The Alabama Voter 
Winter 2013 Edition
Published March 1, 2013
Read here online or download for printing or reading offline [available soon].

INDEX

A Byrd's Eye View: "Lots of Extra Time on Our Hands??"

Flaggin' the Train to Tuscaloosa… for LWVAL Convention 2013

The League of Women Voters of Alabama
and
The League of Women Voters of Greater Tuscaloosa
invite you to join us on the campus of the University of Alabama for...

LWVAL Convention
April 26 - 28, 2013
"FLAGGIN’ THE TRAIN TO TUSCALOOSA"
ALL ABOARD!
Here's what you need to know NOW!
( Read below and note deadlines!)

• OVERVIEW: "JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM."
• CALL FOR CHANGES TO LWVAL PROGRAM (by 3/14/13)
• CALL FOR CHANGES TO LWVAL BYLAWS (by 3/14/13)
• NOMINATION FOR OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS TO LWVAL BOARD (asap)
• ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO THE LWVAL CONVENTION
• TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Overview - "Just the facts, Ma'am."

CALL FOR CHANGES TO LWVAL PROGRAM

CALL FOR CHANGES TO LWVAL BYLAWS

NOMINATION FOR OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS TO LWVAL BOARD

ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO THE LWVAL CONVENTION

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

• 10:00-3:00 Social Media workshop—one or two members of each local league requested. Location: Paul W. Bryant Museum, the building immediately to the east of the Capstone Hotel.
• 3:30-5:00 Trip to view murals downtown in new federal courthouse (transportation provided)
• 5:30-7:00 Buffet Dinner hosted by LWVGT, University Lutheran Church (across Capstone Hotel parking lot)

• 8:30-10:00 Continental Breakfast and Registration, Capstone
• 10:00-Noon First Plenary Session, Capstone
• 12:30-2:00 Luncheon and Speaker/Discussion on Health Care in Alabama, Capstone
• 2:15-4:00 Panel Discussion on Energy Use in Alabama, Capstone
• 5:30-6:30 Wine and cheese, Temple Emmanuel (second building north of Capstone), Music provided by Jeanine Normand
• 6:30-8:30 Banquet, Keynote speaker, Temple Emmanuel

• 8:30-10:00 Breakfast Buffet
• 10:00-12:00 Second Plenary Session

“FLAGGIN’ THE TRAIN TO TUSCALOOSA”

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2013 Alabama Legislative Session: Follow and Take Action

by Jean Johnson

During the session, the League of Women Voters will keep citizens informed about the Alabama Legislature's activities regarding issues of importance to the League through the 2013 LWVAL Legislative Report at
http://www.lwval.org/takeaction/legreport2013/index.html
For each bill, the LWVAL Legislative Report includes bill sponsors, bill summary, complete bill text, current status of the legislation, LWVAL's position on the legislation, and LWVAL's action. See the 2013 LWVAL Legislative Priorities at:
http://www.lwval.org/takeaction/legpriorities2013/

These are the issues on which the LWVAL Action Team will be focused during the 2013 Regular Session and any subsequent special sessions.

Would you like to follow and take action on other legislation of importance to you? You can follow bills and take action at the most critical times by researching on the Alabama Legislative Information System Online (ALISON). This is an online information system developed so that the legislators can keep up with the hundreds of bills introduced each legislative session. It is open to the public. Explore ALISON at:
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLoginFire.asp

Read this brief but informative League guide to ALISON to help you understand and effectively use this important legislative resource:
http://www.lwval.org/ALISON_guide_for_citizens.html

The LWVAL invites you to follow issues throughout the legislative session by reading the LWVAL 2013 Legislative Report at:
http://www.lwval.org/takeaction/legreport2013/index.html
and act immediately when a League call to action is issued. Thank you!

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Reports from the Alabama Arise Conference, Feb. 8

"Payday loans and auto title loans are the most popular forms of predatory lending in Alabama, especially with regard to consumer small dollar loans. But these triple-digit interest loans haven’t always been around. Payday loans didn’t become really popular until the 1990s, when the idea spread across the nation. And although they operated in a legal gray area for over a decade, they didn’t formally become legally permissible until 2003, when the industry successfully pushed for an exemption to the Small Loan Act of 1959.

"Now, payday loans and auto title loans are a regular feature of most Alabama cities and roadways, with payday storefronts charging 456 percent APR and auto title loans representing a not-much-better 300 percent APR (and coming with a risk of the borrower losing his or her vehicle to repossession). And these loans represent big profits for lenders, despite over a dozen mentions in the Bible to prohibitions on usury. The lenders tend to cluster in low-income neighborhoods and prey on senior citizens, college students, and anyone desperate for quick money. The average borrower steps onto a near-permanent debt treadmill, taking out 8 or 9 loans per year and spending over 200 days of the calendar year in debt. Borrowers almost never have enough to pay off the full debt, but they frequently are able to pay a round of fees to buy just a bit more time. Although lenders profit from ensnaring borrowers in financial quicksand, the rest of the community suffers.

"Fortunately, policy makers have started to recognize the toll that these loans are placing on borrowers. In 2007, Congress capped interest rates at 36 percent for small dollar loans to active duty military service members, their spouses and their dependents. This interest rate mirrors the rallying cry of consumer advocates seeking reform across the country to eliminate usury. Seventeen states have capped interest rates on small dollar loans, including Arkansas, North Carolina and Georgia.

