The St. Paul League held a meeting on The Digital Divide September 18.  Our speakers were Kara Schommer of the St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium and Desiree Culpitt of AmeriCorps.  They the audience riveted for over an hour.  Sixteen people attended.  They provided us with web sites to give us more detailed information on the Digital Divide and Adult Digital training. Resources from the event are available here: Digital Divide Resources

Training in Minnesota. Based on all the feedback from around the state, there will be
four Workshops for League members interested in learning how to better plan candidate
forums and how to become moderators. This workshop is primarily designed for new
moderators and Voter Service Chairs/Forum Coordinators.  The workshop will include new modules, a mock forum and interactive exercises designed to encourage League members to share their experiences and learn from each other. Follow this link for more information: https://www.lwvmn.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=443.

The St. Paul LWV will be conducting forums for the city-wide Mayor’s and School Board races. In addition to the city-wide ballot races, we are partnering with District Councils 7 and 8 in Frogtown to sponsor a candidate forum for Ward 1 candidates. There are seven candidates, and thus lots of competition.

Mayoral Forum

When: Thursday, October 24, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Where: School District Central office, Rooms A and B, 360 Colborne St.

Candidates: Sharon Anderson, Chris Coleman, Tim Holden, Kurt Dornfeld

 

 

School Board Debate:

When: Thursday, October 17, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Place: Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, 270 N. Kent St.

Candidates: Jean O’Connor, John Broderick, Chue Vue, Terrance Bushard, Greg Copeland

 

 

City Council Ward 1 Candidate Forum:

When: Tuesday, October 15, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Where: Hubbs Center, 1030 University Avenue

Candidates: Dai Thao, Paul Holmgren, Mark Voerding, Noel Nix, Johnny Howard, Kazoua Kong Thao, Debbie Montgomery

The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Humphrey School asked LWVSP to share the following information about a course that may be of interest to our members:
The course is open to all grade levels and the general public. For a permission code or more information, please contact Doug Chapin at dchapin@umn.edu. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Planned Parenthood is hosting the People's Party" tomorrow 6/18/13 at the Harriet Island Pavilion from 4:00pm - 8:00 pm.

The free event will celebrate all the amazing grassroots accomplishments that have been fueled by community efforts in the past year!

Please RSVP here!

Please click here to read the May - June issue of The Voter from LWVSP!

 

LWVSP hosted an event featuring April Todd-Malmlov (Executive Director at MNsure) titled "A Presentation On Mn's Health Insurance Exchange."

Ms. Todd-Malmlov gave a presentation on MNsure, Minnesota's new health insurance exchange, beginning in October 2013.

This event will be aired at the following times on SPNN/Channel 19:

05/26/13, 2:00 pm CH19
05/26/13, 10:00 pm CH19
05/27/13, 1:00 pm CH19
05/28/13, 9:00 pm CH19
05/29/13, 3:00 pm CH19
05/31/13, 9:00 pm CH19
06/02/13, 6:00 pm CH19
06/03/13, 8:00 pm CH19
06/05/13, 3:00 pm CH19
06/07/13, 2:00 pm CH19
06/08/13, 3:00 pm CH19
06/08/13, 8:00 pm CH19

Several LWVSP members and board members attended the LWV MN state convention last weekend.



We attended sessions on Program (which is the LWV's term for our non-partisan version of a platform) and social media.
We also voted on changes to the bylaws, two topics for concurrence and two policy topics updates. More information on Program for 2013 can be found here.

LWV Minnesota is asking members at the May 18-19 to adopt a concurrence to a LWV Michigan position on that issue. Please see the attached document for additional information on this issue.  The LWV MN vote will be on Sunday afternoon at the state convention.

Please review the document here:
Program proposed concurrence-Felon 2013.docx

Below is an excerpt from the attached document:

---

CONCURRENCE WITH

LWV MICHIGAN’S RESTORATION POSITION

LWV Michigan Policy (updated 2010):  The LWVMI supports. . . [p]reservation of an incarcerated person’s right to . . . [a]ccess . . . the vote following incarceration.

Current Minnesota Law:  Individuals who are convicted of a felony in Minnesota are not able to vote  when they are incarcerated, on supervised release (parole) or probation.  Current law “creates significant confusion among the public, election judges, election administrators and the individual convicted of a felony.“[i]

Recommendation: That LWV Minnesota concur with the LWV Michigan policy, hereinafter called the “Incarcerated/Nonincarcerated Model.”

THE INCARCERATED/NONINCARCERATED MODEL WILL:

• ·         Clarify Minnesota law by allowing a convicted, nonincarcerated felon the right to vote when under community supervision (probation or supervised release).
• ·         Simplify the process of determining whether a person who has been convicted of a felony is eligible to vote, creating fewer challenges for election administrators in making the determination.
• ·         Save money for local units of government by
• o   streamlining eligibility determinations for election administrators
• o   avoiding expenses in proposed 2013 legislation which would require mailed notification to felons in the community of their restricted voting rights
• o   avoiding the expense of prosecuting those who mistakenly register or vote.