More than 100 League members and friends attended the Annual Meeting sessions, luncheon, workshops and/or social reception in Madison June 6-7.  Delegates voted to concur with the Milwaukee County League's new position on Lending Industry Practices, Part 2 - Predatory Sub-Prime Loans.  Sixty League members and friends were trained and deputized by the Government Accountability Board (GAB) to register voters who live in any municipality in the state.  (Click here for a schedule of upcoming GAB statewide voter registrar trainings.)  We honored Nancy Stabb, LWV Janesville, with the 2008 Meg McLane Award for Advocacy.  Special thanks go to LWV Dane County, which provided volunteers and home stays.

Wisconsin has become a poster child for the changing face of - and increasing influence of money in - Supreme Court elections.  Yet we are not alone.  This special report from the Justice at Stake Campaign shows how five midwestern states—Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin—have become caught up in America’s “New Politics of Judicial Elections.”

Click here to see the May 21 Town Hall Meeting, co-sponsored by League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County and LWVWI Education Fund and made possible with a grant from Joyce Foundation.  Taped by Wisconsin Eye:  www.wisconsineye.org.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Indiana's strict voter ID law was a blow for fair elections, and it should not be used to support restrictive measures in Wisconsin.  We have a record of clean elections, with no evidence of impersonation at the polls.  There is no reason to impose restrictive election laws, which invariably place a higher burden on certain groups of eligible citizens.  Mary Wilson, President of the League of Women Voters of the United States, called the ruling "a disgraceful decision by a court that has no credibility on election issues."  Read the Wisconsin League's statement here:  Voter ID statement 04-29-08.pdf

Proponents of Voter ID are citing a report which rolled out old findings that appear to point to widespread illegal voting in Milwaukee in the 2004 election. The truth is that virtually all of the irregularities identified in the 2004 election have already been debunked or found to be simple errors; the study identified no reports of anyone impersonating anyone else at the poll. It is not clear who really is responsible for this report, which came as a surprise to the Milwaukee Chief of Police when it was released. Read More...