JANUARY 2019
SYRACUSE METROLEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

Syracuse Metro LWV
PO Box 11862
Syracuse NY 13218
Phone: (315) 396-8225
Email: lwvsyr@gmail.com
Web Sites:
Local:
www.lwvsyr.org
State:
www.lwvny.org
National: www.lwv.org

CalendarWednesday, February 6thFirst Wednesday Luncheon
Tuesday, April 30th
LWVNY Advocacy and Lobby
Training Day (Albany)
June7-9LWVNY Convention (Hilton, Albany)

Inside This Issue
Board Notes……………………….….2
Naturalization Ceremonies…..……...3Dates to Remember……...…………..3
News From LWVNY……………..….4Voter Service………………...…….....5Campaign Finance/Ethics Reform….6
Election Law Reform………………...7LOCAL VOTERLEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERSSYRACUSE METROPOLITAN AREA

ELECTION REFORM
HEALTHCARECAMPAIGN FINANACEETHICSJUDICIAL ISSUESNATURAL RESOURCESSTATE FINANCES & EDUCATION
TRANSPORTATIONWOMEN’S ISSUESSOCIAL WELFARE
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES YOU CARE ABOUT?
Each year the state League canvasses local leagues to determine their priorities for the coming legislative session. These responses will aid the stateleague in determining what issues are most important to league members.
Two of the issues we care about are noted in this newsletter - Campaign
Finance & Ethics Reform and Election Reform. Sponsors and bill numbers
will change this year.
Please let us know what issues are most important to you. Send us an email
at lwvsyr@gmail.com or reply by snail mail to LWVSYR, PO Box 11862,Syracuse NY 13218 with your top three priorities by January 25, 2019.
For more information on LWVNY issues and goals, go to lwvny.org andclick on Legislative Action.

We are still accepting candidates for
the Students Inside Albany Conference
ponsored by the LWVNY Education
Foundation. This year’s conference
takes place May 19-22, 2019 in Albany.
If you know of a high school junior orsenior who might be interested inparticipating in this interactive conference that brings students from acrossthe state to learn about New YorkState government, please contact
Youth Director, Margrit Diehl at
margrit.diehl@gmail.com or call us at
315-396-8225.

Officers

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Leadership Team...

We are sorry to announce the passing of our memberJack Mallan. Jack was a “charter member” of what welike to call our Men’s Auxiliary, referring to husbands
who have joined the League, sometimes because they
wished to be a member of our organization and sometimes from pressure from their spouses. Jack believed inthe mission the League stood for - getting citizens involved with the process and encouraging them to educate themselves on the issues.
As noted in Jack’s obit he was a teacher, professor,reader, writer, athlete, idealist, Eagle Scout, storyteller,and prankster. Our condolences to his wife, Janet, hischildren and grandchildren. We will miss him.

ReFormers
CaucusTwo hundred former members of Congress, governors
and Cabinet officials have formed an organization toadvocate for solutions to fix our democracy.
At a time when public trust in our democracy nears
historic lows, the ReFormers Caucus represents an unprecedented force for positive change in Washington.
The goal of the group is to call for urgent, bipartisan
political reform that will protect our elections from foreign influence, provide transparency around “darkmoney” and strengthen our election laws.
Utica Congressman Richard Hanna, has accepted ourinvitation to be our guest at a forum early next year.
Plans are not yet in place as to the venue or date. We
will keep you posted. - STAY TUNED FIRST WEDNESDAY LUNCHEONS
We will resume our First Wednesday
Luncheons on Wednesday, February 6,
2019 at 12:30 PM. Join us at Tony’s
Restaurant, 3004 Burnet Avenue,
Syracuse.
Hope to see you there. All are welcome.

Joan Durant
Joan Johnson
Margrit Diehl
Roberta Millert
Diane Dwire
Roberta Millert

Secretary…
Treasurer….
Directors
Education
Environmental Issues
Local Programs
Membership …
Public Relations…
Voter Service…

Margrit Diehl
Marguerite Dormer
Jessica Bumpus
Heather Allison Waters
Andrea Wandersee
Joan Durant

Directors-at-large...

