About LWV of Troy
There are two Leagues which together cover all of Oakland County: Oakland Area LWV and Troy Area LWV. We are friendly to each other and support each other in our endeavors. When most of the Leagues in Oakland County decided to merge into one League (because of dwindling membership), Troy, as the largest community in Oakland County, decided to remain autonomous and concentrate on our local issues. The Oakland Area league does a better job covering the county, state and national issues which our smaller league does not usually cover directly but supports OA. LWV Troy and LWV OA complement each other.
We are a relatively small but active league. Most of our meetings are ad hoc to address a particular local issue. We just completed the “They Represent You” brochure update after the November election. In 2024 we arranged and moderated candidate forums filmed for the county commissioners (District 1,2 and 3) and State house members (District 56 and 57) and the Troy school board as well as a special election for a city council member. We invited all of the candidates to enter information into www.VOTE411.org and printed or contributed to LWVOA guides and distributed LWVOA, LWVMI and local paper voter guides. We maintain this website (www.lwvtroyarea.org) advertise the forums in the local papers, participate in the new citizens' swearing in ceremony at Troy Daze and the Troy Historic Village open house.
History of the League of Women Voters of Troy Area
In the early 70s, the city of Troy was starting to grow dramatically and several of the women who moved into town were thinking about establishing a local league of women voters. Sarah Torrace, with much League experience, became our provisional president. The first organizational meeting was March 1st 1972. Our present member Andrea Arends has a notation in her calendar that the first board meeting was held on October 23, 1972.
The LWV TA was chartered in 1974. Joanne Hubbard was the first president. Several years later, Joanne went on to be the first woman elected to Troy City Council. Another early member, Sue Watson, became the first woman on the Troy School Board. In the late 70’s the Troy League enjoyed a large membership. We hosted the LWV Michigan convention at the Renaissance Center. During this time most of the female elected officials and members of boards were members of the league.
In the late 80’s, changing times greatly reduced the time women had available to join the League. To maintain a strong local league all the other leagues in Oakland County merged and formed the Oakland Area league (www.LWVOA.gov) in 1991. The Troy League, after much discussion, decided to remain independent. The members felt that Troy had enough members and enough local issues, that the Troy leaguers would be more effective concentrating on local issue and work with the LWVOA on the larger issues. In these years Troy has seen a city manager go to prison, a mayor recalled, school board disputes and a referendum to close the library among other issues.
The last few years have seen a demise of many non-partisan groups in the city, to the point where one local paper commented “the league is the only nonpartisan game in town”.
The Oakland Area League covers a much larger area and a much wider set of issues. In their 30+ years as a countywide League, they have served 60 communities and 27 school districts in the County. In the 2018 election, they distributed 20,000 Voter Guides (to which Troy contributed the Troy school board candidate information and purchased and distributed copies) and held 19 candidates' forums in various districts.
LWVOA marched in local parades dressed as suffragettes. They studied many subjects such as sex education in public schools, local library funding, local and county forms of government, child labor, housing and the U.N. They meet monthly and issue a monthly bulletin to share information with their and our members in terms of lectures, and upcoming events and projects.
