| An update for League friends and subscribers. | | | | Hear from Candidates for Office in Monroe County | The League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County is hosting two candidate forums. Join us at Tri-North Middle School, 1000 W. 17th Street, Bloomington.
Monday March 23, 6:00-8:00 pm: candidates for Indiana House of Representatives District 61,
Matt Pierce and Lilliana Young, and Monroe County Commissioner District 1, Trent Deckard
and David Henry.
Monday March 30, 6:00-8:00 pm: candidates for other county offices. Participation is being
confirmed.
We are working with the Leagues from Brown County and Southern Indiana on arranging a virtual (via Zoom) forum with candidates for US House of Representatives, District 9. - Ralf Shaw
| | Wrap-up Session for Legislative Updates Scheduled for March 7 | The 2026 legislative “short session” ended February 27. Our League and those for Johnson and Brown (also serving Bartholomew) counties invited legislators representing all four counties at the Statehouse to report on and discuss activities through the session at two LWV-BMC Legislative Updates.
On March 7, from 9:00-10:30 am, we will host a final wrap-up (note the early time to accommodate legislators’ schedules). You can register for this Zoom event and also see CATS recordings of the previous Updates at https://lwv-bmc.org/legis-updates. - Ralf Shaw | | Come to the League Gathering on March 10! | Be sure to come to the next League Gathering on Tuesday, March 10, 6:00-7:30 pm. You don't need to be a member to attend. If you're interested in the League and would like to know more about what we're doing, please come! For new members, this is a good chance to get to know other members and get caught up with League activities. There will be refreshments and lots of good conversation. We'll send out an email with program details next week.
The event is at St. Thomas Lutheran Church, 3800 E. Third St., Bloomington. Please bring a selection of canned goods for donation to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank and the Community Kitchen. Questions? Contact membership@lwv-bmc.org. - Nancy Riggert | | Women’s History Month Luncheon: Leading the Change | The Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women will host the 2026 Women’s History Month Luncheon on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at the Monroe Convention Center (302 S. College Ave. in Bloomington).
The National Women’s History Month theme is “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future.” It honors the women who have and are reimagining and rebuilding systems to ensure long-term sustainability — environmental, economic, educational, and societal. It recognizes the powerful leadership of women in creating a future that is rooted in opportunity for all.
Please join League members for the luncheon. Tickets may be purchased online at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater Box Office or in person at 114 E. Kirkwood Ave., for $45 each. - Ralf Shaw | | Step Up! You Can Help Monroe County Citizens Vote. | This will be a demanding and busy election year. The primary election is Tuesday, May 5; voters must register by Monday, April 6. Let us know if you can help.
Learn How to Register Voters
The League offers voter registration training on:
Saturday, Feb. 28, 4:00 at MCPL downtown
Tuesday, March 2, 5:00 at the Unitarian-Universalist Church
Sunday, March 8, 1:00 at MCPL downtown
Monday, March 9, 3:30, at Ellettsville MCPL
Please sign up in advance so we have handouts for everyone. | | | Help Senior Citizens with Absentee Voting Applications
Assist senior citizens filling out applications for Absentee Ballots by Mail or Travel Board (where representatives of the Election Board assist a voter to mark their ballot). Events are scheduled at Bell Trace on Monday, March 9 (1-3 pm) and Evergreen Village on Friday, March 13 (11-1:30), with more locations to come. Contact Monica Clemons (voterservice@lwv-bmc.org) if you can help.
Register People to Vote
We will have a table at the No Kings 3 rally on March 28. Please sign up if you can help. Other opportunities will be posted on the sign-up page as they are confirmed. - Monica Clemons and Ralf Shaw
| | Podcast: Loss of Science Funding...What Now? | | On February 18, Civic Conversations welcomed Thomas Kaufman, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology at Indiana University, to discuss the impact of the loss of science funding in the United States. In 2025, over 3,800 grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation were terminated or frozen by the Trump Administration. Indiana University and three other state universities lost approximately $24.5 million in federal research grants. According to Kaufman, the impact will be dramatic, saying, "Once expertise and personnel are lost, research programs are extremely difficult to restart" because those personnel move on. | | | For instance, at IU, Kaufman says, physics training grants supporting six graduate students were terminated, meaning those students would not receive the training they need for scientific progress, and that international science talent will be lost as researchers move to other countries like China. "These short-sighted policies will harm public health and U.S. competitiveness against countries like China," said Kaufman. - Becky Hill
| | Jan. 31 Legislative Update – Halfway through the Short Session | Our League and those for Johnson and Brown (also serving Bartholomew) counties invited legislators representing all four counties at the Statehouse to report on and discuss activities at the LWV Legislative Update on January 31. Representative Matt Pierce and Senator Shelli Yoder attended, with Christopher Emge, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy for the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, as moderator.
The legislators commented on bills of particular interest or concern that have passed their house of origin and moved to the other chamber. Two polls collected participants’ priorities among these bills.
Passed in the House and sent to the Senate - participants top two priorities:
HB 1343 Military police unit in national guard - 63%
HB 1002 Limit electric utility rates - 50%
HB 1004 Education reform that erodes teachers’ voices in schools - 47%
HB 1001 Override local zoning to make housing more affordable - 16%
Passed in the Senate and sent to the House - participants top three priorities:
SB 1 Human services (Medicaid) - 79%
SB 236 Abortion inducing drugs - 53%
SB 76 Immigration - 42%
SB 182 Gender issues - 39%
SB 285 Housing matters (homelessness) - 37%
SB 88 Education matters - 26%
SB 3 Bail - 18%
SB 7 Carbon sequestration - 8%
SB 288 Wireless communication devices (in schools) - 0
You can read about the progress of these and other bills at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills. You can see the recording of this and other Updates and register for the March 7 wrap-up at https://lwv-bmc.org/legis-updates. - Ralf Shaw | | Prospects for a Risk-Limiting Audit in Monroe County | A risk-limiting audit (RLA) is a post-election tabulation auditing procedure which can limit the risk that the reported outcome in an election contest is incorrect. It generally involves (1) storing voter-verified paper ballots securely until they can be checked, and (2) manually examining a statistical sample of the paper ballots until enough evidence is gathered to meet the risk limit (definition from Wikipedia).
Our League has been encouraging Monroe County to conduct an RLA as a means to provide additional assurance in the accuracy of our elections. The encouragement goes back at least to 2009, when LWV-BMC spearheaded the adoption of paper ballots. Member Jim Allison admits that he has been pushing this “forever.”
At its February meeting, the Election Board heard from VSTOP (Voting System Technical Oversight Program at Ball State) about RLAs. VSTOP has conducted these audits in 35 counties and will invite Monroe to participate this spring. There was a sense that the Board would accept the invitation. Slides from the presentation are online. - Ralf Shaw | |
Proofreader: Kristina Lindborg
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