Michele Jones GalvinCharles Gowing
Sandra Gowing
Ann Jamison
Sylvia Matousek

Off-Board Positions
Budget Director….
Erin Leigh Darnley
Membership Data Base...
Roberta Millert
Nominating Committee…..
Ona Bregman
Kerin Rigney
Ann Magnarelli
Technical Support…

Roberta Millert

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization encourages the informed and active participationof citizens in government and influences public policy
through education and advocacy. For more information
please call the League office at 315 396-8225 or by email atlwvsyr@gmail.com

Diversity Statement
The Syracuse Metropolitan League of Women Voters iscommitted to diversity and pluralism, which means there
shall be no barriers to participation in any League activity on
the basis of age, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexualorientation, religion, economic status, or national origin.

2NATURALIZATION CEREMONIES – JANUARY 10 – JULY 4, 2019
Location*

Date & TimeCounty Court House
Federal BuildingCounty Court House
Federal BuildingCounty Court House
Federal Building
SU College of Law
County Court House
Federal Building
Federal BuildingCounty Court HouseFederal BuildingCounty Court House
Federal Building(12th Floor, Court Room 5)
New York State FairAmphitheater

League Representative

Thursday, January 10 - 2:00 PMThursday, January 24 – 11:00 AM
Thursday, February 14 – 2:00 PMThursday, February 28 – 11:00 AM
Thursday, March 14 – 2:00 PMThursday, March 21 – 11:00 AM
Thursday, April 4 – 1:00 PMThursday, April 11 – 2:00 PM
Friday, April 12 - 11:00 AM
Thursday, April 25 – 11:00 AM
Thursday, May 9 – 2:00 PM
Thursday, May 30 – 11:00 AM
Thursday, June 13 – 2:00 PMThursday, June 20 – 11:00 AM

Lois Meyer
Lois Meyer

Wednesday, July 4 – 7:20 PM

Please arrive 45 minutes early for all ceremonies with 100 voter registration forms.
* All Federal building ceremonies are held in the Ceremonial Courtroom except for the June 20th event
We are always looking for volunteers to register new citizens at these ceremonies. It is a very rewardingexperience. Training is available if you have not done it previously. Email us at lwvsyr@gmail.com or call us
at 315-396-8225 to volunteer or for more information.

DATES TO REMEMBERMay 28, 1919 -Local Suffrage Party members met with New York State Suffrage Party members for thepurpose of electing officers to represent Onondaga and Cortland counties in a proposed
New York State League of Women Voters that would replace the New York State Woman
Suffrage party.

November 19, 1919 -At the 51st Convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party, delegates
voted to change their name to the New York State League of Women Voters.

February 14, 1920 -During the convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association, under theguidance of Carrie Chapman Catt, the National League of Women Voters wasfounded, six months before the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

May 21, 2019

100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment passage in the House of Representatives

June 4, 2019

100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment passage in the Senate

Nov. 19, 2019

100th Anniversary of the League of Women Voters of New York State

August 18, 2020

100th Anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment
3NEWS & NOTES FROM LWVNYS
Preparations for the 2019 Legislative Session

Lawsuit With NYCLU - Voter Registration Deadline

Now that the election is over, the League is reengaging withmany of its coalition partners and planning strategy for the upcoming legislative session. Don’t forget to complete and return yourLegislative Priorities form to the state office by Jan. 31! We wantyour input as we begin our lobbying.
The League was invited to testify before the Assembly Election
Law Committee in NYC in November on early voting and noexcuse absentee voting. The League made recommendations forbest practices and outlined the 2018 legislative policies that webelieve best addressed these two reforms.
The state League will be organizing advocacy training sessions
and legislative updates across the state in February, March andApril. Last week, Jennifer spoke to the Capitol Region Leagues at abreakfast meeting. The meeting trained members on state positions,
how to best lobby and outlined our legislative plans for the yearahead. Plans are underway for another session in Geneva in early
March and the state League is looking to other areas for more presentations. And, the spring Advocacy Training and Lobby Day inAlbany will be in late April – watch for the date as soon as theLegislature announces its calendar for the session.

The League has signed on as a plaintiff on the NYCLU lawsuit tochallenge the 25 day voter registration deadline. Public interest in
the people and issues on the ballot peaks in the 25 days before
Election Day. Candidates debate each other, new information
comes out about their campaign fundraising, endorsements are announced, and ads blanket the airwaves. Yet eligible voters whobecome motivated to vote by the flurry of electoral activity in thelast four weeks of political campaigns find themselves unable to doso because they failed to register prior to the 25-day cut-off. The
lawsuit charges that the voter registration cut-off is no longer necessary in the age of computers and needlessly disenfranchises thousands of voters. The suit claims that this disenfranchisement violates the state constitution’s guarantee of the fundamental right tovote as well as its equal protection clause.

