Our
Impact

Board of Elections

Elections Specialist: Kate Doran

Kate Doran attends the weekly meetings of the Commissioners of the NYC Board of Elections. Kate prepares and delivers testimony to the NYC Council and the NYS legislature on election/voter related matters. She works with the state League’s Elections Specialist in Albany and with a NYC coalition of nonprofit, good government groups to improve election administration and push for reforms in accordance with LWV positions.

LWVNY Election Law Reform

Census/Redistricting Committee

Chair: Laura Quigg

The vision of this new committee is to ensure that every person living in NYC is counted in the upcoming 2020 Census. The Census committee will work to increase city-wide participation in the upcoming 2020 Census in hard-to-count communities by educating and partnering with local leaders and organizing representing those communities. After the Census is completed in 2020, this committee will work to ensure fair redistricting.

This committee is in formation and we welcome interested members to join us for this important mission. Email [email protected] for more information.

City Affairs Committee

Chairs: Tavonia Davis 

Criminal Justice Reform Committee

Chairs: Akyla Tomlinson, Tiffany Khan and Michele Figueroa

The Committee for Criminal Justice Reform envisions establishing the League of Women Voters NYC as an influencer around issues of criminal justice in New York City and State. Towards this end, we will work in collaboration with community-based organizations and those directly impacted by the criminal justice system to advocate and lobby for legislation and policy that focuses on criminal justice reform.

The Committee’s work with Katal Center was successful in helping to advocate for “Less Is More” being signed into law. We currently support “Beyond Rosies, the Tuition Assistance Program, Clean Slate”and other criminal justice reform campaigns. Email [email protected] for more information on our committee.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee

Chairs: Sherletta McCaskill and Laura Quigg 

The vision of the DEI Committee is to provide tools and open forums for discussion within the League so that it will comprehensively conduct its work – both internal and external – with an eye towards diversity, equity and inclusion. We believe such introspection and openness are important for us to truly represent the city we serve; reflect the racial, ethnic, geographic, socioeconomic and ability status of our constituents; and empower all of our voices and representation concerning voting rights and civic engagement.

For more information, please contact [email protected]

Education Committee

Chair: Jane Hatterer

We advocate for New York City and State policies and programs that support equal access to a sound basic education and to provide resources for Civic Education.

From the founding of the United States, a primary purpose of education has been to prepare individuals to become capable citizens. For almost 100 years the League of Women Voters of New York City has supported equal access to education so that students are prepared to become informed and contributing citizens who understand their rights and responsibilities.

To that end we:

• Support a greater emphasis on Civic Education in the curriculum
• Support funding for Universal Pre-K
• Support the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) demands that NY State provide adequate funding for high needs school districts
• Oppose State tax credits for donors to private and parochial schools
• Oppose school vouchers
• Support at least a 3-year extension of Mayoral control of NYC public schools to enable the Department of Education to engage in long-term planning
• Support inclusion of the Department of Education’s governance responsibilities in the New York City Charter as is done with every other city department

We are currently working on a proposal for Professional Development for NYC Social Studies teachers in the area of Civics Education.

Join us to work on these and other issues related to public education in New York City.

We usually meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 5:30 PM. Check our website calendar for meeting dates. Email [email protected] for more information.

*Teaching High School Students How to Engage in Politics: The state League and the NYS Social Studies Supervisory Association (NYS4A) are pleased to announce the publication of seven lesson plans on state and local government for teachers of the New York Grade 12 Participation in Government course. Please see Topics and Lesson Plans here

Program Committee

Chair: Joanna Leefer

Join us if you’re interested in planning events that educate people about public policy issues. We meet on the first Monday of the month; join us at either 10:30am or 6pm. The Chair meets twice to accommodate committee members who prefer daytime meetings and those who prefer evenings. Email [email protected] for more information.

Voter & Information Services Committee

Co-Chairs: Laura Quigg, Diane Burrows and Gerry Russo

The Voter & Information Services Committee conducts voter registration drives throughout the five boroughs, trains organizations and individuals on how to conduct voter registration drives, and provides speakers to organizations and schools about why voting is important and what to expect on the ballot.

The Volunteers who staff our Telephone Information Service provide callers with vital voting information and related matters. We also have a Committee member who is an observer at the NYC Board of Elections Commissioners’ weekly meetings. This volunteer advocates to improve election laws, simplify and modernize the registration and the voting process.

If you’d like to join this committee, all are welcome. We currently have three work groups addressing: Voter Registration Events, Voter Registration Volunteers, and Get Out The Vote. Click here for calendar of next meeting date as well as training dates.

To volunteer to help staff one of the many Voter Registration Drives, please complete this form.

