- For an overview of LWVGB projects, goals and accomplishments, also see past issues of The Voter, LWVGB's newsletter.
- Visit this page to view the news archive for other years.
- See the LWVGB home page for the most recent news.
2021 Second Chance
Jefferson County
Hiring Fair for Returning Citizens
May 18, 2021
Boutwell Auditorium
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
Thank you, Volunteers!!
Birding Outing with the Audubon Society
Thirteen members, friends, and family had a convivial and educational outing with two Audubon Society experts as we explored the High Ore Line trail in Midfield on Saturday, May 15th. We learned about distinctive bird calls, bird colorations, and native/non native trees. This fun outing whetted our appetites to explore other area trails and the biodiversity of Alabama.
LWVGB April Meeting
Advocacy in Our State Legislature
Thursday, April 8, 2021, 6:00 PM
Thank you panelists! Video of this program
is posted on the LWVGB YouTube channel.
On April 8, 2021, LWV of Alabama Advocacy Team co-chairs, Robin Buckelew and Kathy Jones, discussed the state League's advocacy efforts to make voting safe, easy, fair, and accessible in Alabama. During the 2021 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature, LWVAL is advocating for universal automatic voter registration, voting rights restoration, absentee and early voting, Fair Maps™ (LWVUS advocacy campaign to redistrict without political bias and put an end to gerrymandering), and government transparency. In Congress, LWVAL is calling for passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act. What has been accomplished, what is yet to be accomplished, and what can you do to make it happen? Video of the program is now posted on the LWVGB YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/1YC3L1LloLA. #FairMaps #gerrymander #gerrymandering #alpolitics #voting #vote #elections #Alabama #ALLegislature
Use this Digital Tool to Speak Out to Your Government Officials
Jefferson Co. and Shelby Co. Residents, this is for you!
A brand-new edition of "Government Representatives at Your Fingertips" is now 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 voice heard. Because it needed updating, this popular LWVGB publication has been offline for a while. The 2020 General Election is behind us, and now is the time to roll out updated government contact information. Thanks to the dedicated work of Judy Jones, Judith Hand, June Fletcher and Yvonne Brakefield Knowles, "Fingertips" is up to date with the 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.
With the Alabama Legislature now in session, "Fingertips" provides the critical information you need to have at your… uh… fingertips. We hope you'll be ready and willing to support the efforts of the LWVAL Advocacy Team. Use "Fingertips" to speak out on all issues and bills that are important to you. You can research bills in the Alabama Legislature in ALISON.
Time to put "Fingertips" to good use!
Thanks again to Judy Jones and her outstanding team for bringing "Fingertips" up to date. With this information, we are ready to speak out to government and get answers to our public policy questions. Our government representatives will know that we care and we vote!
Sunshine Week graphic courtesy of News Leaders Assoc.
LWVGB March Meeting
Homelessness in Our Community
Thursday, March 18, 2021, 6:00 PM
Thank you panelists! Video of this program is posted
on the LWVGB YouTube channel.
At our virtual LWVGB meeting on Thursday, March 18 at 6:00 PM, we discussed homelessness in the Greater Birmingham area. We examined the factors impacting homelessness, ways in which agencies are addressing the issue, and ways in which you can personally help. Guest panelists were: Valencia "Val" Green, Assistant Director for Firehouse Ministries, a men's homeless shelter that also provides services and counseling aimed at ending homelessness; Carrie Leland, Executive Director of Pathways, a provider of day services, counseling, and emergency shelter to homeless women and children; and Gordon Sullivan, Operations Director for One Roof, the coordinating agency for the homeless Continuum of Care of Central Alabama serving Jefferson, Shelby, and St. Clair counties. Panelists answered questions following the presentations.
This meeting was free and open to the public. If you missed the meeting or would like to share with others, see the video recording here. Panelists and guests offered resources in the chat box. Download the chat highlights here.
LWVGB February Meeting
Environmental Issues in Alabama
and How You Can Help
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Video of this program is posted on
the LWVGB YouTube channel.
On Thursday, February 11, 2021, LWVGB was pleased to host three outstanding panelists who addressed the national, state and local environmental issues and environmental justice problems that face our citizens. As always, this online program was free and open to the public.
Stephen Stetson, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia, discussed his work for the Beyond Coal Campaign, and shared how that program has been quite effective in retiring coal-fired power plants while bringing clean energy and green jobs to the Southeast. These old, dirty power plants are big carbon emitters and thus greater contributors to climate change. Coal ash from these plants is an ongoing danger to ground water, too. The Sierra Club is also working on de-carbonizing the transportation and building industry sectors. They are also fighting for energy justice and finding ways to ease the energy burden on those in low economic circumstances.
