LWV-Wake Update 9/15/2025 |
Welcome back to your exclusive, bi-weekly newsletter of the League of Women Voters of Wake County. If someone forwarded this to you and you'd like to become a member, or are interested in learning more, just click here.
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Gaye Williams, President LWV-Wake County, shares a message with members reflecting on the 24th anniversary of horrific attack on September 11, 2001 and shares an update on current activities of the LWV-Wake County. Watch Gaye's message.
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Have you joined the League recently? Did you participate in League 101? Do you want to know how to get more involved? Maybe you joined us for our very successful ice cream social in the early summer.
Good news! The League’s membership team has devised a series of fall meet ups for you. We have dates in September, October, and November.
First up, join us at Ladyfingers Market and Eatery, 3710 Exchange Glenwood Place, Suite 104, Raleigh, 27612, September 17th from 4-6pm. Grab a drink and a snack and chat with other members. Liz Simon, co-chair of the Affordable Housing Committee and LWV-Wake Board member will be available to chat about the committee's work and what is involved in being a committee member.
Questions? Email Pauline Houlden at Pauline.houlden82@gmail.com
Click here to register. This will ensure you receive reminders. Not registered, no problem. Come anyway! |  |
Volunteers Needed!
Want to help out from home? This is an easy, low-key way to do something to support your League's efforts to get information to voters! All you need is an email and mobile phone!
We appreciate all the volunteers who have stepped up for our upcoming event. BUT- we still need a few more volunteers to contact candidates after we send invitations to participate in the online voter guide.
Volunteers are provided with a list of candidates to contact (primarily by text) and sample scripts are provided.
Contacts will be needed between Sept 17 - 19 (after invitations are sent), Oct. 1- 3 (after a reminder email goes out) and Oct 13 - 14 (after a 2nd reminder email is sent). Your list of people to contact should get shorter as candidates respond. Sometimes they just need a nudge!
Sign up is required. Please sign up on the Website.
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Join us for a warm and welcoming Open House at our new League of Women Voters of Wake County office! We’re excited to open our doors and show you around our updated space — a fresh start for continued impact.
Whether you’ve been with us for years or just joined, this is a perfect chance to connect with fellow members, meet our leadership team, and learn more about the work ahead. Light refreshments will be served, and there will be opportunities to get involved, ask questions, and celebrate our growing community. This is a drop-in event, so come for just a few minutes or the full time. While registration is not required, doing so will guide us in assuring we provide enough food. Please come and see where the future of the League begins - we can't wait to welcome you!
Thursday, October 23, 2025 5:00pm to 7:00pm
Light refreshments served.
Register on the LWV-Wake calendar
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Unite and Rise 8.5. How Can You Make Change?
LWV has launched Unite and Rise 8.5 so that we can fight for our democracy on multiple fronts, from the courts to the streets. You can read more on the LWV Unite and Rise website. Here are a few actions you can take today:
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The LWVNC Public Education Action Team has issued the North Carolina Community Resolves, marking the 250th anniversary of the historic 1775 Resolves. This modern call to action highlights the chronic underfunding of NC public education and urges immediate change.
Take Action:
Share with friends, community groups, and elected officials
Help raise awareness during this critical budget season
We encourage you to join us on Sept 24 to deliver the Resolves to the NCGA. Please let us know if you plan to attend by sending an email to communications@lwvnc.org.
We envision a North Carolina where every child in every community in every corner of our great state has what they need to learn. The North Carolina General Assembly can make this happen, starting with this biennial budget.
| RECOMMENDED EXTERNAL (Non-League) EVENT | |
Catawba College’s Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service and the Corriher-Linn-Black Library invite you to celebrate U.S. Constitution Day along with the 100th anniversary of the library’s participation in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). You can join by Zoom, Wednesday, September 17 at 7 PM (right after our LWV-Wake Meet & Chat).
