Citizenship Ceremony in Fergus Falls

New American Citizens were sworn in on Thursday July 11, 2019 at a ceremony at the Federal Court House in Fergus Falls, MN.  Four League of Women Voters members: Judy S., &  Florence H., from Park Rapids: Judy from Minneapolis and Joan from Fergus Falls attended the ceremony.  After the swearing ceremony  in our League members  were there to help each of the 16 new citizens to register to vote. Minnesota has seen 8,800 new citizens sworn so far this year. 

Congratulations to the new citizens and thank you to our League members for helping out.

Help LWVPRA Harvest our lost History!

At the end of April League of Women Voters Park Rapids sent 3 delegates to the state League Convention in St. Paul.  We were so inspired by an exhibit of 100 years of League history that League of Women Voters St. Paul put on.  They incorporated the Traveling Exhibit that the LWV Minnesota with the help of the Minnesota Historical Society put together with their own local history: which consisted of  their scrapbooks, an old voting machine, old civic text books plus several posters of a narrative of their own 100 years of Educating Voters posters.

Display of LWV St Paul's History

LWV Park Rapids, the Nemeth Art Center and Hubbard County Historical Society are putting together a “show” in May of 2020 to highlight the Centennial of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.  The League of Women Voters was officially formed the day after the amendment was ratified. It is not often that an organization reaches its 100 birthday. 

But we need your help. LWV Park Rapids was officially formed in 2000 by 15 women in the area.  A couple of women had been members of League several years before.  But that history has been lost.  Therefore we are seeking out community members who can help us in several different ways:

Search your memories, old family stories and your scrapbooks.

• Do you have any information about the League of Women Voters in Park Rapids before 2000?
• Do you have any stories about women in your family voting for the first time?
• Do you have any posters, campaign buttons or other memorabilia from women candidates in the area?
• Can we find an old voting machine, ballot box, old voter registration, etc?

If you can help us, please visit us at our booth at Crazy Days on July 25th. We will be near the Hubbard County Historical Society whose members will be selling root beer floats.

League of Women Voters Park Rapids Area  (LWVPRA), a non-partisan volunteer organization, whose mission is to encourage informed and active participation in government and influence public policy through education and advocacy.  All our programs are free and open to the public.  Please direct any questions about LWVPRA activities, events to our group by emailing lwvparkrapids@lwvmn.org. LWV membership is open  to men and women and we welcome new members.  Follow our activities, events on our website: lwvparkrapidsarea.blogspot.com/

At the last business meeting on June 12th.. we had 2 of our newer members step forward.   Joel Vohres and Judy Stenger will take over as President and Vice President...Thank you both so much for being willing to take this on, This will  protect our non profit status.

We also have Carol Moen as our new membership chair, Barb Wiebesick  as our new voter registration co chair and Joel will also take over as our Action Chair.

All of our new chairs will be in learning mode for the next season...so the rest of our members need to step forward and offer encouragement and support their efforts.


President and Vice President/Co-President: No candidates have volunteered for these positions, and Carolynne is retiring. She has volunteered to train/help, but we need a couple people to step up.
Treasurer: Sue Cutler will be completing her second year of a 2 year term.
Secretary: Anna Mae Holzworth will be completing her second year of a 2 year term.
Nominations committee chair: Bill Steen and Rhoda Jackson have volunteered & Carter Hedeen will stay on
Membership committee chair: Carol Moen has volunteered.
Action committee chair: Joel Vorhes has volunteered
Voter forum committee chair: CC White has volunteered.
Voter registration committee chair: Barb Wiebesick has volunteered.
Planning and Events Committee: Florence Hedeen has volunteered

Join us for our Annual Meeting: May 8th

RSVP to lwvparkrapids@lwvmn.org

Video of Why Do We Care? Census 2020

We had a nice turn out for our program: Why Do We Care? Census 2020 at Northwoods Bank in Park Rapids.  Thank you Diane Dennis, Andrew Mack, Mary Thompson, and Tim Flathers for all the relevant information and for saying "yes" when we called for help at putting together this program.  Below is a video of the program just in case you were not able to attend on Thursday night. 


More Census information:

• League of Women Voters Minnesota position on the census:
• https://lwvmn.org/where-we-stand/2020-census
• Complete Guide to the Census from the US government:
• https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2018/ccc-guide-d-1280.pdf
• Minnesota State Demographic Center:
• https://mn.gov/admin/demography/census2020
• Complete Count Committees: 
• https://mn.gov/admin/demography/census2020/ccc/

Link to pdf of Tim Flathers' slides 

Link to pdf of Andrew Mack's slides  


Video:

Why Do We Care? Census 2020

The framers of the United States Constitution made a full count of the population a part of the document. Every 10 years since 1790 the Census Bureau has conducted a count of every resident in the United States. It’s the law.

