For close to a hundred years, the League’s mission has been to encourage informed and active participation in government, to increase understanding of major public policy issues so that voters can make intelligent decisions. This past year, in many states, that mission has been made unnecessarily difficult because of new and, often, restrictive voter registration laws. Our national League has joined lawsuit after lawsuit in the hopes of challenging these laws. Their hard work has paid off In Florida, Texas and Ohio.
If you ever wonder why you are a member of the League of Women Voters, you have to go no further than to realize how integral the efforts of the League are to our country in this regard.
Our PW-M League is gearing up for elections in our own way. Our “Candidates’ Night” will take place on Tuesday, October 23rd from 7 pm to 9 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock. As you may know, federal redistricting has shifted our U.S. Congressional District.
Congressman Steve Israel’s district now encompasses most of the North Shore so that night we will have him and his opponent for that seat, along with our state Assembly and Senate representatives and their opponents. Please make every effort to come and be informed.
We are co-sponsoring with the Port Washington Public Library our Opening Meeting on Wednesday, September 19th at 1:00 pm entitled, “How to Get Democracy Working Again.”(See the invitation opposite this column and in the Library’s calendar.) We look forward to having Sally Robinson, president of the NYSLWV as our guest speaker. Please make every effort to attend.
We sincerely hope that many of you will volunteer some of your time to helping us register voters here in our area. Contact Cathy Persons at 767-1776 , to assist in voter registration drives at our local colleges, libraries and supermarkets. It’s the American way—join us in this effort during this Presidential election year.
Jane Thomas