"This legislative session, Alabama lawmakers have an opportunity to bring small dollar loans in line with the financial mainstream. Bills have been introduced that would cap interest rates on auto title loans and payday loans, seeking to end the gouging of desperate borrowers while encouraging responsible lending practices that encourage asset development and savings. The struggle to pass legislative reforms will be difficult, especially with certain opposition from a well-funded and well-organized payday and title lending industry. But if people are diligent about demanding action from lawmakers in Montgomery, Alabama could soon join the growing group of states seeking to curtail the kinds of loans that strip wealth out of communities and out of the pockets of working families."

Vote 411 in 2012: Casting a Vote is Important, Casting an Informed Vote is Better

by Mary McGinnis

The election is behind us, and LWVAL can take comfort in the fact that they provided voters all over Alabama with a wealth of non-partisan information about candidates, explanations about constitutional amendments, voter registration tools, polling place locations and other helpful Election Day information. Headlining the effort was Vote411, a national League tool adopted by the Alabama State League that provided voters with on-line information about their voting options.

VOTE411 was a huge success! Nationally, over 2 million unique visitors visited VOTE411 in 2012, and over 570,000 of those visitors viewed the online voter guides. In Alabama, over 6,440 users from 123 cities around the state visited VOTE411!

The League can be proud that its mission to engage the electorate was carried out in an un-biased and professional manner this election season, and thanks to our volunteer efforts, Alabama voters went to the polls armed with more solid information on the constitutional amendments than ever before at their disposal.

In the past, finding unbiased and easily comprehendible information on constitutional amendments has been very challenging for voters. LWVAL developed explanations of 10 of the statewide amendments, describing what will happen if a given amendment passes or it fails the referendum.

We received many accolades for our efforts, reaffirming the public perception that the League is a trusted source of non-partisan candidate and ballot amendment information:

• “This was an exceptionally accessible and clear-eyed representation of the initiatives and the consequences of passage (as far as it goes). This is a remarkable resource for the citizens of Alabama and I am thankful I had the idea to log on. Keep up the necessary work of democracy! I feel so prepared for the polls tomorrow. Even for the poor localities at the mercy of state-wide judgment -- hey, let's work to change that.” [Peter Mannon]

• “I wanted to commend the League for its excellent analysis of the state constitutional amendments on the ballot in Alabama’s General Election. I seldom see an analysis of such depth and fairness regarding these amendments. Frankly, media outlets in Alabama should highlight your effort and suggest the site to voters. Along with PARCA at Samford University, you should get a royal pat on the back!! Thanks!” [Jess Brown - Professor, Government and Public Affairs - Athens State University]

• Othni Lathram, the new Director of the Alabama Law Institute, told Kathy Byrd that he carries a printout of our amendment document with him.

• “I have just read the League’s summary about the Sept 18th vote. It is excellent and I will tell others about the summary. Thank you (all who contributed to the writing of the summary). I am appreciative!” [Mary Elizabeth Perry – Mobile AL Community Volunteer – mother of David Perry, Chief of Staff to Governor Bentley]

• “I am proud to be part of an organization that is doing so much to provide voters with the information they need to participate in this election in an informed way.”

Op-Ed on the Shelby County v. Holder Case

by Kathryn Byrd, President LWVAL

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS’ BATTLE CRY: “WE DARE DEFEND OUR RIGHTS”

The League of Women Voters of Alabama prides itself in defending the rights of citizens in our state. The motto “We Dare Defend Our Rights” was placed around the Great State of Alabama and on our car tags. It certainly was heard across the state, the country, and even the world, when Gov. George Wallace stood in the “schoolhouse door” 50 years ago to block integration at the University of Alabama. Fortunately, significant progress has been made in guaranteeing rights for all. Unfortunately, in 2013 the voting rights of all Alabamians—indeed all Americans—are in jeopardy, and the League of Women Voters of Alabama is raising its battle cry loud and clear: WE DARE DEFEND OUR RIGHTS!

Why, in this supposedly post-civil rights era, do we need to resurrect this motto again? Dr. Kathryn Byrd, President of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, explained, “On February 27, 2013,the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case Shelby County, Alabama v Holder to decide the very constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and all its subsequent reauthorizations. If the Supreme Court decides against the VRA, particularly Section 5, the “teeth” giving strength for the enforcement of voting rights could be tossed out, and we could revert to some of the injustices of earlier days.”

Section 5, the famous “preclearance section,” was based on the pattern of certain states or parts of states having long-term records of voter suppression, including carefully manipulated district lines—at all levels of government-- designed to dilute the voting strength of certain targeted groups of citizens, while enhancing the power of other already more powerful, groups.

For example, powerful white voters in Tuskegee, Alabama, gerrymandered the boundaries of that city in order to remove all but a handful of the city’s black registered voters from the city’s rolls. Imagine—Tuskegee, the home of Tuskegee Institute’s George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington, and the famous black Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. In 1960, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Gomillion v. Lightfoot, ruled that Alabama had violated the 15th amendment by doing so. But because of this and similar actions against minorities, preclearance is required by the Justice Department under the VRA before legislative redistricting plans can be put in place in our state.

What does all this mean? Citizens of Alabama need to rise up and defend the rights of citizens to have a fair and equal vote! We should be moving forward, not going backwards, to remove any remaining obstacles in the path of realizing the goals set out in Amendments 14 and 15, guaranteeing equal protection of all citizens’ rights, including voting rights, under the law. Byrd noted that the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization that neither supports nor opposes political candidates or parties, whose mission is “the informed and active citizens participation of citizens in government.” Byrd concluded, “Voting rights are the key to achieving this goal.”

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LWVAL Board and Off-board

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