Register to vote now: Click here to open a printable Voter Registration Form

Absentee Ballot: Click here for the printable Application for Absentee Ballot
You can make your absentee ballot permanent if you are disabled.

Call Montgomery County Voter Services for more information on registration, how to, or any question you have about your ballot: 610-278-3280

Voter Info websites in case our Voters' Guide doesn't cover your area: vote411.org and smartvoter.org

Election Calendar 2008
General Election, November 4, 2008

Registration for General Election, last day is October 6, 2008. If you mail it on this day make sure you ask the postmaster to postmark it! Otherwise it may not be counted.

New: click here to view our LWV LMN CALENDAR

Click here for our Rosemont College Page

Click here to find your legislator by zip code.

About that 400 million dollar ballot question on Tuesday, Nov. 4:

LWVPA Statement on 2008 General Election Referendum Question
October 31, 2008


The state office has received several inquiries regarding the League’s position on the ballot question which asks voters to approve $400 million in bonded indebtedness for grants and loans to municipalities and public utilities to upgrade or repair drinking water systems and wastewater treatment. The exact wording that will be on the ballot is:

“Do you favor the incurring of indebtedness by the Commonwealth of $400,000,000 for grants and loans to municipalities and public utilities for the cost of all labor, materials, necessary operational machinery and equipment, lands, property, right and easements, plans and specifications, surveys, estimates of costs and revenues, prefeasibility studies, engineering and legal services and all other expenses necessary or incident to the acquisition, construction, improvement, expansion, extension, repair or rehabilitation of all or part of drinking water system, storm water, nonpoint source projects, nutrient credits and wastewater treatment system projects?”

LWVPA has not taken a position on this ballot question. Links to several web sites and news articles with information about the ballot question can be found at www.SmartVoter.org. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has a web page on it at http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/watersupply/cwp/view.asp?a=1263&Q=542307 .

One of the areas of concern is whether wording would allow the funds to be used to extend sewer and water lines to undeveloped areas and thus generate sprawl, versus repairing existing infrastructure. There is also concern that many utilities across the state are not limiting use of their user fees to water/wastewater projects expenses and to set aside capital funds to cover normal maintenance, replacement, and repairs. Some systems across the Commonwealth use their water/sewer revenues to support other expenses of the municipality, such as police cars, fire trucks, parks, etc., and inter-mingle these funds. DEP's Sustainable Water Infrastructure Task Force reports that the estimated PA $28 billion sewer infrastructure funding gap could be narrowed significantly to about $1.7 billion if systems utilized EPA recommended guidelines of 1 - 2 % of median household income for these services.

PennFuture has come out in favor of the referendum, as has Chesapeake Bay Foundation, municipal authorities, and engineering firms. The PA Campaign for Clean Water, of which League of Women Voters of PA is a member, has not taken a position on the Referendum. Voters last approved borrowing for water and sewer projects in 2004, when they authorized $250 million. There has been criticism that some of that prior funding actually contributed to sprawl.

LWV hosts Candidates Forum for State Senator Oct. 21

The Candidates Forum will be between Lance Rogers and Daylin Leach on Tuesday Oct. 21st at Bryn Mawr College's Thomas Great Hall, 7 p.m.

Please bring a friend for a great debate in this historical building. Sponsored by LWV LMN, Radnor, and Haverford.

Click here for a printable parking map for the debate at Bryn Mawr College (Thomas Great Hall)

LWV LMN Voter Registration at Rosemont College, Oct.4

Our League will be having a table for Voter Registration at Rosemont College's Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 4. We will have samples of our who's who in government (aka our Legislative Reference Guide) an invaluable tool for contacting your legislators and voicing your opinion. We will also have samples of our Voters' Guide, the indispensible tool for getting to know the candidates (available online now, click here; available in print in late October). The printed Voter Guide will be available at Public Libraries, senior centers, Harcum College, and at Rosemont College in the library, near the bookstore, and some residence halls. Sarah Cazella will be in charge.

You can also click the links at the top of the page to get your absentee ballot (PA), or a Voter Registration Form.

Oktoberfest is family fun for everyone. Carol Snow, Bonnie Kauffman, Isobel O'Donnell (RC'00) and Jessica Williams (RC'09) will be working the table.

LWV of LMN at Suburban Square Festival Sat.9/20, 12-3PM

Candidates Forum Oct. 21, 7 PM at Bryn Mawr College (Great Hall)

CBS Tapes Interview with Local County Leagues

On Friday, August 22 a crew from CBS news interviewed 15 women to get their views on the upcoming presidential election. Participants came from Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Counties. Thanks to Lora Lavin for hosting the event.

The interview was conducted by Phiya David and the material will be used on the CBS evening news Saturday, August 30.

McCain and Obama supporters as well as undecided voters discuss their views of the upcoming presidential election... topics included the war, health care, education, gun violence, the economy, poverty, campaign finance and the makeup of Supreme Court. Everyone, including the CBS crew had a good time.