Voting Reform Initiative

Chair: Bella Wang

The Voting Reform Initiative advocates on issues relating to elections in New York City and New York State, through activities such as meetings with legislators, op-ed writing, and voter education and activation projects. For 2021, we are focused on the following issues:

• Same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting
• Restoration of voting rights for people on parole and the New York Voting Rights Act
• Board of Elections reform
• Municipal voting rights for non-citizen residents of New York City

To stay updated on our activities, please join our Facebook group or sign up at the bottom of this page. Email [email protected] for more info.

The League of Women Voters is an organization fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in principle and in practice. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to the organization’s current and future success in engaging all individuals, households, communities, and policy makers in creating a more perfect democracy.

The League of Women Voters of the City of New York has begun a project to lift up women who were erased from the history of women’s suffrage, primarily women of color. We will be publishing and maintaining research on them for all interested in learning more about these brave women who fought for suffrage for all people.

Zitkala-Sa

Contributed by Joanne Baptiste

Zitkala-Sa, also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a musician, writer and activist who fought for Native Americans’ rights during the early years of the 20th century. At the age of eight, she was taken to a Quaker missionary school in Wabash, Indiana called the White’s Manual Labor Institute. It was there she was assigned the name, Gertrude Simmons, forced to cut her hair and pray as a Christian. She also learned to play the violin and piano, ultimately becoming a music teacher at the Institute. At age 19, against her parents’ wishes, she enrolled at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana where she began collecting Native American stories and translating them into Latin and English. After studying violin at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, she became a music teacher at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school for Native American children. She published short stories and essays in “The Atlantic” and “Harper’s” that portrayed Indigenous people without the racist stereotypes promoted by white American society. Her writings were very critical of the boarding school system. In 1901, she published an anthology of retold Dakota stories called The Old Indian Legends to preserve the traditional stories of her people.

In 1916 she became the secretary of the Society of American Indians which advocated for citizenship for Native people. She was vocal in her criticism of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ assimilationist policies and practice. She reported the abuse of children when they refused to pray as Christians. Her husband, who worked for the BIA, was fired that year. They moved to Washington, DC and she continued to work for the Society of American Indians, as editor of their journal. She traveled extensively and lectured about Indigenous citizenship and suffrage. Zitkala-Sa believed that Native Americans should be American citizens and should have the right to vote and be represented in government since they were the “original occupants of the land”.  Although the federal Indian Citizenship Act granted US citizenship rights to all Native American’s in 1924, it didn’t guarantee the right to vote, that was left to the states. In 1926, she and her husband created the National Council of American Indians which supported universal suffrage. She continued to work for the Indigenous communities, influencing the Federal government to investigate exploitation of Native people and leading to the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. She died on January 26, 1928 and is buried with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery.
References

“Zitkala-Ša (Red Bird / Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/people/zitkala-sa.htm.

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee

Contributed by Rahima Khatun

“For no nation can ever make real and lasting progress in civilization unless its women are following close to its men, if not actually abreast with them.”

— Mabel Ping-Hua Lee

Born in 1896 in Guangzhou, China, Lee moved to New York with her family during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Acts. From 1882 to 1943, these acts aimed to curtail immigration from China through strict immigration requirements; only exceptions were made for groups such as students and missionaries. Her father was a missionary and, thus, was granted this exception. Furthermore, the Chinese Exclusion Acts prevented Chinese immigrants from becoming American citizens, thereby disenfranchising them.

This did not discourage Lee. Influenced by her father’s religious and nationalistic views of China and by New York’s tolerant environment, she began to write and speak publicly about suffrage. In 1912, she led a pro-suffrage parade on horseback in New York City to promote the enfranchisement of all women. In 1917, women finally acquired the right to vote in New York; Lee, unfortunately, she was not given this right since the Chinese Exclusion Acts were still in place.

Nevertheless, Lee did not give up and was determined to continue to advocate for Chinese-Americans. In 1926, she developed a community center in Chinatown intending to provide support and a feeling of freedom to those who were marginalized in American society. The center offered English classes, a medical clinic, and a kindergarten. She dedicated the remaining portion of her life to assisting Chinatown’s community.

Ultimately, Lee is a pivotal symbol of social change and perseverance for all women. Her dedication to suffrage and marginalized communities will be remembered for years to come.

Annual Meeting Reports

Our annual meeting reports inclue a full wrap up of each year. Our reports include Letter from the co-presidents, nominations, annual meeting financials, and so much more. Check out our annual reports, we make them just for you to easily digest information and understand the impact that we prommise to make every year!

Major Event Reports (Journals)

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Impact Report

Our impact reports are an easy way to get an understanding of all that we have done this year. We update our impact reports every six months to keep you up-to-date and in the loop with all of the current events and news.