Every year, the LWVIL Issues Committee encourages in-district lobbying contacts, or legislative interviews, with your state senator(s) and representative(s). This year we are hoping every League will participate.
The primary purpose of the interview is to strengthen the line of communication with your legislator....nurture your relationship. The emphasis should be on an exchange of views and information, setting the stage for future action. The interview is also a stimulating activity for newer League members. Many Leagues deliberately put together interview teams composed of new and experienced members.
You will note in the instructions that the Local League shown on the House and Senate District lists with the greatest number of members in that District is asked to coordinate with the other leagues with fewer constituents in a District to facilitate one interview meeting per legislator.
Please return your responses to Hilary Denk at issues@lwvil.org by MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2018 or by mail to the address of the LWVIL office as shown on the form.
Redistricting Collaborative Update
Our 2018 Redistricting initiative is underway! A copy of our amendment, HJRCA 43, is available here. Now the work begins.
LWVIL, in coalition with other CHANGE Illinois members such as the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the Better Government Association and a range of other groups, have developed a number of helpful documents to aid in our work:
WHAT WE NEED LOCAL LEAGUES TO DO: Our goal is to have the amendment on the ballot in November. This means we must complete the first phase by obtaining multiple co-sponsors and a three-fifth YES vote in the Legislature by the beginning of May. The roll call vote on the Franks amendment HJRCA 58 may be helpful in this regard.
Please review all the linked information in this article that will guide you in your discussions with your Representatives and Senators and convince them to approve this amendment. We will be approaching them directly; we will work with others in our communities to help convince the Legislators to support the amendment.
Talking points will be updated based on feedback from your League. You will be notified of updates
LWVIL Redistricting Issue Specialists Paula Lawson and Jane Ballengee, as well as other members of the coalition, will be available to assist you with questions. You can contact Paula at pjlawson1@comcast.net and Jane at j.ballengee27@gmail.com.
Protect Our Vote Project
The League of Women Voters and the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) will jointly unveil the results of a new study,
2018 Report: Best Practices for the Administration of Illinois Elections, at a press conference currently scheduled for March 18. The study has led to recommendations for improvements in practice or further data gathering in three areas:
An inventory and assessment of Illinois voting equipment to assess functionality;
collection of information from election authorities on procedures including accessibility of polling places, recruitment and training of poll workers, and methods of communicating voting information prior to elections;
permitting the use of Vote Centers, central voting locations that may be used by any voters residing within an election jurisdiction, throughout early voting and on election day.
Legislation has been or will be introduced to bring about the implementation of these recommendations. These topics have been included in the
Legislative Interview Questions (above), and
Time for Action alerts will be issued as appropriate to garner support. Please help promote this project to your members and encourage them to contact their legislators in support of the bills.
LWVIL Voters Service Co-Chair
Jan Dorner has been in contact with Leagues about specific issues in targeted parts of the state. LWVIL is grateful for support of this project from The Joyce Foundation.
ERA and Illinois
LWVIL has long supported ERA ratification in the Illinois General Assembly. 2018 is an important year for this effort!
Here are two March 2018 national press news articles that include info on Illinois. Please share with your local league members:
If you have not already responded to the invitation, you are still welcome to give the Local League Leaders Google Group a try. We're up to 64 members!
If you'd like a new invitation sent to you or another member of your league, please send the name and email address to info@lwvil.org.
League of Women Voters of Illinois
332 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 634| Chicago, Illinois 60604
