September 2010 Meeting Minutes

League of Women Voters, Hong Kong Unit
Welcome Back Coffee and Meeting
Residence of the Consul General; 3 Barker Road, Hong Kong
September 14th 2010 10AM

Attendees:
Amy Vonk, Fiona Ekkebus, Sandra Collins de Lange, Marti Law, Johnna Kosnoff,, Lisa Pittman, Vanessa Butterfield, Mary Conlon, Michelle Gustin, Kathleen Carlson, Keri Pennabaker, Fabienne Bertrand, Fran Ballard, Tamera Pacton, Beth Hall, Loretta Cox, Wendy Maize, Robin Brown, Rosann Kao, Sharon Vipond, and 9 HKIS students.
Beth Hall opened the meeting with a short introduction of Stephan Young, Consul General of the Untied States in Hong Kong.
Consul General Young gave a short talk outlining his experiences and describing his duties in Hong Kong. He emphasized his love of promoting and encouraging democracy. At the conclusion of his talk, a question and answer period ensued.
At the conclusion of Mr. Young’s talk, Beth Hall began the meeting by welcoming all attendees, and encouraged membership and participation. Beth gave a short history of the LWV in Hong Kong, and introduced the League of Women Voters Board. Beth also gave special recognition to the nine HKIS students, and their counselor, Ms. Kao.
Beth introduced Lisa Pittman as our resource for all voting information. Lisa described the MOVE act and described the voting process for citizens abroad. She reminded us that the Consul General’s office has Federal write-in ballots, and that most states provide electronic ballots with receipt of those ballots to be 45 days before the election. A voter must register each year to receive a ballot.
Beth made two announcements about upcoming events. The first was a lecture about Pakistani women living in Hong Kong, and the other was the partnership between the AWA and the LWV in promoting the Education and Scholarship drive for 2010-2011.
LWV Photo albums were available for browsing.
Loretta Cox asked for program ideas and/or partnerships.
Rosann Kao asked for more partnership opportunities with the LWV with her HKIS students.
Beth Hall closed the meeting with the announcement that the next meeting will be October 12th.