Greetings from WEA Retired!
In November, I shared with you that WEA Retired had recently received an NEA grant for Retired members. The grant focuses on political action, specifically on Getting Out The Vote (GOTV) amongst educators and involves making school visits around the state and encouraging educators to vote.
To protect the future of public education, we must change some and keep some of the faces at the state Capitol in the next election cycle. To achieve this, we need educators like you and friends of education to become engaged in political action by supporting pro-public education candidates. The first step toward supporting public education at the Statehouse is to make sure you’re registered to vote. And, please encourage your colleagues and friends and family to vote! If you registering to vote in person at the polls, all you need is a driver’s license or other state-issued ID. If you think you may already be registered to vote but are not sure, call your local county clerk’s office to confirm and consider registering by filling out and mailing or delivering a notarized voter registration form to be eligible to receive an absentee ballot.
There four ways to register to vote in Wyoming:
1) Go to your county elections office and register. (Office locations are listed on the voter registration form)
2) Register just before voting at your county election office during the early voting period.
3) Register just before you vote at the polls on election day. Please be aware, if you choose to register to vote at the polls, there may be long registration lines. If you’re already registered to vote, you will go directly to your precinct table area.
4) Print and fill out this voter registration form (but don’t sign it yet). Take your form to a notary public at your local bank, a UPS store or your local public library may have a notary on staff. Mail your notarized application with a copy of your ID to your county clerk. Learn more about the process and relevant deadlines to register to vote from this flyer . Please consider downloading, printing, and sharing this information with your colleagues and social circle.
WEA Retired will be asking all educators, retired and active, to take part in legislative action during this legislative Budget Session, February 12th – March 8th The WEA Legislative Update is the best place to find out what is going on during the Session and learn what you can do to advocate for public education. You may sign up here for the Legislative Update. Wyoming education needs us all to contact our legislators on important education issues and bills. Your voice is critical to education’s success during this upcoming 2024 Budget Session.
WEA Retired offers active members an incredible resource for planning for your own healthy, financially-sound retirement: our WEA R virtual Pre-retirement Seminars. These informative and well-received planning seminars provide valuable information you will want to know whether your retirement is four months or fourteen years from now. It’s never too early to start planning. Please consider joining us Saturday, February 3, from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm for our next webinar. You can register to attend by emailing you name and contact information to jtrohkimoinen@wyoea.org. If the February 3 webinar doesn’t work for you, please consider marking your calendar to join us Saturday, April 20th for WEA R’s final Pre-Retired Seminar for this school year.
Thank you for your tireless work and dedication to Wyoming Students.
Vicki L. Swenson | WEA Retired President | vicki@wyoming.com
“The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create.” — Leonard I. Sweet