Jennifer Wilson, LWVNY Legislative Director
Sally Robinson, VP Issues & Advocacy

LWVNY 100th Anniversary Events Committee
The LWVNY events committee has been busy discussing
what we can do to spread the word and raise awareness ofwhat we have accomplished in 100 years. To date we hope
to focus the LWVNY biennial Convention (June 7-9, 2019in Albany) on this anniversary with a celebration on Saturday evening. In November of 2019 LWVNY andLWVNYC will hold a joint fundraising event in the LWV ofNYC.
We are encouraging all local Leagues to host events during the year. Leagues may join with other nearby Leagues or
host their own. These events can be both fundraising and/ora gathering to celebrate. It can be a big event or simply ahouse party. We hope everyone will join the effort to promote our historic past and what we hope to accomplish in
the next 100 years.
Co-Chairs,
Barb Thomas & Joan Johnson

Sally Robinson, VP Issues & Advocacy
Jennifer Wilson, LWVNY Legislative Director

2018 Gubernatorial Debate
After failing to find a media co-sponsor, the League pursued
holding a Gubernatorial Debate without a media sponsor. Of the 5gubernatorial candidates, 4 (Stephanie Miner, Larry Sharpe, Marc
Molinaro and Howie Hawkins) immediately agreed to participate
when we announced the debate. Governor Cuomo was the only oneto refuse to participate. The College of Saint Rose graciously
agreed to host the debate and provide the technology to livestream
the event on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. The state officeorganized a Go Fund Me to raise money to support any costs thatwould arise around the debate. We were able to raise over $5,000
much of which was raised from donors who had never donated tothe League.
The debate was moderated by LWVNYS Executive Director,
Laura Ladd Bierman, and questions were asked by the following
media panel:•Susan Arbetter, State Capitol Correspondent and News &Public Affairs Director for WCNY Syracuse Public Televisionand host and producer of The Capitol Pressroom•Ken Lovett, New York Daily News Albany Bureau Chief•Josefa Velasquez, Investigative Reporter at Sludge
The media panel also included a College of Saint Rose journalism student, Takora McIntyre. Takora is a junior majoring incommunications at The College of Saint Rose with a concentrationin journalism. Her work has been featured on the Times Union’s
Pine Hills blog.
The debate itself had great media coverage and our social media
posts were shared hundreds of times. The livestream itself has beenviewed by over 80,000 people and the Facebook post has beenshared by 496 users. Overall we had great engagement and visibility around the event and everyone agreed it was a tremendous
success.
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GETTING OUT THE VOTE - ELECTION - 2018

Onondaga VOTES ! Photos

VOTER SERVICE REPORT - JOAN DURANT
This was a very busy summer and fall and a look back on what we did in collaboration with Onondaga VOTES!
• Worked with the Department of Correction and Community Supervision to registered parolees who received a pardon to vote.
• Attended 16 Naturalization Ceremonies and registered new citizens.
• Received a grant from the Gifford Foundation to Get Out the Vote (GOTV) on Syracuse Southside. From midSeptember to Election Day over 100 volunteers knocked on doors to educate registered voters on the importance ofvoting every year.
• Registered voters at libraries and community events.
• Registered voters at the Justice Center and Jamesville.
• Moderated a candidate forum for the LWV of Cazenovia.
• Acted as the neutral election monitors at 9 Syracuse Housing Tenant Association elections.
• Registered over 1,000 new voters.
What’s upcoming for 2019?
• Visit signup.com at http://signup.com/go/XZBRRWf (new signup address) to volunteer for 2019
Naturalization Ceremonies. More activities will be added.
5LWVNY CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND ETHICS REFORM
Ban “Pay to Play

Ban “Pay to Play.” Strict “pay to play” restric- ·A.6808 (Galef)/ S.6306
tions on state vendors. The U.S. Attorney’s(Avella)charges that $800 million in state contracts were An act to amend the public officers
rigged to benefit campaign contributors to the law, in relation to prohibiting members
governor underscores the need to strictly limit of the legislature from obtaining fundcontributions from those seeking state contracts. ing and providing such funds to any
business entity or not-for-profit entities
in which such officials, members, domestic partners or certain relatives holdofficial or legal positions.
Close “LLC Loophole.” Ban unlimited campaign contributions via Limited Liability Companies. LLCs have been at the heart of some of
Albany’s largest scandals.