Cindy Lowry, Executive Director of Alabama Rivers Alliance, showed us how important Alabama's abundant waterways are to the environment, recreation, energy production, agriculture, and industry and as food source. Alabama waters are particularly threatened by industrial, thermoelectric production, and mining. COVID-19 is threatening water security because many might lose their clean water access when water utility bills cannot be paid. To help with all these issues, Alabama must have a comprehensive water plan that would preserve clean water and protect access to it.
Nina Morgan, Climate and Environmental Justice Organizer with the Greater Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP), gave us a close-up look at the pollution problems right here in our Greater Birmingham community, particularly at the 35th Street/Superfund site made up of the Fairmont, Harriman, and Collegeville neighborhoods. She pointed out that Birmingham also ranks as a city with one of the highest energy insecurity ratings in the nation. Toxic pollution, high energy costs, and food insecurity are dangerous threats to the health and economic stability of our area's most vulnerable citizens.
Did you miss this meeting or would you like to revisit? A video recording is posted on the LWVGB YouTube channel. We will also share presentation slides soon so that you can read about the ways in which you can help. Each of these organizations invite you to join and support their efforts to protect our environment at the national, state, and local levels.
The people have spoken.
The League of Women Voters has issued this statement on the certification of the presidential election. Read the complete statement at http://bit.ly/3bdmiKQ #thepeoplehavespoken #respectourdemocracy
LWVGB January Meeting
The Case for Carbon Pricing
and How You Can Help
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Video of this program is posted on
the LWVGB YouTube channel.
How can you help stabilize the climate? Download the Citizens' Climate Lobby Monthly Call-In Campaign flyer to find out how.
On Jan. 12, 2021, the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham hosted a panel discussion with Dr. Joyce Lanning and Dr. Emily Northrop to talk about LWVUS’s ten new Climate Teams including Carbon Pricing. They presented a brief overview of the two major carbon pricing mechanisms – cap and trade and carbon tax/fee & dividend. Attendees learned how Citizens’ Climate Lobby/ Education works to create the political will for its preferred carbon pricing approach.
This introduction, with a short Q&A, may help you decide if and how you might add your strengths to the effort to solve this most pressing problem of our current and future generations. Here is some League climate history – from the LWVUS July 2020 Virtual Convention:
“The LWVUS calls for an immediate, wide-scale, mobilization by the United States, to restore, protect and fund an ecologically sustainable environment and climate, based on an interrelated approach that is environmentally sound, science based, just and equitable, dedicated to adequately addressing the scale and speed of the global climate change emergency.”
As a result of this commitment, the LWVUS has formed a new Climate Team with 24 Steering Committee members. It joins League members working on climate issues in various ways, including League education efforts by the Climate Change Task Force since 2006 and attention to putting a price on carbon starting in earnest in 2014.
The LWV position on carbon pricing, which was adopted in 2018, states “The League of Women Voters stands united with, and in support of, efforts to price carbon emissions, whether cap-and-trade, carbon tax/fee, or another viable pricing mechanism. The League does not have a position on how the revenue generated is to be used. We do not espouse any single method of pricing carbon over another. We will evaluate all proposed methods based on their effectiveness to abate emissions and whether the method can be successfully implemented.”
Although the LWV doesn’t endorse any specific pricing mechanism or revenue distribution at this point, we aim to educate ourselves about the options. The work of Citizens’ Climate Lobby/ Education provides one concrete example of some of the issues, activities and anticipated results involved in putting a price on carbon.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby/ and Education are the two arms of a major and well-organized nonpartisan push that exists to create the political will for climate solutions. By training and mobilizing a powerful coalition of climate advocates, CCL and CCE enable individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power to work for long-lasting climate solutions. The focus of CCL is to advocate for a carbon fee and dividend, as introduced in the 2019-2020 Congress in the bipartisan Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, HR 763 which had 86 co-sponsors. CCL fully expects a similar bill to be introduced in the new Congress.
Change is inevitable, its direction is not. Whatever you do, give it all that you’ve got!
About the Presenters
Joyce Lanning, Ph.D. is formerly Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Public Health, UAB. As an active member of Citizens Climate Lobby/ Education, she co-chaired the Feb. 8th 2020 community conversation, Faith Meets Business: Climate Solutions for the Common Good. She has served on the Climate Change Task Force for the League of Women Voters US since 2009, and is now on the steering committee for the new LWVUS Climate Team. She continues to monitor the Alabama Public Service Commission for clean electricity decisions.
