League Unit Meetings in the St. Louis region

 *Check latest monthly newsletter (In League Reporter) for exact dates and times.

Note: The St. Charles unit has its own website at The League of Women Voters - St Charles Unit (lwvstcharles.org)

What is a unit?

There are many opportunities for members to participate in one or more activities in a local League. They run the gamut from attending a holiday luncheon, registering voters, joining an issue study committee,  participating  in an advocacy campaign or answering people’s telephone questions in the League office and many more.

Units, which are discussion groups that meet monthly, are an important component of our large League because they are our most frequent opportunity for learning how to engage in civic dialogue and learning about issues in a non-threatening atmosphere.

Units have approximately ten to thirty members in attendance. They meet at various locations and at different times. Members may attend any unit they choose. They may prefer to go to the same one regularly or go to a different unit meeting that is convenient for them at a given time.

Units are the life blood of the League.  Each monthly unit meeting has the same program in which League members discuss and learn about a priority subject, and some units discuss locally relevant issues as well. The program is usually presented by members of one of the League study committees. If the League needs to decide what our position is on a particular subject we discuss it after the presentation and get the members opinions  (take consensus). After the consensus of all the units is complied, it is presented to the local Board. Based on the outcome of the units’ discussion, the board approves the final consensus. A position statement is written and it serves as the basis of the League’s advocacy on that issue.

Each unit has its own chair. A member gives a brief report of what is happening in the League and reminds members of various activities that are coming up. If there is time members just informally continue to talk. The chair contacts members who normally attend a unit to remind them of the meeting.

Like all League activities, attendance at unit meetings is optional, but members who attend a unit regularly discover that they get to know people better. Many form lasting friendships.

Following are excerpts from the reports of the units at our April 2024 annual meeting.

CITY UNIT REPORT

The City Unit was pleased that Proposition C, a measure to create a Charter revision process, passed in April 2023. Members canvassed and participated in the campaign for its passage and made it a priority for its work in 2023-2024. Other priorities were to revise the Approval Voting system to avoid repeat identical elections if there were two candidates in both the primary and general elections. A July picnic in Tower Grove Park addressed both these issues. Members and guests met with city officials to learn about the Charter Commission process and also urged alderpersons to pass the revision to Proposition D, approval voting. It was well attended and the discussion was spirited and constructive.

Members attended and participated in 37 meetings, collaborated with SLACO to hold two Town Halls to solicit public input, and presented the summaries of those meetings to the Commission. We will continue this work until the process is completed.

The revision to Proposition R passed the Board of Alderpersons and repeat identical elections were eliminated. We are grateful to Alderperson Shameem Clark Hubbard for her work on this issue.

Efforts to get the City Board of Elections to acquire and put in place new voting equipment were successful. Members attended BOE meetings and special events to launch the new voting systems. We have built a positive relationship with the BOE and will continue to work with them to educate voters and increase turnout.

Monthly meetings were held virtually and in person, and City Unit members were active in LWVSTL and LWVMO activities. We are well represented in leadership positions.

                                                                               –Kathleen Farrell, City Unit Leader

ST. CHARLES UNIT REPORT

The St. Charles Unit has been active over the last year with Voter Registration and Get Out The Vote efforts. We're working with 10 area high schools to register seniors in cafeterias, events, and classrooms where we are working through teachers. We are also tabling at colleges, libraries, career fairs, Boys & Girls Clubs, and other community events.

In January 2024, we kicked off an expanded GOTV program that included presentations to community groups about the importance of voting in local elections, the placement of GOTV fliers in local businesses, and sending postcards to underserved infrequent voters. We completed 10 presentations that were very well received, including several to political science classes at the St Charles Community College plus several  'elevator speech presentations' made at other organizations. 

We joined the Community Council of St. Charles County which put our GOTV materials in front of a whole new audience. We attended 2 community council luncheons and one Chamber of Commerce luncheon and posted two flyers in the community council newsletter.

Our members had several Initiative Petition signing events in the county and attended over 20 community meetings as the Observer Corps. We learned about the St Charles City Water Wellfield Contamination issue. Civic Cocktails was a big hit last fall. We partnered with the St Charles libraries for National Voter Registration Day and we supported Election Protection efforts in St. Charles County.

–Don Crozier, St. Charles Unit Leader

OTHER UNITS

The other four units include a hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting that Anne Sappington facilitates, a Wednesday morning Webster-Kirkwood unit led by K Wentzien, Wednesday evening North County unit headed up by Louise Wilkerson, and a Thursday morning West County unit that Laurie Velasquez leads. North County and West County have been meeting by Zoom this year.

Topics that all units discussed this year included reproductive rights, messaging about why it is important to vote, our metro St. Louis input into the national program to be adopted at the LWVUS convention in June, MSD April ballot propositions, legislative shenanigans, and gun policy. In May we will be discussing book bans.

Topics, dates, times, and locations are announced in the In League Reporter and on our website. All members are welcome to attend any unit meeting.

–Nancy Thompson