•A.9758A (Simon) / S.27149(Kavanagh)
An act to amend the election
law, in relation to political contributions

Close “LLC Loophole.”
Strict Limits on
Outside Income

Strict Limits on Outside Income. Impose limits ·on the outside income for legislators and the executive branch. Moonlighting by top legislative
leaders and top members of the executive branch
has triggered indictments by the federal prosecutors.

(A.5831) Santabarbara
Relates to prohibiting outside
income for members of the legislature in excess of fifteen percent of gross annual salary.

A.8175(Schimminger)
Create a Database Create a Database of Deals. A “Database of ·Deals” will list all state economic development Relates to the creation of a searchableof Deals
benefits, including grants, loans or tax abate- database; requires the Urban Developments awarded to a particular business or organi- ment Corporation to create or modifyzation. The “Database of Deals” will also in- an existing searchable database includclude the cost to taxpayers of each job created, ing information on qualified particiand create a uniform definition of what a “job” is pants receiving state economic develacross subsidy programs including full-time, part opment benefits.
-time, permanent, and contract jobs.

6LWVNY ELECTION LAW REFORM

Issue
Early Voting

Description

Bill Numbers

The League supports enacting early voting in New •York State. Currently 37 states allow for some formof early voting.
Early voting should be implemented in a mannerthat will allow equivalent access to the polls for allvoters.

S.7400A (Kavanagh)
Relates to establishing early voting andthe New York state early voting fund

The League supports Election Day registration, on •the same day, as a proven method of increasing
voter participation.
The League supports reducing the voter registration •deadline to 10 days before an election.
The League supports pre-registration of 16 and 17
year olds.

A.9609 (Lavine) / S.1661 (Carlucci)
Allows for pre-registration of 16 and 17
year olds.
S.2478A (Gianaris)
Amends Constitution to remove requirement of registering to vote 10 days before an election.

Currently 10 states and DC have automatic voter•registration (AVR)
The League supports an opt-in AVR system thatwould not require voters to duplicate information.
The League supports all state agencies participating
in an AVR program.

S.3304A (Gianaris)
Enacts the "voter empowerment act of
New York" to streamline the process forregistering to vote. Allows state agencies to automatically register voters.

No-Excuse Ab- •sentee•

The League supports a constitutional amendment to •allow for no-excuse absentee voting.
Currently 27 states and the District of Columbia
allow for no-excuse absentee voting.

A.7623 (Vanel) / S.0840 (Comrie)
Amends the State Constitution to authorize ballot by mail by removing
cause for absentee ballot voting.

Ballot Design•

The League supports improvements to ballot design •that would make a clear delineation between offices
with a bold vertical bar between offices and a fineline between the candidates, a larger font with anabsolute minimum size, and fill-in circles in blackinstead of gray.

S.1512 (Avella)Creates the voter friendly ballot act
which would create a ballot layout thatis easy for voters to read and use.

Single June Pri- •mary

The League supports legislation that would create a •single combined congressional and state June primary date and would bring New York State into
compliance with the Military Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act.

A.9925 (Lavine)/ S.3562 (StewartCousins)
Allows for the consolidation of state andcongressional primaries to create a single June primary.

Electronic Poll •Books

The League strongly supports replacing printed poll •books with electronic poll books to eliminate timeand resources spent producing paper poll books andupdating voter information, and to speed up processing voters at the polls on Election Day.

A.5547 (Cusick)/S.2788 (Akshar) Authorizes counties to employ computer
generated registration lists; updates thelist of supplies to be delivered to pollsites.

••

Voter Registra- •tion••
Automatic•
Voter Registration••

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LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERSSYRACUSE METROPOLITAN AREA
PO BOX 11862
SYRACUSE NY 13218
JANUARY 2019

MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK IN NEW YORK SINCE 1919___ Individual Member $55.00 ____ Household* $80.00 ____ Full Time Student Free
*Two members in the same household

Name ___________________________________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________________________City_______________________________ State_________________

Zip___________________

Phone __________________________________(H) __________________________________(C)Email __________________________________________________

Date __________________

To join call us at (315)396-8225, email us at league@lwvsyr.org or mail this form to
Syracuse Metro LWV, PO Box 11866, Syracuse NY 13218.
ANNUAL DUES—July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019
Please share this information with others who have expressed interest in our work or who havethought about becoming a member of the League..
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