Greetings everyone, this has been a busy year already and much to celebrate! Especially regarding the ERA front– After more than 40 years after it first took up this matter, the North Carolina General Assembly may consider finally ratifying The Equal Rights Amendment first passed by Congress in 1970. Full article here – https://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/30733-equal-rights-amendment-introduced-in-general-assembly. Our State League is also working hard on a Fair Districts initiative. See complete details at the end of this e-mail.
Bills to remove the time limit have been introduced in both houses of the United States Congress. Watch for any action coming out of the Biden-Harris administration for their support as well!
I am sure that vaccine distribution is top of everyone’s mind. So- Please make sure and scroll all the way to the bottom of this email as there are several COVID updates and information on the vaccine (see attached flyer)- Thank you Victor Heinrich! This is great information and there are many webinars to find out the latest updates on where we stand.
Upcoming Events
League Member Webinar -Thursday, February 18th at 12 noon- Marian Lewin- NC State Voter Services Chair- “Update on Voting Safety and Security in North Carolina”- See link below
Topic: League Member Meeting
Time: Feb 18, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 845 1162 1951
Passcode: 933333
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Meeting ID: 845 1162 1951
Passcode: 933333
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COVID- 19 Vaccine- Update from NC Division of Aging and Adult Services – series of Webinars- See attached
The NC Division of Aging and Adult Services is hosting a series of live webinars to share the presentation: COVID-19 Vaccines: Your Best Shot Against COVID-19. We aim to accommodate a variety of schedules and will therefore offer this presentation multiple times during four separate live webinars. The goals of the presentation are to provide you with important information about the current COVID-19 vaccines, equip you with the resources you need to better understand the vaccine roll-out process, and discuss where to go for more information.
Please see the attached flier for dates and additional details. This flier includes links to join the different sessions. You may attend any session that works for you. Please let us know if you have any questions.
We encourage you to participate in one of these webinars and hope you will share this invitation with others who may benefit.
LWV- Wake County- League – Webinar on COVID-19 Updates with Dr. Mandy Cohen -Thursday, Feb 25th 5:00-6:00 pm- link below
Timely Topics Webinar – COVID-19 Updates and the Status of Health in NC
- Thursday, February 25, 2021
- 5:00 PM 6:00 PM
- Speaker- Dr. Mandy Cohen, MD MPH, Secretary of NC DHHS
- REGISTER HERE (FREE)
| What to Expect During This Year’s Redistricting |
| Here in North Carolina, the new legislature has been sworn in and the session is underway. As most know, every 10 years following the decennial census, the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are reapportioned among the states depending on where people live. The 2020 Census has been completed; due to the pandemic and White House interference, the data has yet to be sent to the President and subsequently on to the states. That said, the N.C. General Assembly will receive the data this spring (which may include news that we have a 14th district), and new election district maps will be drawn. The majority Republican party will draw maps for U.S. House and both the N.C. Senate and N.C. House. Publicly, Senate President Pro Temp Phil Berger seemed to indicate that the process to be used by the GOP will be fair, maybe even transparent. Alas, history tells us those maps will likely be drawn by gerrymandering – packing and cracking voters into districts that will all but guarantee the outcome of almost all elections for the next decade. And that the Republican Party will remain in the majority. As has been said too many times, the opportunity for redistricting reform – such as a citizen-led committee – is once again 10 years distant. Gerrymandering has always been a massive affront to democracy. Both parties have been complicit in drawing maps that don’t favor voters and in refusing to reform a bad system. Fair Districts North Carolina is an initiative of the League. We are working hard to 1) lobby for the best possible maps this spring and 2) see legislation passed during the ensuing decade that – by constitutional amendment – will establish a bipartisan citizens’ committee to handle all future map-drawing responsibility. |