LWV of Greater Birmingham

** Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities **

Let's get busy because.....



League Volunteer Opportunities Abound!
Read more about these exciting
opportunities for members.
(Not a LWVGB member? We can fix that!)

• Voter Registration Events
• Postcard Project for the new Congressional District 2 [This work is completed!]
• Election Protection - Distribute Yard Signs
• Election Day Poll Monitors
• VOTE411 for Jefferson/Shelby Counties

September, 2024

The Voter
NOW ONLINE

Read this latest edition
of the LWVGB newsletter
for current news and events.

IN THIS ISSUE…

• THE ELECTIONS ARE COMING!
• GOTV for CD-2: Time to Pack MORE Postcards!!!!
• Voting Rights Restoration Work
• Observer Corps Volunteer Training
• Samford Students Return to Campus
• VOTE411 Election Information You Need
• September is Membership Renewal Month for Many
• Grand Opening of the Girl Scout DreamLab
• Patti Smith "People Have the Power"

Read The Voter, September 2024

** REMINDER **
LWVGB Member Meetings

Two Virtual Opportunities to Attend
Thursday June 20 and Thursday June 27



VISION 2024: FROM IDEAS TO ACTION

LWVGB is scheduling two Zoom meetings to allow members to:

• Meet the new 2024-2025 Board
• Hear about LWVGB projects and committees
• Learn how you can plug into LWVGB work
• Share your own ideas for LWVGB 2024-2025 priorities

TWO meetings - so if you have a conflict with one there's a second opportunity to attend! You must register to attend!!

6:30 - 7:30 pm Thursday June 20
Link to Register: https://bit.ly/3Kv0U4e

6:30 - 7:30 pm Thursday June 27
Link to Register: https://bit.ly/4aUt7fD

Committee membership and volunteer opportunities we will discuss include:

Voter Services Committee
Vote Registration Events
Voter Rights Restoration
College Campus Outreach
Candidate Forums
VOTE411

Election Support Committee
Candidate Forums
VOTE411
GOTV Efforts
Election Day Support

Programs Committee
Educational Programs for Members & the Public

Communication Committee
Member Communications
Newsletter/The Voter
Website /Social Media Support

Membership Committee
Member Activities
Member Education

Civic Engagement Committee
Girls Scout Outreach
High School Outreach
Observer Corps

Fundraising Committee
Fundraising Events/Projects

Attend if you can and let's get busy!

Tuesday April 16, 2024

Runoff Elections in Jefferson County

Polls open 7 am to 7 pm

These races will be on the ballot for Democrat party runoff elections in Jefferson County on Tuesday, April 16th.

** There are no Republican party runoff elections in Jefferson County

** There are no Republican or Democrat Runoff Races in Shelby County


District Court Judge, Jefferson County Place 3
    Pamela Wilson Cousins
    Jacquelyn Grant-Jones

Judge of Probate, Jefferson County, Place 1
    Yashiba (Red) Blanchard
    Yawanna Nabors McDonald

Jefferson County Asst. Tax Collector, Bessemer
    Ves Marable
    Ron Marshall

Jefferson County, Constable, District No. 52
    Valencia C. Moore
    Richmond F. Williams

Jefferson County, Constable, District No. 55
    Travlyn Mosely
    Joshua Joseph Raby

Jefferson County, Constable, District No. 60
    Wanda Faye Bryant
    Leo Taylor, Jr


Important Note:

Monday, April 15 -- Last day to hand-deliver an absentee ballot

Tuesday, April 16 -- Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Alpha Beta Psi Omega Chapter of
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and
League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham

Present

A Jefferson County
Candidate Forum

Saturday, February 24, 2024
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM CST
Bessemer Public Library
400 19th Street North
Bessemer, AL 35020

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Candidates in contested races in these Jefferson County races are invited to participate:

• Probate Judge, Place #1
• Probate Judge, Place #2
• Circuit Court Judge, 10th Circuit, Place #5
• Circuit Court Judge, 10th Circuit, Place #13
• District Court Judge, 10th Circuit, Place #3
• District Court Judge, 10th Circuit, Place #11
• Assistant Tax Collector, Bessemer
• Deputy Treasurer, Bessemer
• Circuit Clerk

UPDATE! Thanks for coming out! And thanks to The Lumbar for providing a great place to celebrate!

