A Conversation with the Erie County Sheriff

• Date: April 26, 2023
• Time: 6:00 p.m. (Check in begins at 5:30)
• Place: Frank E Merriweather, Jr Library: 1324 Jefferson Ave, Buffalo
• Note: The parking lot is small, but additional parking is available in the Tops market parking lot.

Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia will speak on topics pertaining to his office including diversity and other hiring considerations at the Sheriff's Department, the department's annual report, questions about use of force and progress on creating a Crisis Services Responses Team and other safeguards.

The event, organized by the League of Women Voters Buffalo-Niagara, is free. However, registration is required due to space limitations.

Audience members will have the opportunity to submit written questions for Sheriff Garcia.

Register now

LWV of New York State 60th Biennial Convention

Image Credit: LWVNYS, 2023

• Date: June 2-4, 2023
• Place: Crowne Plaza Albany – Desmond Hotel

Returning to an in-person format, the biennial convention is you ropportunity to propose amendments to the League’s bylaws (if any), partake in workshops, present your ideas for new positions or studies, but mainly to network with fellow Leaguers from across the state.

Official business begins on Saturday, but valuable pre-Convention activities begin on Friday. The registration kit and registration page are online.

All members are invited: Each local League is entitled to a specific number of voting delegates based on its membership numbers, but all members are encourage to attend as visitors or observers.

Call to the LWVBN Annual Meeting

• Date: June 10, 2023

The most important League meeting of the year: at the annual meeting, we will vote in new board members, approve our LWVBN budget for 2023-2024, and present League awards including the Making Democracy Work award: you can nominate an individual who is spearheading positive change in our region for the Making Democracy Work award -- submissions are due by March 31, 2023.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Survey

LWVNYS invites all members to take this online DEI survey by April 1 to consider and ensure we're upholding DEI in policy, practice and behavior wihtin our local League.

Your feedback is vital to our state and local Leagues. Thank you for helping us support the advancement of DEI: please respond by April 1.

LWVNYS invites all members to take the survey. The DEI Committee is looking for more committee members: if you're interested in joining, please email us!

Awards Season is Upon us!

Nominations are open for two of our League awards to presented at our annual meeting on June 10.

The five essential characteristics for The Joan K. Bozer Leadership Award are ethical, innovative, resourceful, respected and steadfast. 

The LWVBN LEE Award is given to a League member who has made a Long-Term Commitment to the League with Energy and Excellence! We honor Lenore Tetkowski, Leonore Lambert and Lenore Banks. In your submission, include the number of years the nominee has served in the League and give examples of her/his Energy and Excellence in League activity.

To volunteer to become a member of the committee to select this year’s LWVBN award recipients, email Terri Parks via the office at lwvbn@lwvbn.org.

The Making Democracy Work is awarded to a person from Erie or Niagara Counties who contributed to the community in a meaningful way to make democracy work. The nomination form is online; it was also emailed with the March Voter.

The deadline to submit nominations for the Joan K Bozer Leadership Award, The League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara LEE Aeard and Making Democracy Work award is March 31, 2023.

We thank all of our members! We can’t wait to see all the amazing people nominated. 

2023 Local Elections

Photo Credit: American Federation of Musicians, 1947

The Erie County Executive, all Erie County and Niagara County Legislators, all Buffalo Common Council members, the Mayor in Niagara Falls and many other local positions are on the ballot this year. See the complete list of Offices to be Elected in Erie County (Excel format) and the Offices to be Elected in Niagara County (PDF format).

Primary Elections

• Early Voting: June 17-25, 2023
• Election Day: June 27, 2023
• Last day to register to vote or to change your address: June 17, 2023
• Polls open: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Erie County and 12 noon to 9 p.m. in Niagara County

General Election

• Early Voting: October 28-November 5, 2023
• Election Day: November 7, 2023
• Last day to register to vote or to change your address: October 28, 2023
• Polls open: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Illustration adapted from William P. Gottlieb's American Federation of Musicians, ca. Jan. 1947, Public Domain image via the Library of Congress.