Home - League of Women Voters - Grand Traverse Area

Please join or renew your League of Women Voters Grand Traverse Area Membership!

Join or Renew by Mail: Download, print, and complete this Membership Form 2024-2025 then return by mail with payment.

Join or Renew Using Paypal or credit card: Use this link to join or renew your membership online.

More League Membership Information here.

It's Voter Registration and Voter Education Season!

LWV-Grand Traverse Area is reaching out to potential voters to assist with registration and to answer any questions they may have about voting in Michigan. We were at the NMC Pride event on June 8 and a community event sponsored by Polestar and the Traverse Area District Library on June15. It is a great opportunity to encourage voter participation!

We are planning many more voter events right up to the elections in August and November. If you would like to volunteer, please reach out to Donna Moore at donnabmooreusa@gmail.com.

For more information about voting in Michigan you can go to the state website at michigan.gov/vote or to a partner non-profit Michiganvoting.org

Read the entire press release here.

Volunteers needed for observing the Boards of Canvassers,
starting August 7th

The League of Women Voters of Michigan (LWVMI) is once again sponsoring the County Board of Canvassers Observer Program following the Primary Election. As we have learned even more since 2020, there are important processes that take place after election day. One of these steps is the Board of Canvassers (BOC) review that is done in each county when they meet to review the paperwork submitted by each of the precincts in their county and certify the election results.

The League supports a process of providing neutral observers for the BOC process in each county. This is consistent with the League's commitment to protect the election and voting rights.

We are asking for volunteers to observe the BOC meetings in these counties: Grand Traverse, Antrim, Benzie, Crawford and Kalkaska. The meetings typically start on the Wednesday or Thursday after the election, from 9a-5p M-F until the review is done. The shifts are 2-3 hours. Observers are asked to be neutral, observe and complete a very short report for the League after each shift.

Please reach out to Alice Schuman (schuman.alice@gmail.com, 917-664-4358) or Marcia Koppa (mbkoppa54@gmail.com, 989-348-2933).

Many Thanks!!

Many thanks to everyone who attended our annual meeting on June 10th. It was a great time to connect, reconnect and hear from compelling speakers.

Sheryl Guy, Antrim County Clerk, received our 2024 Making Democracy Work award. This award honors a public servant who has diligently striven to provide the best service for her county and has succeeded in fulfilling her duties in an exemplary manner. Her very moving speech described the challenges that she and Antrim County faced after the 2020 election.

The LWV-GTA Outstanding Service Award recognizes the continued support of the mission to “empower voters and defend democracy” by a member of our League. This year we recognized LWVGTA/CCU leader, Marcia Koppa, for her exceptional leadership in developing the Crawford County Geographical Unit. Marcia Koppa, thank you for your efforts to grow League one member at a time.

Our keynote speakers were Mark Brewer and Jeff Timmer who shared their perspectives on "What are the Risks to Democracy Now?". There was a lively and informative Q&A! If you want to hear more from them, they are co-presenters of a podcast "A Republic, If You Can Keep It".

Summer Social August 18, 4p-6p!

Our summer social will be held Sunday August 18th from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at Bowers Harbor Park on Old Mission Peninsula, 2750 Bowers Harbor Rd, Traverse City, MI, 49686. Bowers Harbor Park | Traverse City, MI 49686 This is an end of summer get together for League Members old and new. Guests are welcome. This a social event to connect and re-connect with each other. We will have hors d'oeuvres, wine, lemonade and iced tea. We will provide transportation, leave a message at 231-714-9763 to make arrangements.

What can you do?

Invite a friend, it's a great way to share the word about LWVGTA.
If you like to, bring your favorite finger food - appetizers and desserts.
Call if you need a ride, please. Leave a message at 231-714-9763.
Most important of all, bring yourself!!! We would love to see you there.

Media Literacy 101:

How to tell if the information we receive can be trusted

April 16, 2024

LWVGTA sponsored a discussion about whether the information we are receiving is factual and truthful, especially with AI and social media discrepancies. Discussion included effective use of communication strategies and how these strategies can be used to spread an organization’s message.