** The League Turns 104 !! **

LWVGB Birthday Social at the LUMBAR THIS Thursday Night!



5-7 pm, Thursday, February 15th

THE LUMBAR
212 29th Street South
Birmingham, AL, 35233

LWVGB's Special Guest
LWVAL President Kathy Jones
Join us and lift a cup to 104!
(To 104 - AND....  What lies ahead!)

 

LWVGB Presents
A Report on Birmingham's Homeless

A Presentation and Q & A by
Michelle Farley,
Executive Director, One Roof
Uniting Central Alabama to End Homelessness

Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 6:00 PM CDT
Register for the Zoom at https://bit.ly/3PFpwJJ

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Homelessness. It's a subject we are encountering more and more in our Greater Birmingham area. Something we are all concerned about and at a loss regarding what we can do.

As Executive Director of Birmingham's 'One Roof', Michelle Farley's boots are truly on the ground. She is totally equipped to share with the League who is homeless in our area, why they are homeless and most importantly, how we can make a difference. Along the way we will learn about 'One Roof' and their front line presence in this work. Their mission and goal: "The vision for the One Roof Continuum of Care is for all community members to be appropriately, safely, and decently housed. Our goal is to connect individuals and families to appropriate resources related to their housing and service needs."

Join us 6 pm Tuesday, October 3 to learn more about this shared community challenge, what One Roof is doing AND what we as League members, friends and neighbors can do. Link to register below.

Register now at https://bit.ly/3PFpwJJ

Michelle Farley has been with One Roof for just over 20 years with a personal mission of getting everyone to play well together so that we can end homelessness as we know it today. She competes for every dollar possible, particularly those dangled by the feds, because we need each one desperately; she questions the status quo at every opportunity because what we've been doing hasn't worked very well so far to end homelessness; and she is a relentless proponent of addressing homelessness as a systems issue, rather than as an individual failing. She believes strongly that her One Roof team is made up of the very best passionate, talented people with immeasurable skills and smarts.. but she is always anxious to go anywhere to speak with an audience interested in learning more about homelessness, because changing this culture we have come to accept as normal (but it isn't!) needs everyone's participation!

#homelessness #homeless #homelesslivesmatter #homelessnessawareness #lwvgb #lwv

LWV Greater Birmingham welcomes all members of the League of Women Voters in Alabama to the Magic City!

We are proud to host state LWVAL Convention 2023!



League of Women Voters of Alabama
State Convention 2023
"Changemakers for Democracy"

May 20th and 21st
with early arrival welcome on May 19th

SpringHill Suites
2024 4th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL  35233

UPDATE: What a blast! The Incubator is a really fun place to party! Thanks for the hospitality, Lumbar!

Happy Birthday,
League of Women Voters!

We're 103 years young on
VALENTINE'S DAY 2023!
Come celebrate with us!

Come celebrate your love of democracy with the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham on our 103rd birthday! We're starting this Valentine's night off right with fun and cheer at The Lumbar at Pepper Place, 4:30 - 6:30 PM. It's at 212 29th St S., Birmingham, AL 35233. Bring your honey! #LWV103 #LWV #LWVGB #ValentinesDay #BirminghamAL #alpolitics

Water is top of mind for all of us in the hot Alabama summer, but how often do we take for granted that life sustaining resource that flows so freely out of our tap? Where does it come from, who makes sure it is safe to use, and what are you paying for when you pay your water bill? On June 28th, 6:00 - 7:30 PM CDT, join us online for an informative discussion with Michael Johnson, General Manager of the Birmingham Water Works. See his biography here.

Register on Zoom at https://bit.ly/3HanH2S to participate in this discussion.

