- CALENDAR Jan. 8 LWV Monthly Meeting Tuesday Advanced Learning Library 5:30-7:30pm 711 W. 2 nd Street Jan. 19 10-11am Jan. 19 1:00pm MLK Jr. Day Parade To Chester Lewis Reflection Park Starting location: Christian Faith Center, 1130 S. Broadway Women s March Downtown Wichita to City Hall Starting location: TBA Jan. 21 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday Heroes & Sheroes Awards Bkft. 7:30-9:30am St. James Episcopal Church 3750 E. Douglas Presented by ARISE attention to as our newly elected state officials take office in the next session. Throughout the year, he provides weekly summaries of the Kansas State Legislature s activities including hearings, bills introduced, testimony, calendars and background analysis. Paul is always very insightful, and this will be a terrific program! RSVP for the buffet Italian dinner ($25) by Thursday, Dec. 6 to (316) 573-5583 or info@lwvwichita.org. If you want to come to just the program, there is no charge, but please RSVP so we will save room for you! Doors open at 5:00 pm, dinner at 5:30 pm, program 6:15-7:30 pm. You also will have the opportunity to make your yearend donation to the League of Women Voters Education Fund in person or online: http://www.lwvwichita.org/about-us/donate/. Your tax deductible gift will help support our voter registration and education efforts in 2019. Pat Reinhold & Laura Thompson, Co-Presidents Jan. 22 Tuesday 12-1pm Tuesday Topics Privatization of VA Medical Care Advanced Learning Library 711 W. 2 nd Street HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS Jan. 26 League Annual Planning Meeting Time & location TBA LWV Monthly Meeting Holiday Dinner & Legislative Update with Paul Johnson Tuesday, Dec. 11, 5:30-7:30 pm Paul Johnson, LWV legislative analyst, will present updates on the 2019 Legislative Session in Topeka. Paul knows what's going on with taxes, the budget, Medicaid expansion, judicial selection, school funding and other issues we should be paying The New Year is almost upon us, and our local League s beautiful calendar planners make a great gift or buy one for yourself. With stories and photos of significant Kansas women who made a difference, a planner will inspire you all year. A $15 donation supports our Education Fund and Centennial Celebration. Stirring up Democracy for 100 Years wooden spoons are still available for only $6. Both of these items make perfect gifts for the women and men in your life who believe in the LWV mission. To purchase yours, contact Martha Pint at (316) 259-6192 or martha_pint@hotmail.com.
BOARD REPORTS Voter Service Report Voter Service Committee will be meeting this month to plan out 2019 efforts to register and educate voters. We have applied for a grant again from LWVEF to continue our High School and Colleges Project. An area we feel that we may have not paid enough attention to is the elderly living in retirement homes and care centers. So ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS take a BREAK and be ready for the New Year. Thank you, Leaguers, for all of your hard work. Carole A. Neal & Sharon Ailslieger, Co-Chairs Treasurer s Report Dues for 2018-2019 now due! Our LWV Wichita-Metro dues also cover our LWV US and LWV KS memberships, so they are a bargain at $65 a year. We are part of an organization with a long and proud history, 98 years, working to encourage informed voting and to protect the right to vote. Basic dues include our VOTER newsletter sent by e-mail. If you prefer a paper VOTER mailed to you, please send an additional $15. If you are a second member in a household, dues are $32.50 and if you are a student just $10 for this year. Send dues to Elaine Harvey, LWV Treasurer, 4370 N. Eagle Lake Ct., Bel Aire, KS 67220. WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! Rebecca Jenek, Jennifer Lane, and Rebecca Armstrong. Tuesday Topics While there is no December Tuesday Topics, please hold the following dates for 2019 Spring Tuesday Topics. Privatization of VA Medical Care Tuesday, Jan. 22, Noon-1 pm Bridging the Racial Divide Tuesday, Feb. 26, Noon-1pm The U.S. Census Tuesday, Mar. 26, Noon-1pm Sentencing Reform Tuesday, April 23, Noon-1pm Summary of November Tuesday Topic Dr. Russell Fox, Professor of Political Science of Friends University and frequent commentator on Kansas and Wichita politics, joined us at Tuesday Topics to speak about the recent midterm election. He discussed multiple aspects of the election. The 2018 midterm election had the highest turnout since 1914. This year 49.3% of registered voters turned out, in 1914 50.4% voters turned out. The average turnout in midterm elections is around 40%. Dr. Fox pointed out that the makeup of voters in 1914 was very different from today. In 1914 the voters would have been exclusively white males. The recent election resulted in Democrats gaining 8.1% (39) seats in the US House of
