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Date: 8/6/2024
Subject: News Blast August 6, 2024
From: League of Women Voters of McLean County



August 6, 2024

September Events for LWVU
Member meeting and NAACP Banquet
 
Election Disinformation vs. Election Security
September 24, 5:30 p.m., Moses Montefiore Temple
 
The League is excited to announce its annual kickoff membership event on September 24. Matt Dietrich from the Illinois State Board of Elections will give the keynote address on "Election Disinformation vs. Election Integrity: What You Can Do." There will be a Q&A after his remarks.
 
The Florence Fifer Bohrer Award will be presented to a deserving community member who's made a notable contribution to our community. 
 
There will be social time with appetizers and drinks and you'll hear about plans for the coming year. There's no charge for the event and it's open to League members and the public. Reservations are not required, but an RSVP is requested to help with planning. Register below:
 
 
NAACP Annual Freedom Fund Banquet
September 21, 6:00 p.m., DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
 
The League has a table at the banquet.  The keynote speaker is Illinois State Representative Carol Ammons. For more information and to register for a seat at the League table, see below:
 


Help Register Voters
 
Be like recent members who helped register voters at Pridefest on August 3. You can help register voters at various events leading up to the November election. The Voter Services Committee (VSC) has several events where we can help people use the Illinois State Board of Elections’ online voter registration option to register to vote. You can help prospective voters utilize the online form without getting deputy registrar training—which means any chapter member can volunteer to participate.

See below for list of events that we hope to participate in to help prospective voters. Please feel free to suggest events for VSC to pursue.
 
 
Sign up to help with voter registration events here. We will always have at least one experienced Voter Services Committee member at each event to help new volunteers get up to speed.
 
 
For more information, contact Chad Kahl at voterserviceslwvmclean@gmail.com  


Upcoming Webinars and Meetings 
 
Scotus Punts on Social Media Censorship: What's Next?
Tuesday, August 27 at 7:00 p.m., via Zoom (Date Change)
 

Does the First Amendment allow U.S. government officials to intervene and prevent the spread of misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms? The U.S. Supreme Court recently had an opportunity to rule on this question. Instead, they declined to issue decisions in two cases, punting them back to officials in Texas and Florida.

 

Jill Wine-Banks, the distinguished attorney and MSNBC Legal Analyst, will join us to speak about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent action on social media censorship.

 

This program will not be recorded for later viewing—please join us to watch it live.

 
 
Volunteer to Abolish the Electoral College
One Person, One Vote


The LWV led by a local LWV Illinois Chapter is now holding nationwide online meetings working toward abolishing the Electoral College. At this time the effort is to educate LWV members and raise awareness of the effort among the general public.

If you would like to represent the LWV of McLean County in this very important effort (or come to the next meeting to see if it’s for you) please contact Laurie Wollrab at info@lwvmclean.org. These are monthly meetings that last about an hour.

Next month’s meeting is scheduled for 12:00 pm (CDT) on Friday, August 16, and will include guest speaker Professor Carolyn DuPont, of Eastern Kentucky University. DuPont was one of the invited speakers at the LWVUS Convention. She has a new book being published in September, Distorting Democracy: The Forgotten History of the Electoral College―and Why It Matters Today. The meeting should be very informative!
 
Here's more information about the LWV efforts on the One Person, One Vote campaign.
 

History Lesson on Social Justice in McLean County
 
The League offered a Social Justice Walking Tour with Mike Matejka of Not In Our Town and Candace Summers, the McLean County History Museum's Senior Director of Education on July 30. The group enjoyed a two-hour tour of our downtown Bloomington community that was chock full of interesting information about the history of social justice in Bloomington.
 
The terrific twosome covered the prejudice against our German community during World War I, as well as tidbits about trains that helped make Bloomington the successful city that it is today. There was a story about labor rallies helped by none other than the famous Mother Jones, who came down from Chicago to help the laborers here in their fight for better wages and work conditions.
 
We are so fortunate to have Mike and Candace, both history buffs, to help us understand the often unknown history of social justice issues in our very own community. The History Museum offers these walking tours throughout the year, and many groups have participated in the tours. The League was delighted to have the opportunity to offer it to our members.


Miss the Last Issue of The Voter? Click on the link below for the most recent issue.
 
 
The Voter will return in August.  
 

League of Women Voters of McLean County
P.O. Box 932, Normal, IL 61761
info@lwvmclean.org
lwvmclean.org

Email: info@lwvmclean.org

League of Women Voters of McLean County 

PO Box 932 

Normal, IL 61761