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BEING PRESENT FOR OUR DEMOCRACY

CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS WILL NOT BE SILENCED!

This statement was signed by 175 civil rights, faith-based and labor organizations, Including the League of Women Voters, and published by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

THE LEAGUE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!

Your presence at the No Kings 2.0 rally on Saturday, October 18, is your chance to make that point! LWV is anofficial partner (https://www.nokings.org/partners) of NO KINGS and October 18 is a day of nonpartisan, nonviolent action grounded in the League’s mission. Millions are mobilizing nationwide to show the power of people working together for civil rights, education, economic opportunity, and a healthy democracy.Find a rally near you and register HERE.

USE YOUR VOICE IN OPPOSITION TO VOTER RESTRICTIONS!

The Election Assistance Commission’s comment period on documentary proof of citizenship ends Oct. 20! All League members’ voices are critical to advocate against the addition of documentary proof of citizenship requirements to the federal voter registration form. Stephen Miller’s allies have already flooded the EAC with thousands of comments – we need your voice to push back now.

On July 16, America First Legal Foundation (AFL, founded by Stephen Miller) submitted a petition for rulemaking to the EAC, requesting the EAC amend the federal voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) to register to vote in federal elections. The EAC granted a comment request in September to collect public comments by October 20.

The petition seeks to initiate a rulemaking process to amend the federal voter registration form to require applicants to provide one of the following as proof of citizenship (note the omission of birth certificates from the list):U.S. Passport; State-issued Real ID-compliant driver's license indicating that the applicant is a citizen (Indiana’s doesn’t); an official military identification card that indicates the applicant is a US citizen; validFederal or State government-issued photo identification if such identification indicates that the applicant is a US citizen or if such identification is otherwise accompanied by proof of US citizenship.

Feel free to write a personal note or use some or all of our SAMPLE TEXT and submit it here by October 20.

Linda Hanson

PRESIDENTS DAY, OCTOBER 4

Darren Wheeler, author of the LWVIN Citizens Handbook, gave our keynote, providing us all with a sharper awareness of the need for our Citizens Handbook. He focused on citizenship, quizzing us with questions from the civics test given to people seeking to become naturalized U.S. citizens. You may see his PowerPoint on the Presidents Day webpage HERE.

Barb Tully and Linda Hanson presented their own PowerPoint on theCitizens Handbookthat is designed for Leagues to use in local programs. It drills down to how Primary Elections work in Indiana, our focus for the next 6 months. It too is available on the Presidents Day webpage — as is the follow-up PowerPoint highlighting progress and necessary actions for our campaign to demonstrate that Democracy Lives in the Light — the all-member survey, the state-wide social media team, vote center initiative, and GOTV activities.

Kate Sweeney Bell, Marion County Clerk, and Ami Gandhi, Chicago Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights (CLCC), ended the day by talking about voting challenges we’re facing going into the 2026 election cycle. There will be more to follow on those issues!

IF YOU HAVEN’T YET RESPONDED, OUR SURVEY IS STILL OPEN!

FORGOTTEN FOREMOTHERS

Profiles of lesser-known heroines in the fight for women's rights

Lucy Hicks Anderson

At a political rally and barbeque in Oxnard, Calif. in June 1946, the host remained neutral. Lucy Hicks Anderson declined to say for whom she’d be voting, but “it’s important that everyone go to the polls regardless of whom they vote for,” she told the newspaper reporter from theOxnard-Press Courier. “It’s the people’s privilege.”

The chairwoman of the County Democratic Women’s Organization spoke to the attendees, as did an assistant chairwoman from nearby Ventura, Calif. “Guests at the affair were served barbecued beef, beans, potato salad, coffee, and beer with cocktails beforehand,” the paper reported.

Lucy was known for her event planning and her cooking, but it was a trial the year prior that had made her nationwide news.

“I have always dressed as a woman,” she told the jury in November 1945, as recorded by theVentura County Star. “She explained that the family doctor—a Dr. Jesse—had told her mother when she was 9 years old that ‘I was more of a girl than a boy.’ Her mother informed her ... that ‘there’s nothing to do. You’re a girl and you’re not like other little girls.’”

You can read this entire article HERE.

Kathryn S Gardiner