Events

SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE FORUM:  March 19, 2009, 11:30AM-1:00PM, $10.00 per person, Radisson Center, 200 Jay Street, La Crosse. Map  Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters of La Crosse Area, LWVWI Education Fund, Rotary Club of La Crosse, La Crosse County Bar Association. Register for this event.

League and Others File Brief in AG Lawsuit Against GAB, October 6, 2008

 LWV response to Atty General lawsuit, Sept. 11, 2008

Ethics Questionnaire Sent to All Legislative Candidates - July 10, 2008   Voter Guide Press Release 2008.pdf     Voter Guide Letter and Questionnaire.pdf

Supreme Court Ruling on Voter ID is a Blow to Democracy.pdf - April 29, 2008
Don't Use Debunked Data to Disenfranchise Voters - March 7, 2008
League Encourages Citizens to Vote in WI Presidential Primary - February 8, 2008
League of Women Voters Celebrates 88th Birthday - February 8, 2008

Press Releases more than six months old can be found on our Archives page.

The League in the News:

 People You Know Joyce Metter.jpg, President, LWV Beloit, Stateline News April 13, 2008

Report Shows ID is Bad Idea, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 15, 2008

Thank you to DANEnet Capital Times, November 1, 2007
LWV LaCrosse Plans Immigration Series La Crosse Tribune, September 5, 2007
News more than six months old can be found on our Archives Page.

Other News:
 
The Wisconsin Primary Voters' Guide Now Available Online
The Spring 2008 Wisconsin Primary Voters' Guide is now available online. It contains information about the Supreme & Appellate Court offices, as well as the questions and responses from the candidates in these races. 
 
Supreme Court Justices Support Public Financing for Judicial Campaigns
The seven justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court signed and distributed a letter voicing their unanimous support of "realistic, meaningful public financing for Supreme Court elections to facilitate and protect the judicial function" to all members of the legislature and Governor Doyle yesterday. "Such an endorsement, so far as I know, is unprecedented" says Larry Hanson of the Joyce Foundation. This is an important and encouraging move as the Governor's special session on Campaign Finance Reform opens today. Read the letter here:  Campaign finance letter.pdf (16.50 KB) 
 
Report Finds Problems with Access to Wisconsin Polls; Voter Lists
The Legislative Audit Bureau last week released a report called An Evaluation: Compliance with Election Laws. The League of Women Voters was alarmed by the findings that people with disabilities had significant difficulties exercising their right to vote in the November 2006 election and that 1,537 citizens were incorrectly classified as ineligible to vote because the matching lists were not up-to-date.  Read the League's response here:  LWV response to LAB rept 11-07.pdf
 
Wisconsin's Electoral System Receives High Marks in Moritz Report
Wisconsin's electoral system was ranked second best out of five Great Lakes states in a new study by Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. The study commended Wisconsin’s strong tradition of free and fair elections, noting that Election Day Registration leads to higher voter participation. The study sees great promise in the new Government Accountability Board, which could serve as a model for other states. The report noted, however, that the state still has not established and implemented the statewide voter registration database that is required by federal law. The inability to match the voter registration database with other state databases could result in eligible voters being left off the list and makes it more difficult to identify illegal voting. 
 

Good Voter Information is Hard to Find
A study conducted by the University of Wisconsin NewsLab with the support of the Joyce Foundation shows that viewers get more information from paid political advertising than from newscasts.  The NewsLab studied early- and late-evening newscasts on 28 stations in the month leading up to the 2006 election and found Midwest TV stations devoted 2.5 times the air time to political ads than to political news coverage.  And the news coverage of campaign strategy and polling results outpaced issue coverage by a three to one margin.
The Joyce Foundation's Full Report /  Press Release /  Study Methodology /  Wisconsin Report
 
Joyce Report on Ethics and Finance in Wisconsin's Government:
Is Wisconsin concerned with government ethics and finance?  The Joyce Foundation surveyed attitudes on government reform in five mid west states.  The results show that Wisconsin wants good government.

Election Advertising Outpaces Election Coverage On Midwest TV News
Midwest TV news casts devote only 36 seconds to election coverage, but spend more than 10 minutes on advertising, more than 7 minutes on sports and weather and almost 2.5 minutes on crime.  This analysis by the Midwest News Index (MNI), a project of the University of Wisconsin NewsLab and The Joyce Foundation, is part of an ongoing examination of democratic institutions and processes in the five-state region.
The Joyce Foundation's Full Report /  Wisconsin Report

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Proposed Rule Would Disenfranchise Voters and Cause Election Chaos August 25, 2008

 LWV letter on provisional ballots.pdf