The State League will have a Voter Service Workshop from 10 to noon, Tuesday, March 16, at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia to begin the state coordination of Voters' Guides. Each League should have at least one or two people in attendance.

LWVMD's Policies, Procedures and Guidelines, specifies some of the things to be covered at this workshop, which include

• a calendar of election deadlines and dates;
• a list of LL responsibilities - including lead coverage of shared Congressional and legislative districts,
• a timeline for completion of tasks for the Voters’ Guide,
• an overview of the election process,
• suggested and mandatory explanatory VG materials,
• the format for candidates' biography and responses,
• and procedures for determining questions for the statewide and federal offices.

Please contact lwvmd@verizon.net with the names and contact information of the people from your League who will be attending the workshop.

Barbara Sanders
LWVMD Voter Service Chair

From the MD Census website

"There is an important civic and constitutionally mandated event that will shape our future over the course of the next decade and we need your help. The 2010 Census is coming and we must ensure that every Marylander in every neighborhood, community, village, town, city and county in our State is counted on Census Day: April 1, 2010.

"By answering the Census, services and programs such as job training, education, health care and improvements to our infrastructure will be there for Maryland families and communities for years to come. An accurate Census is extremely important. An undercount of as little as 1.7% or 100,000 of our state’s 5.8 million residents translates to a loss of $1 billion dollars in federal revenue over the next ten years.

"To ensure an accurate count, we are working closely with the U.S. Census Bureau, your local government, community organizations and people like you. The success of the Census: it’s in our hands, Maryland!"

It has come to our attention that funding for Local Management Boards is in jeopardy in this year’s budget.  The 24 Local Management Boards distribute funds to local providers for services for children including prevention and early intervention services.  They have been proven to be a successful means to provide coordination and collaboration in service provision and as a result have been a cost effective means to distribute funding.  If you are a constituent of one or more members the committees listed below, please contact them, as an individual, and let them know that are a supporter of Local Management Boards and do not want to see funding for them reduced.

The Maryland 2010 Census website provides access to Outreach Committees at state and local levels at:

www.census.state.md.us/S3_Partners.shtml.

Check it out and join in the local efforts to make sure all Marylanders are counted!

Openness in Government

• Voter Education
• Civil Liberties
• Campaign Finance Reform, including Public funding
• Work Force and Affordable Housing
• Fair Campaigns and Elections
• Redistricting