The evening will be moderated by Dr. Michael Bitzer, director of Catawba's Center for N.C. Politics & Public Service. Speakers include North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and former N.C. Associate Justice Bob Orr, along with Catawba assistant professor of politics Dr. Allyson Yankle, who will discuss the importance of the governing document to our democracy and hear what North Carolinians think of the U.S. Constitution through an exclusive Catawba-YouGov poll.
|  | | As an all-volunteer organization, our work is largely achieved through Committees. Investing your time here is a great way to learn about the work of our League and meet other active League members. You can review our online calendar anytime for upcoming meetings and other events happening every month.
See Upcoming Meetings and register online. To learn more about LWV-Wake’s current committees or to email a chair/co-chair, go to our Our Work page.
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The Affordable Housing Committee is busy! In lieu of a regular meeting this month, we hope to see you at the upcoming LWV-Wake Meet & Chat Social - 9/17/2025 where you can learn more. Come join us!
In the meantime, there are several other non-League opportunities within the community to learn and have your voice heard on affordable housing issues:
- “Housing Policy Update" webinar hosted by North Carolina Housing Coalition (NCHC) on Tuesday September 16, 1:30, register for NCHC webinar. Speakers from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and NCHC will give an update on Federal and state housing budgets and discuss threats to funding and how existing policies impact housing.
- Read “NC Housing Finance Agency Announces 2025 Tax Credit Awards”: NCHFA released the list of developments across the state that will receive federal tax credits in order to create or preserve affordable housing across North Carolina. Read more here.
- The League of Women voters has long supported efforts to address the housing crisis that confronts families with low and extremely low incomes. Habitat for Humanity is one organization that provides such opportunities. Read about opportunities to take action through the Habitat organization.
|  | | The Civil Committee has a challenge for all of us.
Each year, approximately 700,000 to 1 million people become naturalized U.S. citizens.
As part of the process, applicants must pass a civics test covering U.S. history and government. Curious how you’d do? Try the practice test using the link below.
And, if you’d like to brush up on your knowledge, explore some of the Civics Resources on the LWV-Wake website, using the dropdown menu on the homepage: Home - Preparing for the Oath |  | |
On Tuesday, August 26th, the Environment Committee took a tour of the Yates Mill Aquatic Conservation Center led by Chris Eads, the center’s Assistant Director and Facility Manager, and by conservation aquaculturist Loretta Lutackas. The following is a report on that educational outing!
The center is funded by the NC Department of Transportation out of a settlement over the construction of I-540. The center, which opened two years ago, has three full-time staff, graduate-student researchers, and summer interns. Their research focuses primarily on freshwater-mussel rearing and health, genetic tagging, and toxicity testing. Mussels are excellent filter feeders and bioindicators, so they are crucially important to the health of our waterways. The center raises native endangered mussels and fish (72% of the state's freshwater mussels are imperiled, as are 39% of the state's freshwater fish), which NC Fish and Wildlife Conservation biologists use to repopulate local streams.
Our guides’ presentation was fascinating. The opening PowerPoint session ran over because we couldn't stop asking questions of the very knowledgeable Chris and Loretta. We learned, for example, that tiny mussel larvae hitchhike on the gills of fish until they are large enough to live independently. Adult mussels ready to distribute offspring produce several different types of fish lures. The standout in the presentation was a video of the Yellow Lamp mussel, which produces a lure which looks just like a small silver fish. When an actual fish tries to eat this lure, the fake fish explodes into a cloud of mussel larvae.
We then took a tour of the lab’s breeding tanks and exclaimed over the cute Carolina Madtom catfish and various mussel varieties. The tour ended with a visit to the microscope lab, where staff monitor how much algae mussels are eating.
The tour was attended by Environment Committee members Pat Butler, Elizabeth Fensin, Jackie Giordano, Kristen Howard, Holly Knox, Tess Lineback, Neill Mcleod, Bobbi Mullins, Marcee Silver, Gayle Stone, Eve Vitaglione, and Rosemarie Wilson, and by LWV-Wake President Gaye Williams. After the tour, we had a delicious lunch at Saffron Indian Cuisine in Cary served by our wonderful "grandson" waiter.
