Losing Ground: Efforts to Suppress Voting Rights in the USA

If your vote matters to you, SHOW UP!

Thursday, January 19 at 7pm Gannett Auditorium, Skidmore College

Legislation that restricts voting rights is being enacted in more than half our states, disenfranchising thousands of elderly, minority and youth. Find out what's happening and why, and what YOU can do about it!

Featured Speaker: Tim O'Brien, Project Manager for Public Advocacy for Voter Protection (PAVP) at the League of Women Voters of the U.S., Washington D.C.

The League's PAVP project focuses on six major areas identified as essential elements in protecting the votes of all citizens and improving election administration overall:
1. Opposing photo ID and documentary proof-of-citizenship in voting and registration;
2. Guarding against undue restrictions on voter registration;
3. Improving administration of statewide voter registration database systems and guarding against wrongful or incorrect purging;
4. Improving polling place management;
5. Improving poll worker training and recruitment; and,
6. Fighting against last minute barriers to voting.

Panelists include Dr. Alice Green, Executive Director, Center for Law & Justice, Inc., Benita L. Law-Diao, AVillage Inc., Willie J. White, Executive Director, AVillage Inc., and Stan Yates, Capital District NYCLU Board.

This program is being co-sponsored by the Saratoga , Albany , Rensselaer, Saugerties and Schenectady County Leagues of Women Voters along with six other advocacy groups. As a nonpartisan political organization, the League has a well-established reputation for protecting and defending barrier-free access to the ballot for all eligible citizens.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Saratoga County League at 728-0237 or visit its website at http://www.lwvsaratoga.org.

Health Committee

The Health Committee will meet on January 23rd at 12 noon at the Moon and River Cafe in downtown Schenectady.

We will focus on how best to get information out to the community about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and how that will affect access to health care. We will also talk about advocacy to encourage completion of legislation to establish an insurance exchange in New York State.

Schenectady Neighbors for Peace Invites You to View an Important new Film

Title: "The Forgotten Bomb" (2011, 94 minutes) 7-9 PM Monday, January 30, 2012, First United Methodist Church, 603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305

When the Cold War ended, the generations that lived through it were relieved to finally vanquish the specter of a mushroom cloud from their minds. But today, thousands of nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia remain on high-alert, still poised to destroy the planet.

In Japan, atomic bomb survivors struggle with nightmarish memories and negative health effects; atomic veterans, down-winders, and atomic workers around the globe also continue to suffer from the effects of radiation exposure. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 may have temporarily damaged the soul of Japan, but has anyone ever taken an account of what the Bomb has done, and continues to do, to the soul of the country that dropped it? How might we alter the soul of a nation in order to truly live without the threat of total destruction?

In a globe-trotting journey through various perspectives on nuclear weapons, filmmaker Bud Ryan takes us from the Peace Museums of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the "Nuclear Science" museums of the United States; to the place that birthed the atomic bomb, (and cares for it still) the state of New Mexico, where Ryan now lives. Featuring former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, authors Gar Alperovitz and Jonathan Schell, Japanese bomb survivors, and many others, THE FORGOTTEN BOMB explores our pre-conceptions about nuclear weapons and their history, investigates how they inform our sense of identity and discovers what the Bomber can learn from the Bombed.

Admission is free, and everyone is welcome to attend. Light snacks will be served.

Potluck Planning Meeting/New Member Orientation

Wednesday, February 8th, 6 to 9 pm

Sonia Rubensteinʼs house at 841 Londonderry Road

Come with all your good ideas for the League's direction in 2012. We will be discussing the Local Program and the LWVNYS Issues in Brief. (Both are included in the January issue of the Bulletin and on this web site.)

As this is a dinner meeting, please bring a salad to share. Contact Connie Young (393-7061) with your suggestions and confirmations.

This year we are adding a mini-orientation session from 5:15 PM to about 5:45 PM to the beginning of our Planning Meeting. During that time we would like to invite new and prospective members to be our guest, meet other League members and share their interests. We will explain what the League stands for so you can decide if our purposes fit with your interests.

If you would like to attend the orientation session please contact Lynda Nichols at NicholsL@nycap.rr.com or call her at 374-1643; we would be happy to offer transportation for either portion of the meeting.

Also, if you know of anyone who may be interested in the League and would like to attend, please let Lynda know so she could invite them personally.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED +SHORT TERM

Two League members are needed to review petitions for the Schenectady Municipal Housing Authority elections that will be held in March. If you are available for 2 or 3 days after the 28tht of February, e-mail Joan Elliott at isladecalma@msn.com or call 346-4414.

The League is looking for a chairperson to lead a national study on Privatization". The LWVUS study will be completed in the spring. Privatization has occurred throughout the country with prisons, water systems, sewage treatment, and highways. The national League will provide readings and power points for the presentations. If you are interested, contact any board member or Joan Elliott.