & 2012. The report compares turnout for state, federal, and county commissioner races. It may come as no surprise that the lowest turnout is for the commissioner races. Yet, the county controls so much of what affects people's daily lives such as roads, parks, libraries, water, sewer, social services, judicial services, law enforcement, and on and on. County commissioner races are regularly uncontested with residents being unaware of who is running and what they stand for. Let's work to change this!

LWV St. Paul hosted an excellent panel discussion on Campaign Finance in early September. If you weren't able to attend the event, be sure to watch the video.

http://youtu.be/BxJbEdi0pNQ