Pictured from left to right are: Nancy Lamason, Peggy McCausland, Barbara Montgomery, Jan Young, Stelle Sheller, Barbara Burger Lentz, Dorothy Philipson, Vicky Huestis, Lori Sonntag, Beth Jones, Perri Evanson, Ruth Damsker, Paulette Kreider, and Joan Roberts.

Redistricting Reform Takes a Vacation, July 2, 2008


From: Lora Lavin, VP for Issues and Action

Hope for a constitutional amendment to reform Pennsylvania’s redistricting process in time to take effect for 2011 ended yesterday. SB 346 was voted out of the Senate State Government Committee on June 17 and sent to the Senate for 1st consideration. Yesterday the Senate voted to remand SB 346 to the Senate Appropriations Committee essentially killing any further consideration. HB 2420 remains in the House State Government Committee and no further action is expected.

For our work on this issue we have much to be proud of. Together we did a superb job of calling attention to the need for reform. The issue was well covered in news reports, editorials, columns and op-eds around the state.

Be assured this is not the end of the reform effort. Having raised the profile of this issue, we have an obligation to make sure what happened to representative democracy in 2001 is never repeated. In a June 26 column in the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/25/AR2008062501944.html, David Broder said “the way district lines are drawn to create safe seats for one party or the other” may be a bigger problem than campaign spending as a “distorting force in our elections.”

Stay tuned for the next steps.

*****

Update June 17, 2008:
To: LWVPA Board & Local Leagues
From: Bonita C. Hoke, Executive Director
Re: Redistricting Bill—SB 346 Reported from Committee

The Senate State Government just voted 7-4 to report SB 346 out of Committee for a vote on the Senate floor. While the bill did not contain the amendment recommended by the League, this is a start. There will be the opportunity for amendments from the floor. Members of the Committee, chaired by Senator Jeff Piccola include in the Majority party Senators Folmer, Brubaker, Corman, McIlhinney, Punt and Scarnati as an ex-officio member.
Minority members include: A. Williams, Fontana, Hughes and Tartaglione.
No word as yet on HB 2420

In letter to legislators, Governor Rendell endorses redistricting reform legislation
Excerpted from June 13 press release. (Complete article:click here)

Approval Would be in Time for Next Redrawing of Legislative Boundaries

HARRISBURG – Governor Edward G. Rendell today urged the chairmen of the House and Senate State Government committees to consider legislation that would change how Pennsylvania redraws its legislative district boundaries following the federal census.

"The Commonwealth's existing redistricting process undermines democracy by institutionalizing a powerful system of incumbent protection," Governor Rendell wrote in a letter to Sens. Anthony H. Williams (D-Philadelphia) and Jeffrey Piccola (R-Dauphin), and Reps. Babette Josephs (D-Philadelphia) and Mathew E. Baker (R-Bradford). "For every vote to truly count, we must have competitive elections where voters have the opportunity to choose between viable candidates. I am convinced that the only way to ensure meaningful elections is to take politics out of the process of drawing legislative boundaries...

*****
A call to action
Time is short to reform Pennsylvania's corrupted process for drawing legislative districts Wednesday, June 11, 2008 By Suzanne Broughton Election districts in Pennsylvania are a sight to behold. In the Pittsburgh region, Legislative District 16 starts in Beaver County and snakes down... - POST-GAZ.( 235219/208466 )


Josephs has it wrong on redistricting
The June 4 letter ("Reform in name only") from Rep. Babette Josephs (D., Phila.) attempts to explain why she, as chair of the House State Government Committee, blocked a vote on an essential redistricting reform bill. Regrettably, her letter contains numerous errors and omissions.... -INQUIRER (235288/208535

Editorial: Public Notices
Keep them where the audience is From the fearless lawmakers in Harrisburg who brought you the midnight pay hike, comes the latest way to operate in the dark. State Sen. Bob Robbins (R, Mercer) has proposed a bill that would allow local governments to place all legal notices online rather than in... - INQUIRER (235287/208534)


League of Women Voters of PA
226 Forster Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
info@palwv.org
717-234-1576 or 1-800-564-6598 x 10
Fax: 717-234-8341
website: www.palwv.org

Very Bad News for Voters in PA

It looks like Redistricting may have to wait another decade, while our votes are being dealt like cards. Check out this article and then call or email the legislators who are responsible for tabling the bill (click here for email address info from PA House):

SENATE SIDETRACKS ESSENTIAL REFORM BILL AS CLOCK RUNS DOWN

Government Integrity Organizations Fear Unified Effort by Legislative Leaders
Will Block Competitive Elections and Protect Incumbents

Led by Minority Chairman Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia) the Senate State Government Committee tabled SB-346, a bill designed to end the massive gerrymandering abuses in Pennsylvania. The four Democratic members of the committee were joined by three Republican members in the vote to table the bill. This action could spell the death of this essential reform measure which faces a mid-July deadline for passage. Committee chairman, Jeffrey Piccola (R-Dauphin), offered a strengthening amendment to the bill sponsored by Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Lehigh).

