President's Corner

At the close of a busy election season, I'd like to thank everyone in the League who helped with voter registration, the October 30th candidate forum and working long hours at the polls on Election Day. Although our voter registration numbers were down by half from 2008, the League had a strong presence in the community and on campus this fall. There were many groups doing advanced registration and it's possible that many voters registered during the June recall election. Voter enthusiasm also seemed lower to those of us on the front lines. We will evaluate the drive and reconsider venues and scheduled times before doing it again. This year we can celebrate having posted our first Voters Guide for the District 43 State Assembly race, which might account for the tremendous uptick in hits - 3,146 - on our website in October. And, the Wynn/Jorgensen candidate forum attracted 150 people, our largest attendance ever at a forum thanks to our co-sponsorship of the event with Whitewater Student Government. The League thanks Jan Bilgen for her excellent work as forum moderator. This time of year also brings news of the winner of our annual Making Democracy Work award. I'm delighted to announce that Michele Smith, Whitewater City Clerk, was chosen as this year's recipient. Please join us on December 9th in honoring Michele for her years of fair and efficient administration of elections in our community. ~ Ellen Penwell, President