#waterislife #BWWB #environment #naturalresources #birminghamwaterworks #LWVGB #LWV #birminghamwaterworks #drinkupbham #bham

Look at all the opportunities available to you at the City Wide Resource Fair this year! It's Thursday, June 2, 10 AM to 2 PM at the Birmingham Public Library downtown. Career services, health services, food, arts & crafts, giveaways,…the list goes on and on. See the flyer. AND LWVGB will be there to register voters, provide election information, and help returning citizens restore their vote! Don't miss! And LWVGB Members, you can volunteer to help, too! (Look out for an email with contact info. for Julie Reese, Voter Services Co-chair.) Thank you, Birmingham Public Library and The Dannon Project for letting the League be a part of this great event! #vote411 #alpolitics #election2022 #LWV #LWVGB #votingrightsrestoration #vrr

The time has come! Make a plan to VOTE in the Alabama Party Primary Election of your choice this Tues., May 24! Check your polling place. (It may have changed.) Learn about the races. Compare the candidates. Read up on the one amendment question. Print out a sample ballot. Schedule the time and plan your trip to the polls. Why not bring a friend? Get online, get the facts, and make a plan to speak out at the polls! Get it done at VOTE411.ORG. #vote411 #alpolitics #election2022 #LWV #LWVAL #LWVGB #ElectionDay #YourVoteMatters

LWVGB 2022 Incoming and Outgoing Board Members

L to R back row: Outgoing Director Jan Colson, incoming Vice President Julie Reese, Secretary Judy Jones, incoming Director Donna Reynolds, incoming Treasurer Jameria Moore. L to R front row: Incoming President Cindy Lowry, outgoing President Dana Ellis
Not pictured: Incoming Directors Ellen Buckner and Scottie McClaney, continuing Director La-Tanya Dunham and outgoing Director June Fletcher
On Thursday, May 12, the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham held its 2022 Business Meeting at the Homewood Public Library, 1721 Oxmoor Road, Homewood, AL 35209. Members attending both in-person and virtually helped set the course for the League for the coming year. Members re-adopted the LWVGB Program (issue positions and issues for emphasis) as for the previous year and elected a slate of LWVGB Board officers and directors and a 2022-2023 Nominating Committee. Thank you to Mary Lynn Bates and LWVGB Treasurer Leslie O'Neil for developing a 2022-2023 budget which was adopted at the meeting without modification.

At the beginning of the new fiscal year on June 1, 2022, newly elected officers and directors will take their place on the LWVGB board. Former Vice President Cindy Lowry will assume the presidency. Former Director Julie Reese was elected as Vice President. Former Director Jameria Moore was elected as Treasurer. Ellen Buckner, Scottie McClaney, and Donna Reynolds were elected as incoming Directors. Continuing on the Board in their present positions are Secretary Judy Jones and Director La-Tanya Dunham.

Elected to the LWVGB Nominating Committee were Dana Ellis, Dr. Karl F. Hill, Sr., and Nancy Sales.

We extend many thanks and deep appreciation to outgoing President Dana Ellis for her leadership and service in 2021-2022. Dana plans to continue very active League participation as incoming chair of the LWVGB Nominating Committee and by offering her continuing support for the LWVGB Voting Rights Restoration efforts.

We thank outgoing LWVGB Treasurer Leslie O'Neil for her many years of service and careful stewardship of the League's finances. Leslie has also been served as the pro tempore Membership Chair for most of her years on the board. Her service to the Board and LWVGB membership will be greatly missed.

We also thank outgoing Board Directors Jan Colson, Co-chair of the LWVGB Voter Services Committee, and June Fletcher. Jan, along with Voter Services Co-chair Julie Reese, did an extraordinary job this year of scheduling and managing dozens of voter registration, restoration, and education events throughout the Greater Birmingham area.

Thank you to 2021-2022 Nominating Committee Chair Ida Tyree-Hyche Hill and committee member Leonette Slay for assembling this excellent LWVGB 2022-2023 Board. The League is in good hands!

