#AsktheCandidate – Milwaukee’s Interactive Candidate Forum

#AsktheCandidate is an opportunity for Milwaukee’s voters to jump into the local election conversation through technology and social media. The event will be hosted by the Wisconsin League of Young Voters Education Fund in conjunction with Urban Underground, League of Women Voters, African World Enterprise, Urban League Guild, Apprentice Organizers Project, Citizen Action, the Reproductive Collective, Disability Rights Wisconsin, Community Planning Council, MICAH, Pathfinders and Wisconsin 9to5.

#AsktheCandidate will take place at the Bradley Center’s 4th Street Atrium from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. this Wednesday, March 21st. The goal of this FREE event will be to provide participants with a platform to become an active stakeholder in local government through an exciting and interactive conversation with local candidates.

The event will be streamed live from the Bradley Center via the League of Young Voters Education Fund’s Ustream channel, YoungVoterLive.com. There will be a reception with complimentary appetizers and cash bar from 5PM to 6PM.

Are you going to stand up for the issues in your community?

Posted by:

Jayme Montgomery

Voter ID law Attacks Democracy

By Judith Browne Dianis (co-director of Advancement Project) and Jayme Montgomery (Wisconsin director of the League of Young Voters)

Originally published in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

A year from now, the people of Wisconsin will be going to the polls to exercise one of the most cherished rights of our democracy: the right to vote. It is the fundamental pillar of our democracy that in the voting booth we are all equal – black or white, young or old, rich or poor. When we cast our ballot, we all raise an equal voice to determine the shape of our government.

Wisconsin legislators would deny that right. Strict new voter identification laws were proposed in 34 states, including our own. Wisconsin’s new voter identification restrictions, which passed the Legislature this year, are now the strictest in the country.

Text ID to 69866 if you need assistance getting an ID to vote.

… Continue Reading

Posted by:

Jayme Montgomery

Voter ID Bill Accuses WI Voters of Cheating

Last week the Wisconsin state legislature introduced a Voter ID bill that would basically require voters to show their ID before they can cast their ballot. Enacting such a law would help to cut back on illegal voting.

My Mama once told me, “If a man accuses you of cheating (and you know you are not cheating, nor conducting yourself in a way that might give off that impression) then 9 times out of 10 he is probably the one doing the cheating.”

You might be asking yourself right now, what does my Mama’s idioms have to do with the voter ID bill?

Supports of the voter ID bill, say this bill is needed to help stop voter fraud. However, when you look at the cases of voter fraud from the 2008 Presidential election there were only 8 cases found out of 8 million votes caste statewide. Of those votes, 5 were felons, which this bill would not catch. So now we are talking about 3 illegal votes out of 8 million. But Wisconsin has a problem with voting fraud, huh???

… Continue Reading

Posted by:

Jayme Montgomery

2010 Put The Guns Down Festival Wrap Up

The 6th annual Put The Guns Down Festival was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who showed up, volunteered and partied with us! See you next year!

Posted by:

Jayme Montgomery

CAV’s Ms. Marna fights to make Wisconsin streets more safe!

Marna Winbush, aka Ms. Marna, is an elder in the Milwaukee community and she is a leader in the Campaign Against Violence (WI-Affiliate of LYVEF). When Ms. Marna isn’t teaching CAV leaders how to garden or mentoring young people, she leads a group called Mothers Against Gun Violence (MAGV). The group is made up primarily of women who have lost their children to homicide.

Over the years, Ms. Marna and her brave band of mothers have worked tirelessly for the Responsible Gun Ownership Bill, an effort to restrict person to person guns sales by requiring background checks on all guns sold in the state of WI. While the opposition is well funded, MAGV refuses to give up.

This week, there were a series of hearings in Madison about the bill. Ms. Marna was in attendance along with other community groups including Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort and Urban Underground .

Watch the video and check out Ms. Marna’s testimony. All we can say is she is one powerful “mama.”

Posted by:

Jayme Montgomery