Emily Northrop, PhD, is Professor of Economics Emerita at Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX). She is the Citizens' Climate Lobby liaison to Representative Gary Palmer and is heading the effort to recruit 300 Alabamians to participate in the CCL Monthly Calling Campaign. Emily has published letters to the editor and this May 18 Al.com op-ed: Climate change and COVID-19 -- a promising contrast. She is also active with RESULTS and the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
To discuss a free presentation of this program to your group or organization, contact the speakers at joyce.lanning(at)gmail.com or northrop(at)southwestern.edu.
LWVGB December Meeting
Voting in Alabama:
Let's Make It Easy and Safe
Thursday, December 10, 2020
View this program on the
LWVGB YouTube Channel.
The League of Women Voters of Alabama (LWVAL) and Alabama Arise are pursuing a program to make voting easy, safe, and accessible for all citizens. On Thurs., December 10, 2020, LWVAL President Barbara Caddell and Arise Attorney and Policy Analyst Dev Wakeley explain the voting rights advocacy program that the League and Arise are jointly pursuing. Both organizations support improvements in voting rights restoration, universal automatic voter registration, and additional voting options that might include no-excuse absentee voting, curbside voting and/or early voting. Government transparency and fair, people-powered district mapping are essential in order to reach these goals. What can we expect in the 2021 Alabama legislative session, and what can we do to make positive changes in the Alabama election process a reality? Caddell and Wakeley explain.
VOTE!
Alabama House District 49
Republican Primary Runoff Election
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Polls open 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM
If you are registered to vote in Alabama House District 49, Tuesday, September 1, is the day to go to the polls. This district includes parts of Bibb, Chilton and Shelby County. You are allowed to vote in this Republican Primary Runoff even if you did NOT vote in the Republican Primary Special Election for House District 49 on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. There was no Democratic Primary for this election.
Need election and candidate information?
Go to VOTE411.ORG
to find your polling place, learn about the candidates, and much more!
Thank you for voting, Alabama! Here are
MUNICIPAL ELECTION PRELIMINARY RESULTS
Get all the nonpartisan election information you need here and at VOTE411.ORG.
Mark Your Calendar!
LWVGB MEMBERSHIP ZOOM MEETING
August 27th, 2020
7:00 - 8:00 P.M.
NOTE: All on the LWVGB Interest List will receive the Zoom invitation. League membership is not required. Subscribe to the LWVGB Interest List!
The Alabama Bar Association Presents
A Jenna Bedsole Documentary Film
“The Fight for the Noblest Democracy:
Women’s Suffrage in Alabama”
Image courtesy of Allison Skinner, LWVGB Member
ABOUT THIS FILM
Chosen by Sidewalk Film Festival as one the best Documentary Short Films of 2020!
"The Fight for the Noblest Democracy: Women's Suffrage in Alabama documents the story of suffrage in Alabama, as part of the greater overall suffrage movement leading to the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920. This short film highlights the women who fought for the right to vote, presents some historical figures who argued against it, as well as those who would still have much to fight for after 1920."
ALABAMA MUNICIPAL RUNOFF ELECTIONS ARE OCTOBER 6, 2020! IS THERE AN ELECTION IN YOUR CITY? ARE YOU READY TO VOTE?
Check VOTE411.ORG for candidate information and more! VOTE411.ORG now includes municipal races in Gardendale, Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook, Pleasant Grove, and Vestavia Hills in Jefferson Co. and Sylacauga in Talladega Co.. See your candidates and where they stand on the issues!
Check your registration status even if you think you are properly registered!
Have questions or need assistance with absentee voting? See this absentee voting tip sheet* or call the LWVGB Absentee Voting Help Line at 205 583-5000 and press 3.
* Dates in the absentee voting tip sheet apply to the Presidential Election on Nov. 3, 2020, but the same regulations apply to municipal elections. See the municipal election dates below.
- Mon. Aug. 10 - Deadline to register to vote
- Thurs., Aug. 20 - Deadline to apply for absentee ballot (IMPORTANT: Apply 2-3 weeks earlier to avoid mail delays!)
- Mon., Aug. 24 - Last day to hand-deliver or postmark absentee ballot (IMPORTANT: Mail 2-3 weeks earlier to avoid mail delays!)
- Tues., Aug. 25 - Municipal Elections
- Tues., Oct. 6 - Municipal Runoff Elections
Presidential General Election - includes many state and local races
- Mon., Oct. 19 - Deadline to register to vote or change registration information
- Thurs., Oct. 30 - Deadline to apply for absentee ballot (IMPORTANT: Apply 2-3 weeks earlier to avoid mail delays!)