LWVGB Members, come to the 2022 LWVGB Business Meeting and help set the course for our League for the coming year! This is a hybrid meeting - your choice whether to attend - in-person or online. Meeting registration information and business meeting documents will be shared with you soon via email. Meantime, please save the date and time.

All LWVGB members are welcomed and encouraged to attend. We are a grassroots organization and your voice determines the 2022-2023 budget, board members, issue positions, and issues for emphasis. Whether you choose to come in person or via this Zoom, we look forward to seeing you on April 12th at 6:30 PM!

Join us on Sunday, May 1st, 2:00 - 4:30 PM CDT, at Thank You Books in Crestwood for a special in person program of the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham. We will have voter registration and education about the upcoming primary elections plus shop for great books at this new indie, woman-owned, local bookstore! Refreshments also provided. Candidates, no campaigning at this event, please! See you at 5502 Crestwood Blvd, Unit B, Birmingham AL 35212 in Crestwood Village (Crestwood Shopping Center) on Sunday, May 1, 2-4:30 pm. Drop by anytime! Free, open to the public, and always nonpartisan!

#Vote2022 #WomanOwned #Alabama #IndieBookstore #VoterRegistration #VotingRightsRestoration #VRR #LWVGB #LWV #alpolitics

Gun violence has increased in Birmingham as in every other American city but addressing this challenge isn't easy. Please join the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham (LWVGB) for a discussion with Onoyemi Williams (Faith in Action Alabama) and Dr. Mark Wilson (Jefferson County Department of Health) about the root causes of gun violence in our city and some innovative solutions happening in our area, such as hospital-based violence interruption programs. This program was free and open to the public. View it on the LWVGB YouTube channel.

Use this Digital Tool to Speak Out to Your Government Officials

"Government Representatives at Your Fingertips" is online at fingertips.lwvgb.org/

"Fingertips", as it is commonly known, has long been a resource to citizens in the Greater Birmingham community for accessing their elected officials and making their voices heard. "Fingertips" has names, email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers of elected officials at all levels of government - federal, state and local. You can also find out how to contact members of important boards and commissions that set and administer public policy. In "Fingertips" you'll find voter registration, voting rights restoration, and elections information, too.

Before you vote in 2022, find out about the candidates' positions on issues important to you. That includes those currently in office. Should the incumbent stay or is it time for a change? You decide.

Use "Fingertips" to reach out to your elected officials and advocate for your issues. Are bills that affect your concerns under consideration in the Alabama Legislature? The 2022 Regular Session will convene on January 11. Note: According to news report, we anticipate that bill research functions previously available on the Alabama Legislative Information System Online (ALISON) will soon be available on the new website of the Alabama Legislature. If the website is marked "under construction", try again later. You should soon be able to research bills before the legislature. Then, use "Fingertips" to contact your elected representatives and express your opinion about the bill. Tell them how you want them to vote on a bill. It makes a difference.

Thank you for your active participation in our democracy!

THANKS, ALL, FOR YOUR AMAZING GENEROSITY DURING GIVING TUESDAY AND OUR "TWICE THE POW" EDUCATION FUND CAMPAIGN!

The matching campaign has ended, but we ALWAYS welcome your support. Donate anytime to the Education Fund for use in the Greater Birmingham Community!

It's Giving Tuesday! Help us #empowervoters and #defenddemocracy. Your donation to the LWVAL Education Fund for use in the Greater #Birmingham area is matched up to $1000! AND it's tax deductible! Give at https://lwvgb.org/about/donate/donate-ed-fund. There are many ways in which you can support the League of Women Voters of GreaterBirmingham!

• Volunteer with us at a voter registration or voter restoration event.
• When called to action, write or call your elected officials in support of League positions.
• ON TODAY'S TO-DO LIST… PLEASE GIVE TO LWVGB! Donations to LWVGB Education count 2x now until Dec. 15! Or give to support all LWVGB efforts.
• JOIN the LWVGB and SHARE our mission with your networks - social media, friends and family, your organizations.