Representatives. Gains like this are referred to as waves. In prior waves when Democrats gain, seats gained are in the 31-39 range. In a Republican wave seats gained are usually in the 54-63 range. Possible underlying causes were discussed. Data supports the disparity due to the rural-urban divide. In discussing urban and rural voting patterns, Dr. Fox showed the change in Republican support in the years 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 for three southern states. In the states of Florida, Texas, and Georgia support for Republican candidates in rural areas increased over time where support for Republicans in urban areas declined over the same timeframe. Dr. Fox discussed the James Thompson vs. Ron Estes 4 th Congressional District race. The two candidates faced off in two elections. In the special election Thompson lost by 7 percentage points. In the midterm his loss was by 20 points. Dr. Fox s analysis started by describing Thompson as not a typical Democratic candidate. Republicans have dominated the 4 th District since 1994. For the years 1994 to 2000 losses were in the range of 5-12 percentage points. In the years after 2001 the gap between Republicans and Democrats grew to averaging between 24 and 34 percentage points. Further analysis of the Thompson / Estes race shows that even within the 4 th District, there is a divide between rural and urban voters. Urban voters in Wichita tended to support Thompson, rural voters in outlying areas tended to support Estes. Turnout for this Tuesday Topics program was 63 people, one of the highest yet. Vote411 Results for 2018 Election It s official: our effort to get information to the voters was appreciated. In cities where we have a local League, our numbers are very good, and across the state, the word had gotten out to some extent. Overall, we had 36,991 users, which reflects 35,188 new users from previous attempts to use Vote411. There were total sessions of 48,384. This means that 13,196 voters signed in more than once. There were 2,059 users who printed out their ballots. The cost of $5,000 plus $1,000 for materials and man-hours of approximately 120 hours resulted in the cost per user of 16.22 cents and approximately 5 minutes per user in manpower. If we converted manpower to dollars at $15 per hour, this would be $1,800, for a total cost to the project of $7,800, resulting in a per user cost of 21 cents. There have already been questions about what we are going to do for the 2020 election cycle, and the answer to that will be in planning for the future. This year we received two grants for a total of $6,000 to offset our costs. We will be sending out a survey to get input from the local Leagues that we will include in future planning. A huge thank you goes out to 2018 Blueprint Kansas (KSVotes.org) and our members for supporting this project. Carole A. Dixon, Voter Service Chair Help Wanted! Want to help create a more perfect democracy? Volunteer with LWV! Your help for even a couple of hours a month will make a difference. Here s some things you could consider: Be a Leader! - Our league is growing! If you like to organize to make things happen, let us know! Membership - join a telephone tree to call members about meetings; mentor a new member; bring people you know to a meeting or event Raise money so we can do more - sell some Celebrating planners (and buy one for yourself); talk with potential donors; address and stuff envelopes; make a donation Voter Services - register voters, assist with candidate forums, help educate voters
Keep an eye on local government - review advance agendas for city council, county commission, and other meetings and alert the League of important topics; observe meetings while wearing your LWV button Communications - help with newsletter by printing & mailing 10-15 copies each month; help with social media Call or email Pat Reinhold, Co-President, to talk about how you can be involved! patinw@gmail.com, (316) 619-6717. 2018-2019 LWV Wichita Metro Board Members Effective October 1, 2018 Co-Presidents Pat Reinhold Laura Thompson Treasurer Elaine Harvey Secretary Pat Purvis Past Co-President Sharon Ailslieger Board Members Sharon Cranford Carole Neale Martha Pint Julie Sherwood Megan Wright-Hagan The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging the informed and active participation of citizens in government. It influenced public policy through education and advocacy. We never support or oppose any political party or candidate.