Funding for the center will end in 2032, so they welcome donations from people interested in the health of North Carolina's native aquatic wildlife. Yates Mill County Park, just down the road from the Howling Cow Creamery, is a great place to explore. For more information visit the center to learn more and to see a picture of the Yellow Lamp mussel.
For more information about the Environment Committee or to join in future events, contact co-chairs Jackie Giordano and Eve Vitaglione. |  |
Membership Renewals and Credit Cards
To renew your membership visit the Join page on our website and click "Join and Renew" to access the renewal portal on LWV.org. If you'd like to make an additional contribution to LWV-Wake, there is an opportunity to do so in the renewal process. Please note that your credit card will only be retained in the lwv.org system if you sign up for automatic renewals. Thank you for your support!
|  | N.C. State Board of Elections Registration Repair Project
The NCSBE has issued instructions for voters to check their registrations and has begun a process to provide any missing information. Please look on the list and encourage family and friends to check for their names as well. It is essential that if your name is on the list, you follow the instructions carefully to ensure your voter registration is up to date.
Please share this information in your networks and help us spread the word that voters may need to check their voter registration for accuracy.
The LWVNC would like to know if League members are on the list. If you find your name, please reach out to communications@lwvnc.org to let us know and we'll share the information with the LWVNC Board.
Your vote is your power, so if your name is on the list, please take steps to ensure your information is up to date. Click HERE.
All voters are encouraged to check your voter registration online at VOTE411.org. Anyone in NC with an "inactive" registration status should call their Board of Elections office to resolve the inactive status. | IMPORTANT REMINDER: Please do not mail anything to our old office address.
We have officially moved and we do not want to miss any mail from our members.
Our new address:
LWV of Wake County
1001 Wade Avenue Suite 025
Raleigh, NC USA 27605
|  | Media placements help us get our voice heard. And being heard helps us make an impact. You can keep up with LWVUS press coverage at the League of Women's Voters Newsroom.
September 11, 2025: League of Women Voters Issue Statement on Threats Against HBCUs and Campus Violence Congress must act to pass meaningful gun safety reform.
September 8, 2025: In a new interview with NC Newsline, LWVNC President Jennifer Rubin speaks out against proposed policy changes—such as eliminating Sunday voting or name-change hurdles that trap voters in an endless loop of provisional ballots—that would put up more barriers to voting.
"Voting should be a nonpartisan exercise," says Rubin. The LWVNC sees these proposed changes as designed to intimidate and frustrate voters, and will continue to fight for elections that are fair, accessible, and free from partisanship.
Hear the full interview HERE:
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September 11, 2001 - The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history occurred as four large passenger jets were hijacked then crashed, killing nearly 3,000 persons. American Airlines Flight 11 carrying 92 people and United Airlines Flight 175 carrying 65 people were piloted into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NYC. The impact and subsequent fire resulted in the death of 2,752 persons including hundreds of rescue workers and people employed in the twin towers. In addition, United Airlines Flight 93 and American Airlines Flight 77 were hijacked. Flight 77 with 64 people on board was piloted into the Pentagon building, killing everyone on board and 125 military personnel inside the building. Flight 93 with 44 people on board crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to overpower the terrorists on board.
September 17, 1787 - At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, delegates from twelve states voted unanimously to approve the proposed U.S. Constitution.
September 22, 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in territories held by Confederates as of January 1, 1863.
September 25, 1690 - The first American newspaper was published. A single edition of Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick appeared in Boston, Massachusetts. However, British authorities considered the newspaper offensive and ordered its immediate suppression.
September 25, 1789 - The first U.S. Congress proposed 12 Amendments to the Constitution, ten of which, comprising the Bill of Rights, were ratified.
|  |  | The League of Women Voters of Wake County is a designated 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization by the IRS. Donations and membership dues are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. | |