Serving the people of Southeast Alaska
The recent election has raised the issue of transparency in government to a high priority. What is government transparency – and why does it matter? Transparency measures the amount of openness, accountability, and integrity of a government entity. Without transparency, corruption can easily, and usually will, flourish. “Governments exist to serve the people. Information on [...]
In the aftermath of the 2016 election, much talk has occurred on social media and elsewhere about the popular vote. The discussion has revolved around the fact that the losing candidate won the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes. How, people ask, can a candidate win that many more votes and still lose [...]
On Wednesday, December 14th, in the Baranof Gold room, Josephine Bahnke, Director, Division of Elections spoke on Alaska’s voting systems and processes. With help from Brian Jackson, Program Manager, they discussed the Division’s core mission: to “conduct fair, impartial and accurate elections…” This year’s election cycle set a record for the number of absentee and [...]
This post was contributed by LWVJ members, Pat Watt Public participation is the glue that holds democracy together. Democracy is not just about voting - getting registered, learning about what's on the ballot, and then turning out to cast your ballot. It's about paying attention to policy matters, issues decided by those we elected, issues [...]
This Post was contributed by LWVJ member Pat Watt The LWV Juneau Board has come up with different ways to engage potential members and educate members and the public. Over the past two years we have undertaken several new initiatives. Our second Downtown Lunch and Learn will be held on Wednesday, December 14th, from noon to 1:00pm [...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Marjorie Menzi. During January-March of 2016, five members of the Juneau LWV introduced 365 students in our school system, and their teachers, to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Alaska’s governmental system. The instructors all had previous teaching experience related to state government. The Program included: A tour of [...]
We have populated this Blog initially with articles written as "Points to Ponder" and published as "My Turns" in the Juneau Empire. We know that we have many members who are good writers and have useful things to say about "How to Make Democracy Work" - especially in this time of change. If you are [...]
Welcome to the new LWVJ website! We hope this expands accessibility to information about the LWV and makes it easier to find what you are looking for. We built this website to ensure that all members can keep up-to-date with LWVJ happenings, and to provide non-members with a full understanding of what the LWV is [...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member LaRae Jones. Various scholars and social scientists remind us that our middle class is eroding, along with our roads, our bridges, harbors, and – most alarmingly – schools. Some see the solution in renewed isolationism that reduces the huge budget drain of foreign wars and arms races. The more [...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Margo Waring. The Alaska Constitution requires that the State redraw the lines of legislative districts every ten years, using census data to ensure that each legislative district has the same number of residents as every other district. Each time that redistricting occurs, there is great concern that minorities could [...]
Three ideas are fundamental to the workings of a democracy: The open and unrestricted access to a secret ballot by all adults. A ballot secured by competent administration from accidental or purposeful disclosure of a voter’s ballot choices. The use of a paper balloting system that assures the auditing and accurate hand counting of voting [...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Ann Fuller. Let’s make democracy work by improving civics education in our schools and community. Our future well-being depends on people sensibly cooperating for effective action and engaging in open debate. Helping students learn to think critically, monitoring school programs, and including young people in practical democracy are important [...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Pat Watt. Our Assembly and School Board members are elected on a nonpartisan basis. Why is that – and does it matter? State statutes require Alaska’s local governments to adopt rules for conducting local elections - but allow them plenty of flexibility about how they conduct those elections. Juneau’s [...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Judy Andree. Freedom, patriotism, the Bill of Rights, the Founding Fathers — all rallying cries when talking about politics in the USA. But we don’t hear much talk about our responsibilities as citizens in a free society. Every freedom we enjoy comes with citizen responsibilities. Here are three points [...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Chris Niemi. While listening to the radio the day before our primary election, a KINY radio announcer said that picture ID was required to vote. Shocked, I called the radio station and was told that photo ID would “speed up the process”. The announcer misinformed the public at least [...]