Meanwhile, in the House, State Government Committee Chairman Babette Josephs (D-Philadelphia) pulled a similar bill (HB-2420) from the voting calendar last Thursday. Rep. Steve Samuelson, (D-Lehigh) who drafted this compromise measure by compiling the best elements of all other related bills has been attempting to get the bill rescheduled for debate and vote, but has been unsuccessful.

“This is one of those key issues wherein the leaders of both parties unite against the voters to ensure that lawmakers will be able to continue to pick their voters, thus eliminating choices on the ballot, making elections less competitive and ultimately government less accountable” said Barry Kauffman, Executive Director of Common Cause/PA.

Bonita Hoke, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters agreed by saying
“Pennsylvania reputedly is the second worst state in the nation, after Georgia, for contorting the shape of legislative districts to protect incumbents and party stronghold.” The League of Women Voters of PA and Common Cause/PA have been working for nearly two decades to end this decennial abuse of power by legislative leaders. The reform measures would depoliticize the redistricting process, and protect the integrity of natural communities in the state. “In the end the voters and taxpayers are the winners if these redistricting reforms are enacted. Accountable government can be achieved only when we have competitive elections, and competitive elections can be achieved only whenPennsylvania institutes a fair non-partisan redistricting system.”

# # # #

Chris Leswing to speak at LWV of Lower Merion and Narberth, Annual Meeting May 3, 2008

Save the date! All are invited. The May Meeting is from 10 AM until Noon at Elaine Giese's home, 133 Edgewood Road, Ardmore RSVP Barbara Ritchie 610-525-3809

Our guest Speaker is Chris Leswing.

Chris Leswing is the LMT Assistant Director of Building and Planning. He will update us on development of the new township comprehensive plan, still a work in progress.

He will describe some of the plan's exciting elements, such as the "emerald necklace" trails proposals and implementation of the R-6 rail-to-trail along the Schuylkilll River. Completion of the plan is expected to take another couple of years, so League members will have a chance to continue taking part in this vital process for shaping our township's future.

* * * *

Members and Students Needed in Effort to Get the Vote Out with
Smartvoter
click here to watch Olivia's smartvoter movie on You Tube

click here to check out smartvoter.org

At a local County LWV meeting it was decided that we would try smartvoter. Smartvoter originates with the LWV of California. The purpose of smartvoter is similar to vote411, where infomation is given to the voter based on their address or county. However, they can also access information about candidates which is new.

Smartvoter differs in that candidates put up any information they have such as a link to their website, videos, and answering the questions that come from National LWV.

We do not nave the resources to check the content and interface with candidates, so we are asking for members to come forward and volunteer. Student volunteers/interns are welcome.

Redistricting and Education Funding Discussed at Length
Legislative Interviews LWV LMN 2008

Click here to view all the event photos in Scrapbook 2008
Click here to see a map indicating the shape of our legislative districts
See articles in Main Line Life (front page) and Main Line Times (p.3)

Legislators discussing redistricting. L-R, State Senator Connie Williams, Representative Daylin Leach, Representative Kathy Manderino, Representative Mike Gerber, and Carol Snow, LWV LMN president, at head of table.
The LWV LMN program notes included pictures of the extensive distortion of gerrymandered districts. The legislators discussed redistricting with the audience. Rep. Kathy Manderino made an interesting point about the shape of districts. although we think of the irregularly shaped districts as being problematic, she noted that a district could look like a comfortable rectangle and still be an issue as regards the rights of the voters to competetive district elections.

To View the 2008 Questions for Legislators click here

Elizabeth McLean Honored by League and State of Pennsylvania at the Legislative Interviews

click here for the full scrapbook 2008

Members and Students Needed in Effort to Get the Vote Out with
Smartvoter
click here to watch Olivia's smartvoter movie on You Tube

click here to check out smartvoter.org

At a local County LWV meeting it was decided that we would try smartvoter. Smartvoter originates with the LWV of California. The purpose of smartvoter is similar to vote411, where infomation is given to the voter based on their address or county. However, they can also access information about candidates which is new.

Smartvoter differs in that candidates put up any information they have such as a link to their website, videos, and answering the questions that come from National LWV.

We do not nave the resources to check the content and interface with candidates, so we are asking for members to come forward and volunteer. Student volunteers/interns are welcome.

Website Feedback:

I already have my registration form off in the mail...so another person will be voting that you are directly responsible for. –JG in Paoli

Thanks JG, we are glad that you were able to download the Voter Registration Form from this website, and print and mail it. –LWV of Lower Merion and Narberth

There is a real person behind this website! click here to email me regarding anything of concern, including critiques, praise, the Voter Guide, or general interest, etc. We need your input.-Isobel

You are person to access this LWV LMN site