1) LWV NE Leadership Conference in Maine April 6-8. Karen estimated that there were about 35-40 LVW members present at the conference. Jim Condos gave an inspiring keynote speech on protection of voting rights and security in addition to voter security. Various states at the Quad conference spoke about collaborating with other activist groups in their states with similar goals.
2) LWV national conference - Betty is one of five delegates VT is entitled to send
- to vote on national League priorities for the coming biennium (http:// forum.lwv.org/member-resources/article/proposed-2018-2020- lwvus-program, http://forum.lwv.org/member-resources/article/listnot-recommended-items-...);
- to vote on new National Board members (http://forum.lwv.org/ member-resources/article/2018-2020-lwvus-board-directors-andnominations-committee-nominees);
- to represent us on other matters presented at the national convention (proposed bylaws amendments: http://forum.lwv.org/memberresources/article/proposed-2018-bylaws-amendm...); and
- to represent us at the Health Care Caucus that is being organized by the Health Care for US (HC4US) Committee of the LWV (Jean Hopkins of Burlington is a moderator) and which VT is one of several states sponsoring.
PRIORITIES: Betty received an email from a league wishing to make ABOLISHING THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE a priority. We discussed at length, and decided Betty should not ask the national league to make it a priority in the biennial program for 2018 - 2020.
THEME OF CONVENTION: Creating a more perfect Democracy.
Betty requests that all LWV members in our area write a couple of sentences about the LWV name and on whether it should stay as is or be expanded to include men with women, in case that topic comes up, as it apparently has multiple times in the past.
3) Summer meeting schedule, with conflict on Sunday afternoons in July and August (Dog Mountain concert series). LWVNEK will meet next on June 3rd. We will not meet in July or August. We will meet on September 9th.
4) Tabling at Dog Mountain summer concert series, Stars and Stripes parade and tabling. Karen will check the concert schedule and send out an email will volunteer opportunities for each concert. Those present agreed that it would be helpful to have more than one staffing a table so that all could enjoy parts of the concert.
5) Forums for candidates in August, Sept, Oct? Karen will reach out by phone to members about the possibility and interest in members holding candidate forums. There is strong interest in creating a Voter Guide to give out to voters before the election so that they know where a candidate stands on different issues. Karen is interested in honchoing a guide for St Jay.
6) Programs at Atheneum? A couple of ideas floated for programs were Cybersecurity and Ranked Choice Voting.
7) Journalism at Kellogg Hubbard: Here’s the link to the state League’s Spring Lecture on March 17. Watch it, and ask your local public access station to air it: https://www.orcamedia.net/show/integrity-journalism
8) Voter registration in high schools and colleges in the fall can be discussed at a later meeting.
9) Posters project - Lynn mentioned that she is assisting students to film elected officials in VT with 2 primary questions; 1) How were they elected ? 2) What is their job? The videos will end up being 3 minutes long after editing.
10) Curriculum, RCV, interns We spoke about the need of an intern and how we might employ her or him this summer or perhaps during school. An intern needs a mentor to point out the direction and no volunteers leaped up to supervise. If interested in supervising an intern, please contact Betty.
11) Cyber security, defending our democracy by Jim Condos is available through CCTV at
https://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/defending-democracy-electioncybersecurity-vt
DEFENDING OUR DEMOCRACY: A Conversation about Election Cybersecurity with Secretary of State Jim Condos Thursday, April 19, 2018 - 4pm to 6pm Pavilion Auditorium 109 State Street Montpelier, VT 05602
Elections are the very core of our democracy. Join Secretary Condos, his elections team, and invited guests from our federal, state and local partners as we talk about democracy’s frontline defenders. In this age of technological advances, ensuring free and fair elections has become increasingly complicated. Find out what Vermont is doing to safeguard your vote.