Alabama has one of the most closed open records laws in the nation and government records and information is not historically easily accessed by the people. In September of 2021, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a ruling that a sheriff did not have to turn over records regarding a fatal shooting by a deputy.

On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham held a virtual meeting to discuss the ramifications of this ruling and what's on the horizon for open records efforts in 2022. Panelists included Tish Gotell Faulks with Alabama ACLU and Leah Nelson and Carla Crowder with Alabama Appleseed. The program was free and open to the public.

Register at https://bit.ly/3mQwOfg

Register now for "The Truth About Plastics," the next program in the League of Women Voters of Alabama's Environmental Education Series. This online program is scheduled for Tuesday, December 7, 2021, 6:30 - 8:00 PM CST and features keynote speaker Rick Eggerth, nationally renowned environmental litigator and activist against the world-wide blight of plastics pollution.

Rick's presentation explores the history of the plastics industry and the truth behind a decades-long campaign of lies and manipulation. His knowledge of the oil industry -- which is also the plastics industry -- obtained from years of litigating against oil companies, led him to research the question of how Big Oil has avoided any responsibility for the oceans, landfills and public places full of plastics in which we seem destined to drown. Rick shares what he has uncovered: decades of deceitful public and political manipulation which has led the public to believe it was responsible for cleaning up the mess, and that recycling is the way to do it, all of which is untrue. While the industry continues to massively expand its plastics production, Rick explains the problems this will create, and how we can get out of the plastics quicksand.

About Rick Eggerth

With an English degree from University of California, Davis, and a law degree from U.C. Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, Rick Eggerth began his legal career in 1981. During his 30-year career as a litigator in the San Francisco Bay Area, Rick represented a diverse array of clients in civil litigation matters. From insurance companies to Silicon Valley tech companies, from property managers to those harmed by medical and legal malpractice, he has seen and engaged with a wide breadth of litigation issues and experiences. An environmentalist at heart since childhood, his most relevant environmental law experience came during the decade of the 1990's. He represented several members of the insurance industry in lawsuits brought by members of the oil industry determined to force their insurers to pay for the extraordinary costs of cleanup of thousands of Superfund and toxic waste sites created by the oil industry since the beginning of oil extraction. These cases, involving billions of dollars of potential liability, were some of the largest financial exposure cases ever seen by the U.S. legal system, and so required the attorneys involved in them -- representing scores of insurance companies plus the oil companies -- to develop innovative and cutting edge methods of managing the millions of pages of documents and thousands of potential witnesses involved in the lawsuits, as well as working with judges to figure out how to bring such huge cases, unlike anything that had come before, to trial. None of Rick's clients lost any of these cases.

Since retiring to Bellingham, WA, Rick chairs the Mt. Baker Group of the Sierra Club where he continues to pursue his campaign against plastic production (among other things).

Mark your calendar and register soon for "The Truth About Plastics" at https://bit.ly/3mQwOfg. Zoom meeting space is limited.
[NOTE: LWVGB is not hosting a meeting during December. We think you will find that this LWVAL Environmental Education Series program is a valuable learning experience and worthy of your time during this busy season. Happy Holidays to all!]
#environment #plastics #plasticspollution #pollution #BigOil #alpolitics

On Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021, the #JeffersonCounty Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed County Commission redistricting maps. The public is invited to attend and speak.

We have been unable to locate the proposed County Commission plan maps online. The maps may be viewed in person at the Jefferson County Voter Registrar's office at:

Jefferson County Courthouse - North Annex
Suite A410
716 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. North
Birmingham, AL 35203

We took photos of the proposed commission maps and other maps. These can be viewed online at: https://bit.ly/3pTC8BW

A better graphic in .pdf format of the current Jefferson County Commission district map can be viewed here.

#JeffCo #BirminghamAL #PPFM #FairMaps #alpolitics