On Saturday August 1st Shari Frank and I attended the LWVIN President’s day event held at Carmel Clay County Public Library. We were stunned by how big and beautiful the library was – plenty of space complete deli lunch area – separate rooms for teens and toddlers – just stunning. Hoosier Leagues gathered from across the state.
The first part of the meeting was taken up by news from the State league – Linda and Tom, State President and Treasurer, will be retiring after this year and of course needing replacements. Tom’s work will be split into two positions: Technology and Treasurer. A few administrative by-law revisions approved by majority vote of local league delegates at the LWVUS 2026 Convention will require changes to all local League by laws. LWV Brown County members will receive these changes prior to the next LWV Annual meeting April 2027.
We are encouraged to get involved at the state level and help build new leagues. We are reminded of the many helpful resources on League website, including petitions as part of All in for Democracy – opposing mid-cycle redistricting and closed primaries which are anticipated to be proposed in the 2027 Indiana legislature. The State League update was followed by the different local leagues sharing projects such as election protection, poll working, voter registration, & much more.
Keynote speaker Laura Merrifield Wilson: Reiterated how low Indiana voting and civic participation is compared with other states. Indiana 2026 Primary Voter turn out of 17% is among the lowest in the nation. There are reasons for this - our state restrictions on voting, gerrymandering and straight party ticket voting options. She is concerned that the Voting Rights Act 1965 which abolished literacy tests and made 8 states need clearance due to racial gerrymandering – is all being abolished now. However there are signs of more voter interest due to economy and pocketbook issues. More state office races have at least two party candidates this year– and Secretary of State has added Libertarian and Lincoln Party candidates.
Panel Discussion
Ami Gandhi, Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights: Shared concerns over erosion of voter laws over 20 years due to SCOTUS decisions. Around the country, states are closing poll locations, voter ID laws are getting stricter and language barriers exist. Indiana has one of earliest poll closing hours, limited early voting hours, and voter registration and mail voting restrictions. If you know any lawyers interested in Election Protection, the Indiana hotline is seeking more Hoosier lawyers to help voters address barriers at the polls.
Julia Vaughn, Executive director of Common Cause Indiana: Common cause is seeking volunteers for election protection work including exit polling and more. They expect to have Marion and Hamilton counties covered. Indiana ranks seventh from bottom for hard to vote states. Important to publicize 866 hotline if problems voting. Election Protection hotline 866-OUR-VOTE.
Jennifer Ping, Marion County Election Board Republican Member: They cover 650,000 voters, 8 vote centers for early voting 182 on Election Day. She told us entertaining stories about how hard they work to keep election process open to all voters. Who knew that when Pence endorsed a candidate other than Trump, he received 400 death threats, as have precinct and party chairs. I was impressed by how hard some ordinary folks work on our behalf.
The last speaker of the day: Randy Schmidt, Alliance for Retired Americans, shared many rambling, windy and entertaining stories from his past. He greatly admired Eugene Debs and Birch Bayh as statesmen. I did not know that Birch Bayh was only Senator to pass 2 Amendments - the 25th and the 26th. He spoke about many problems facing this country, for instance reforming the Supreme Court citing the Hobbs decision overturned equal protection and privacy rights– and left out freedom of religion (different religions have different time line on when fetus is person). Also stunned that Alito cited Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th C Englishman who believed women to be property of their husbands. His concern about data centers – that under guise of economic development we are using tax dollars to enrich wealthy is this not akin to extortion.
After the wrap up we headed home at first under calm skies until we hit a horrendous thunderstorm through which we white knuckled thankful for have each other’s company.
· Check out the LWVIN Newsletter for more details on President's Day
· Oppose mid-cycle redistricting? Sign the ALL IN FOR DEMOCRACY petition.