Newsletter - September 12, 2024 - League of Women Voters of Indiana

PRESIDENTS DAY

October 5, 2024

Heritage Hall, Johnson County Fairgrounds
Franklin, IN

Check-in begins at 10:30 am ET. The program will begin at 11 am with welcomes and introductions by State President Linda Hanson and the League of Johnson County. Local League Presidents will then be invited to introduce their local League attendees and share their local’s successes.

Lunch is at noon. Box lunches will be catered by McAllisters Deli and will include a baguette sandwich or wrap – or a salad – and cookies. In keeping with the League’s position to reduce solid waste and use recyclables, we encourage attendees to bring a reusable drinking vessel and use the water fountain to refill it rather than depend on bottled water. After lunch, State Treasurer Tom Gardiner will present a brief Transformation Roadmap Update and Lexi Dunham from LWVGL and Chelsea Thomas of LWV Indy will talk their Threadless Stores.

Workshop #1 is entitled “The Supreme Court in Indiana” and the speaker is attorney Sonia Leerkamp from LWV Brown County. Topics covered will include the role of the IN Supreme Court, how justices are selected, how cases come before the Court, and recent decisions and LWVIN positions.

Workshop #2 covers getting out the vote.Barb Tully of LWV Indy will discuss“GOTV – How to Succeed.” Shaina Miller will talk about Ball State's student to student vote project.

There will then by a Recognition of Past State Presidents and a Wrap-up, with adjournment at 4 pm.

The cost for the event (including lunch and snacks) is $25, and advanced registration and payment is required. Go HERE to register and pay: http://lwvin.org/presidentsday

DIRECTIONS TO HERITAGE HALL: Heritage Hall is located in the northeast corner of the Johnson County Fairgrounds. Please use 250 Fairground Street (Scott Hall), Franklin, IN 46131, for your GPS destination.If you are entering the fairgrounds from the south entrance (Jefferson Street/IN-144/ IN-44), continue past Scott Hall. Heritage Hall will be on the right side of the street. If you are entering the fairgrounds from the north entrance, you will arrive at Heritage Hall before you get to Scott Hall. We will have LWV yard signs in front of Heritage Hall.

Thanks go to Special Events Committee members Paulette Vandegriff (chair), Linda Hanson, Meg Connolly, Tom Gardiner, and Linda Dunn -- and Karen Lunsford from the Johnson County League -- for planning this event.

CITIZENS' HANDBOOK UPDATE

Following up on the partnership between the American Library Association and LWVUS Barb Tully and Linda Hanson presented the handbook to Indiana State Libraries in a zoom meeting. You can view the meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtz4Ya7DIg

Library directors could then order handbooks, rack cards, and table tents to help disseminate the Handbook across Indiana.

The map above shows where the libraries are located—directors for those marked with blue attended the zoom meeting; those in red registered but did not attend. All could still see the recorded zoom and order materials that the Indiana State Library distributed for us. Please check with your library to see whether they need more materials or would like more information about the Handbook! Highlighting it during National Voter Registration Day/week would be helpful!

Linda Hanson

The LWVIN Board will be holding three regional zoom meetings to discuss our focus and share strategies on voter registration, turnout, and education leading into the November election. League leaders, watch for specific information for your region!

DEBATES AND FORUMS

SEPTEMBER 12—5th Congressional District Forum- Anderson High School Auditorium, 6-7 pm ET

SEPTEMBER 25—6th Congressional District Forum- Rick's Centre for the Arts, Greenfield, 6-7 pm ET

SEPTEMBER 28—9th Congressional District Forum- 9:30-11:30 am ET via ZOOM. Must pre-register at https://bit.ly/4cqzPut

OCTOBER 2--Gubernatorial Debate with all three candidates- 7 p m ET live from the FOX59/CBS4 studios in Indianapolis, and broadcast live throughout the state.

OCTOBER 24--Indiana Debate Commission Gubernatorial Debate(see https://indianadebatecommission.com/news/)

Aurora Lucero-White as a young woman. Photo taken sometime in 1915 when her father Antonio Lucero was New Mexico Secretary of State.

(Photo source: National Women’s History Museum)

FORGOTTEN FOREMOTHERS
Profiles of lesser-known heroines in the fight for women's rights
Aurora Lucero-White Lea

Early in her youth, Aurora Lucero-Whie Lea and cousin Nina Otero-Warren began speaking and organizing politically as Congress debated the terms of the New Mexico Territory’s statehood. Nuevomexicanos like Aurora, those of Hispanic heritage originating in the Santa Fe area, treasured their unique culture, including their language. At age 16, in 1910, she gave a speech arguing against the recent proposed stipulation that all office holders in New Mexico must be proficient in English.

“It is claimed by some of those who passed this act that the Spanish-American will become a better citizen by depriving him of the use of his vernacular,” young Aurora said. “In resorting to such a course, it would seem that the contrary effect might be produced in him by the unwarranted interference of congress with his natural rights, and instead of becoming a better, he might be made a worse citizen. Yet the Spanish-Americans of New Mexico have never been bad citizens. ...

“To single out New Mexico, then, for such unprecedented treatment, at the very moment that she is welcomed into sisterhood, is not only a gratuitous insult to the intelligence of her people, but it is also a proceeding as untenable in principle as it seems to be outrageous in its intent.” At the time, local governance was done almost entirely in Spanish. Therefore, an English-only stipulation could deny this new state its own trusted people and voice.

You can read this entire article HERE.

Kathryn S Gardiner

Page 7 of theSanta Fe New Mexicanon Oct. 22, 1915 recounted the events of the rally outside the home of Senator Thomas Catron.

Pam Locker, Editor, LWVIN Voter

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Newsletter - September 12, 2024