“Why do We Care? Census 2020” will be the topic of discussion Thursday, March 7, 6:00 pm, at the Northwoods Bank Community Room, 12001st St. East, Park Rapids. The program will be free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

League of Women Voters of the Park Rapids Area has invited Tim Flathers, Headwaters Regional Development Commission executive director, to speak about why a complete Census count is so vital to fair and equitable funding for all government supported activities. He will be joined by a panel of Andrew Mack, Park Rapids city planner; Diane Dennis, Coldwell Banker Clack and Dennis Real Estate; and Mary Thompson, Headwaters Regional Development Commission, who will be serving in an administrative role with the Hubbard County Regional Economic Development Commission. The panel will respond to the speaker’s presentation and share how the Census affects their activities. There will also be time for questions from the audience.

For the 2010 Census in Minnesota, 85 percent of people completed and returned the Census form mailed to them. Census workers reached out to the remaining 15 percent at their residence. In 2020 the Census Bureau is urging the creation of Complete Count Committees in every town, county and region to help everyone understand how important it is that their household members are counted. Full participation in the 2020 Census will provide communities with vital information about who we are and what we need.

League of Women Voters is a non-partisan volunteer organization committed to “Making Democracy Work for All.” Membership is open to everyone 16 and over. Celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year the group has been open to men since 1976. For more information email  www.lwvparkrapids@lwvmn.org, or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeagueOfWomenVotersParkRapidsStateUnit/.

You can also contact Carolynne White, president at 218-732-9819.

Can this happen in Minnesota? (The redistricting process is important to all of us)

    

Pennsylvania’s  7th congressional district as drawn in 2011.

On Jan. 4, 2019 the US Supreme Court agreed to take up two cases that involve states using computer aided mapping to draw House of Representative districts that would benefit one party over another. These cases involve one state controlled by Republicans and one state controlled by Democrats.

After the 2020 census, which is just around the corner, Minnesota will have to consider how to redistrict both for the U.S. House and for Minnesota House and Senate seats. Depending on the census count, district boundaries could be realigned in major ways. Minnesota could even lose one U.S. House seat.
   
Currently, the law gives responsibility for redistricting to the legislature. In theory, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Minnesota Senate approve district maps and the governor signs off on them. But in recent times, the parties have not agreed, resulting in lawsuits and a panel of judges being appointed to redraw the maps. This wastes considerate time and money.
   
There has to be another way to solve this stalemate and make our democracy work better. The League of Women Voters (LWV) believes “responsibility for redistricting preferably should be vested in an independent special commission, with membership that reflects the diversity of the unit of government, including citizens at large, representatives of public interest groups and members of minority groups.”
  
A proposal developed in 2008 by a broad-based coalition led by former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Governor Arne Carlson has been debated. The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance's Minnesota Redistricting Project was instrumental in development of the proposal, providing nonpartisan information and analysis to the coalition on Minnesotan elections.
   
The project also provided public education and engagement that helped place redistricting reform in front of the public and policymakers. In May 2009, legislation based on the Mondale/Carlson proposal passed the Minnesota Senate, but did not advance in the House.

It is a priority of LWV for rules and procedures on redistricting to be settled before the census numbers are available. But citizens need to study the matter and communicate their thoughts to their elected officials.

Please join LWV Park Rapids at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24 at the Northwoods Bank Community Room to watch a video of a panel discussion hosted by the West Metro Alliance of LWV last March. The video features Paul Anderson, former Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and Nick Harper, Civic Engagement Manager for LWV Minnesota. They spoke about the history of redistricting and potential reforms. The video will be paused at various intervals to give those attending a chance to ask questions and discuss ideas. 
The goal is to become informed about the issues of redistricting and how to support good policy for Minnesota.

During the viewing and discussion, pizza, coffee and juice will be available.
   
A special invitation is extended to anyone who was involved with redistricting in Hubbard County after the 2010 census to answer questions, such as what worked well and what were the problems then? What needs to be done before any new lines are drawn? 
   
If you have any questions about the event, please contact LWVPRA at lwvparkrapids@lwvmn.org.
  
More resources on redistricting issues can be found at the following websites:

LWVMN position at https://lwvmn.org/where-we-stand/fair-district-maps,

USC Annenberg Center redistricting game at http://www.redistrictinggame.org/
What Works? Article from the Brennan Center at https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/Redistricting%20Commissions%20-%20What%20Works.pdf.