Presenters were: Rebecca Pierce from the Traverse City Record-Eagle; Scott Harmsen, GVSU adjunct professor; Tak Ready, West Senior High School civics and government educator; and Ed Ronco, Interlochen Public Radio News Director. Jaquelyn Richer, an ASL Interpreter will be signing.

The program recording can be viewed at the LWVGTA Facebook page at Media Literacy Presentation

A Day in the Life of a Legislator, January 15, 2024

Michigan House Representative Betsy Coffia (D 103rd)

Michigan House Representative John Roth (R 104th)

Moderator: Jean Howard

A program focused on the challenges of legislators working together to bring needed funding and projects to the communities they represent. Democrat Representative Betsy Coffia and Republican Representative John Roth, both serving in the Michigan House of Representatives, shared their experiences as Michigan Legislators.

Watch the Legislator program at Traverse Area Community Media here.

From Publication to the Public: A Library Book’s Path to the Reader

Tuesday March 19, 2024

This program focused on how a library book gets to the reader’s hands with discussion of the process of publication, process of library selection, censorship, and book banning efforts.

Presenters are: Michele Howard, Director of Traverse Area District Library (TADL), Stephie Luyt, Elementary Library Coordinator for Traverse City Area Public Schools, and Karrie Zeits, a governmental law attorney. Jaquelyn Richer, was the ASL Interpreter.

Watch a recording here on the LWVGTA FaceBook page

In the News!

A recent article in the Northern Express interviewed the local League presidents from four chapters: our own Grand Traverse Area, plus Petoskey, Leelanau and Manistee. It recaps the national League history and shares the beginnings of each of the local league chapters.

"BEYOND THE BALLOT MEET THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS CHAPTERS OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN

BY KIERSTIN GUNSBERG | MARCH 16, 2024

It was the spring of 1919, and president of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Carrie Chapman Catt was chomping at the bit. Even as the organization was celebrating its 50th anniversary, it still hadn’t completed its mission of equal voting rights for women. NAWSA had made headway, sure, having already won the right to vote in a handful of states, but the endgame was a constitutional amendment guaranteeing all women across the country that right."

Voter registration event at "Radium Girls"

at Old Town Playhouse in Traverse City

Early in April, the Old Town Playhouse in Traverse City presented "Radium Girls" which is set at a time when women had just had their right to vote confirmed in the United States Constitution. The Radium Girls' fight for justice was an important step in building protections for all workers. The director and the producer thought encouraging people to vote would fit nicely with the message of the play. The team at OTPH asked LWVGTA to do a voter registration/voter education session during the matinee performance on Saturday April 13th; a group from the Voter Services team did just that!

Here is a link to a short segment aired on 9/10 news about the collaboration:

‘Radium Girls’ closing run in Traverse City with appearance by League of Women Voters – 9&10 News (9and10news.com)

LWV Research Leads to Michigan Women's Hall of Fame

It began as an effort to salute hard work by the LWV-Grand Traverse Area encouraging a successful YES Vote to fund a new library in the mid-1990s. Award-winning author Heather Shumaker wove this story into her 2022 book, Beyond Books: Stories of Traverse Area Libraries 1960-2020, which included another story of dedicated women who left their mark on the Traverse City landscape.

The Traverse City Ladies’ Library Association (LLA) started in 1869 when Traverse Township was just a "scruffy little logging community". These ladies provided library services and a large public meeting hall to the community for more than 30 years. For this effort, the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, which “honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary” with Michigan connections, is awarding them this ultimate recognition.

Now the Traverse City LLA ranks up there with Mary Free Bed Guild, Aretha Franklin, Helen Milliken, Jennifer Granholm, Sojourner Truth, Betty Ford, Judith Karandjeff, Rosa Parks, and other luminaries.

Using research developed for Beyond Books, GTA League members Anne Magoun and Ann Swaney submitted the nomination for the LLA. As one of the LLA founders said: “Our aim is not a selfish one. All the toil and endeavor of these years has not been for our own aggrandizement or pleasure, but to accomplish a good work for our community …” (Martha E. Cram Bates, Grand Traverse Herald, 12/12/1878).

They would have been good LWV members, right?

--from LWVMI League Links, November 23, 2023