The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan, grassroots organization of women and men who work to protect and expand voting rights and to ensure that everyone is represented in our democracy. Founded over 100 years ago when the Nineteenth Amendment passed, League has long been a cherished institution for educating and advocating in defense of democracy. Here in the 21st century LWV remains at the cutting edge of voter services and non-partisan information for the public. It welcomes women and men as members.
At the local, state, and national level, League’s mission is to inform and empower voters by encouraging them to learn about issues of public interest and to be in touch with legislators. League does this by clarifying topics of public concern in non-partisan contexts. Voters themselves decide how to use factual information they receive.
Our Montgomery County community is familiar with League’s long-term work with voter registration, free and fair elections, publication of the Government Directory, and ongoing programs about current issues of importance. In addition, our League regularly holds Lunch and Learn with the League programs, the Well Read Citizen Book Club, and provides other avenues of participation like working on committees, to learn more about issues and local governance. Our League partners with many other community organizations for efforts such as Reality Store and State/County/Local Legislative Breakfasts and Lunches sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.
This spring, three League of Women Voters of Montgomery County committees have presented distinguished public forums here in Montgomery County on issues of state-wide interest. In January, a speaker addressed Indiana’s school funding methods at a forum at Wabash College; in March, a panel of professionals discussed Indiana’s new reproductive health policies at the Crawfordsville District Public Library; and, in April, people here in the county and from around the state, came to a local church to learn about sustainable energy dollars available for nonprofits (including churches) from a speaker familiar with sustainable energy. Each of these public programs featured distinguished professionals in their fields and welcomed questions from the audiences.
How, you might be wondering, does the LWVMC decide on which topics to emphasize, given the range of governance issues ever at hand?
That’s where League Local Planning comes in. Each year local Leagues around the country define their focus for the upcoming year at a formal Local Planning meeting. At this meeting, the gathered League members review current positions and vote on whether to retain the same position going forward. The positions came into being as the result of nomination, study, and adoption at earlier Local Planning meetings. Our local League has been working in this way for the public good in Montgomery County since 1947 when the local League was formed.
The LWVMC currently holds five positions: on Local Governance, Health, Education, Economic Health, and Climate. In 2022, the Education Committee, the sub-committee on Health for Reproductive Rights, and the Climate Team stepped forward at the Local Planning meeting to help shape this past year’s programming. They subsequently brought our community the three programs that well over 200 members of the public have attended this spring. They have conducted other initiatives as well, informing and advocating.
The LWVMC’s newest position is on Climate. It was adopted just a year ago. The position focuses on energy sustainability and resilience here in Montgomery County. The LWV takes care with its process of adopting positions to assure fairness: members proposing a new position, for instance, are required to undertake a year-long study to assess how a particular issue impacts our county. The Climate Study was done by the Climate Team during the 2021-22 year.
During its brief life, the Climate team has sponsored a state-wide Climate Forum for Youth via Zoom during the pandemic; they have participated in public programming at the Carnegie Museum; presented Lunch with the League programs; and, have helped local schools establish environmental clubs as well as advocated in our community for electric school buses and electric vehicles for public use. The Team has educated and advocated for the increased use of solar energy in our county. Climate Team, under the chairmanship of John Smillie, has helped local nonprofits begin to solarize. The forum on April 14 gave nonprofits and churches information about how to get tax credits through the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act). This meeting was attended by people from various parts of central Indiana as well as Montgomery County.
All League committees continuously assess need for their work here in Montgomery County. Once a position has been adopted by the LWVMC membership, our local League members can advocate for that position. That work is most often done by committees.
These are contentious times; misinformation and rumor abound. Never has nonpartisan fact-gathering and understanding of issues been more vital to our public life. If you would like to learn more about local governance and help efforts to educate and advocate, consider joining the League and getting involved in this active citizen work in a nonpartisan way. Please visit our website (www.lwvmcoin.org) or talk to any League member.