- Mon., Nov. 3 - Last day to hand-deliver or postmark absentee ballot (IMPORTANT: Mail 2-3 weeks earlier to avoid mail delays!)
- Tues., Nov. 3 - ELECTION DAY
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS!
- Are you ready to vote?
- Are you properly registered? (Are you sure?)
- Do you need an absentee ballot? (If so, apply NOW!)
- Do you know who is on your ballot?
- Do you know where and how to vote?
The League of Women Voters never supports or opposes any political party or candidate.
Party Primary Runoff Elections
TUESDAY, JULY 14
Check your registration status NOW
even if you think you are properly registered!
PRIMARY RUNOFF ELECTION DEADLINES
- Monday, June 29 - Voter registration deadline.
You can register or update your registration information online if you have a current, valid Alabama driver license. Or download a registration application for mailing, or get a registration application at the Registrar's Office, a local public library, DMV office, or many public assistance offices. - Thursday, July 9 - Last day for voter to make application for an absentee ballot.
IMPORTANT: If you need an absentee ballot, don't wait! Apply NOW! The Registrar's Office is expected to receive many applications during this time of COVID19. Apply a.s.a.p. to insure that you receive your ballot in time. Mail the application (or personally hand deliver) to your county's Absentee Election Manager. You must include a copy of your valid photo voter ID with your absentee ballot application. You must check one of the accepted reasons to vote absentee. If you think it is impossible or unreasonable to vote in person at your polling place (for example, if you fear that you may contract or spread COVID19 if you go to the polls in person on July 14), you may legally check this reason for requesting an absentee ballot: "I have a physical illness or infirmity which prevents my attendance at the polls. [ID Required]". This is considered a valid reason even if you are not ill at this time. - Monday, July 13 - Last day for voter to hand-deliver or postmark an absentee ballot.*
- TUESDAY, JULY 14 - ELECTION DAY!
Take valid photo voter ID to the polls. You cannot be denied the right to vote. You can vote a "provisional ballot" if your name is not on the roll or if you do not have valid photo voter ID or for any other reason. BUT in order for your vote to count, BE SURE you are at the right polling place for the residence at which you are registered to vote. You will have to report to the courthouse by Friday, July 17 with proof that your vote should count (for example, proof of residency or valid photo voter ID). To avoid this hassle, try your very best to vote a regular ballot rather than a provisional ballot.
Report an election issue by calling: - 1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
- 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español)
- 1-888-API-VOTE (Asian multilingual assistance)
- 1-844-YALLA-US (Arabic)
Other sources of Alabama election information:
- Vote411.org - The League's online voter guide, to register or update your registration, see who is on your ballot, see ballot measures (amendment proposals) on your ballot, find your polling place, check your registration status, and much more. It's your source for answers to all your election questions! (See the widget below!)
- Alabama Votes - Election information from the Secretary of State
- Alabama Electronic Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) Reporting System - Follow the money! Campaign reports for candidates and PACs
NOTE: If you voted in a party primary on March 3rd, you may only vote in that same party's primary runoff on July 14. If you did not vote on March 3rd, you may vote in either party's runoff election. (FYI, in the General Election in November, you may vote for anyone in either party or write in your own choice of candidate, regardless of how or if you voted in the Party Primary Election or Party Primary Runoff Election.)
Gerrymandering in Alabama and the LWVUS "People Powered Fair Maps Campaign (TM)"
Video of this event
Audio only of this event
Speech with slides
In the News…
The League of Women Voters of Alabama is working to make voting safe and accessible to all Alabama citizens. Here is how your League is taking action. (Visit lwval.org for these articles.)
- League of Women Voters of Alabama Sues Election Officials to Protect Voting Rights During COVID-19 Crisis
LWVAL sues the Governor, Secretary of State and county election officials - League of Women Voters of Alabama Requests Court Order to Make Voting Safer All Year
LWVAL asks election officials to modify some election processes.
On Thursday, June 25, at 7 pm, APT will host an online preview of "The Vote", an American Experience documentary series on women's suffrage that will premiere Monday and Tuesday, July 6-7. The online preview program will include a panel discussion. Panelists will include Dr. Valerie Pope Burnes, Associate Professor at the University of West Florida, Livingston; Dr. Tara White, Instructor of History at Wallace Community College in Selma; and Dr. Susan Ashmore, Professor of History at Oxford College, Emory University, in Atlanta. There will be an opportunity for attendee Q&A.
Read more and register to attend the preview event.
#womansuffrage #suffrage #vote2020
Tyone Williams, Sr. has passed.
We send our deepest sympathy to Tyrone's family. He will be greatly missed by his friends in the League.
