League Officers:
Co-Presidents: Amy Ipp, Robin Weiss
Treasurer: Debra Schein
Secretary: Robin Weiss
Membership: Amy Ipp
Voter Service: Judith Friedman
CALENDAR
August 1, 2023, National Night Out, Voter registration at Livingston Oval, 5:30-8:30PM
August 2, 2023, Program Planning Meeting, Livingston Senior and Community Center, 204 Hillside Avenue, Livingston, NJ 7:30 PM
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
We are anticipating an exciting year of programs in 2023-24. We will meet in person on August 2 at the Senior and Community Center (7:30 PM) to plan our meetings/programs for next year. We hope to get as much input and suggestions as possible so please plan on attending. We will also plan for Candidate’s Forums. Enjoy the rest of your summer.
Membership
Our membership is growing. We will be sending dues notices by email this year. Amy Ipp, Robin Weiss and our technical genius Nishna Makala have been working on a new website for our league. It is on the Wix platform and will provide the opportunity to pay dues or make donations online. We will let you know when it goes live. You will still be able to submit checks if you wish. We also thank Deborah McComber of the Morristown League for her technical assistance.
Voter Service
National Night Out, an annual activity sponsored by the Livingston Police Department featuring rides, police demonstrations, games and music and will also provide an opportunity for us to register voters and provide voter education. If you can help out any time between 5:30 and 8:30 PM, please contact Judith Friedman at jfriedman79@icloud.com
Annual Meeting
Our annual meeting took place on June 28, 2023. The meeting began with dinner at 6:30.
We approved the 2022 annual meeting minutes.
We elected the following officers:
Co-President - Amy Ipp
Co-President - Robin Weiss
Voter Service Chair - Judith Friedman
Treasurer - Debbie Schein
Membership - Amy will continue to assist but we are hoping for a new volunteer.
We approved the 2023-24 budget. Judith Friedman reported on our meetings of the past year. Amy Ipp reported on the state convention. We reported on the work of the scholarship committee. We asked for volunteers to help rewrite our bylaws and a new member Joan Balash volunteered to work with Amy and Robin.
We honored Judith Friedman on her retirement as League co-president. Pat Sebold presented her with a proclamation from the Essex County Commissioners. Amy Ipp read a statement from Robin Weiss thanking Judith for her years of service and Nishna Makala gave a short speech on how much working with Judith has meant to her. Judith was later honored by the Livingston Township Council who issued a proclamation and plaque.
New Jersey League of Women Voters Convention
On June 10, 2023 Robin Weiss and Amy Ipp attended the 65th Biennial Convention of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey. There were numerous meetings throughout the day including new language in the state bylaws to reflect gender neutral language, approval of the budget, the membership numbers for each local league, and program planning recommendations for 2023-2025. There are 32 local Leagues in the state; 20 of
the locals have increased their membership including Livingston which went from 19 members to 37!
The Board of Directors recommended a study of reparations and after discussion it was approved. The League of Women Voters of NJ is part of a coalition supporting the passage of A938/S387 that would establish the New Jersey Reparations Task Force to conduct research and develop reparatory proposals to address the general harms caused by New Jersey’s role in the institution of slavery and its legacy of systematic racial
discrimination.” The Livingston League had voted this past winter to support this study.
There were numerous other topics that were not recommended for further study including an alternative election system, municipal consolidation and disinformation across media platforms. The state league does not have the capacity to conduct more than one study at a time.
There were reports from each official committee of the state league: Education, Natural Resources, Social Justice, Government, Immigration and Women and Family Issues. Although all of these are impacted by national conditions, the focus of each one is the conditions for New Jersey. Jesse Burns has been the Executive Director since 2007 but there are four new staff people as follows: Philip Hensley, Democracy Policy Analyst, Assatta Mann, Community Organizer, Melissa Marks, Community Organizers and Elissa Kapp, Operations Coordinator. The lunchtime speakers represented the very active grassroots community in New Jersey offering different perspectives on issues in New Jersey.
If any members are interested we can share the official booklet from the convention that contains League positions on a variety of issues.
Treasurer’s Report
Our VALLEY BANK balance as of June 26, 2023 is $3,798.12. We moved $5,000 from our checking account to a six-month CD to earn a higher interest rate.
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