By Kathy Gill, LWV of Snohomish County

One of America’s most widely read historians, Heather Cox Richardson, will join the League of Women Voters of Washington live, on Zoom, to discuss her book, “How the South Won the Civil War.”

The July 29 discussion will be the inaugural event of the state League’s civic book club series marking America250, the commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Professor of history at Boston College, Richardson is an expert in 19^th-century America. Her nightly newsletter, Letters from an American, reaches more than 6 million readers. Her articles and reviews have been published in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and The Guardian.  

You might wonder what the Civil War has to do with today's politics and the nation’s history. Historian Richardson has spent her career answering that question. Members will have the opportunity to submit their own questions to her in advance to help shape the July 29 discussion. (Non-members may be able to watch via a YouTube stream. Stay tuned.)

Future books in the series will spotlight indigenous history and contributions in the Northwest, plus the story of a trailblazing Washington woman leader. League members are being asked to send more recommendations for good reads.

Meanwhile, local Leagues are encouraged to host their own traditional book club discussions—to dig deeper locally, connect with fellow members, and bring the conversation home. We will provide discussion guides to get things started.

[photo caption]

Reported by Cathy Dormaier, LWV Seattle King County, SE King County/Enumclaw Unit Leader

Members of the Southeast King County/Enumclaw Unit heard about the local news crisis from up close when they met with editor of the Enumclaw Courier Herald in mid-February.

“It was very enlightening to get a newspaper editor’s firsthand knowledge about this phenomenon that we are seeing today across our country,” said Cathy Dormaier, Unit Leader.

Ray Still, who has edited the Courier Herald for 15 years, told League members gathered for the lunch meeting that his staff numbered 18 in 2010. Today that count is down to a single employee. 

Still juggles duties as the Courier Herald’s only reporter, writer, editor, website manager and intern mentor. He said the outlet is expected to keep the paper going this summer but will close the downtown office where he works.

As a starting point for their conversation, League members turned to LWVWA’s 2022 study “The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy.”

The Courier Herald was one of more than two dozen Sound Publishing publications acquired by Alabama-based Carpenter Media. Staff layoffs have been common at Carpenter Media outlets. For another example, Everett’s once-robust Daily Herald has seen at least half of its newsroom positions eliminated.

Still said he welcomed work in the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions by Sen. Marko Liias, who sponsored SB 5400, The measure, which did not get out of committee this year, would have generated $26 million a year from a nominal tax surcharge on social media outlets and search engines, including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Tik Tok. Proceeds would have been distributed as grants to outlets, based on the number of journalists they employ.

Liias and other stakeholders are reviewing their next legislative steps.

“We are all wondering what the future will hold for our small but mighty local Enumclaw Courier Herald paper and its one paid, multi-faceted employee,” Dormaier said.

The editor closed his presentation by mentioning his dream, which is to see the Enumclaw paper become a non-profit funded by local organizations and individuals.

He suggested the name “Friends of the Courier Herald” for a group that might be able to donate enough funds to keep the outlet operating.

What’s a very popular read that you won’t find on the New York Times Best Seller list?

The U.S. Constitution, according to members of the LWVSKC North King County League.

Impressed by the document’s popularity at a gathering at Shoreline in late January, League members are sponsoring a public reading of the U.S. Constitution on Sunday, May 3, in the Lake Forest Park Town Center.

League Unit coordinator Phillippa Kassover said she and fellow volunteers were pleasantly surprised by how many event-goers scooped up the pocket-sized constitutions they were handing out at their table at the Activists Assembly at Shorewood High School.

“We heard comments from those who stopped by that it was literally decades since they had read it in school,” Kassover said. “People said they wanted to remind themselves of the document that forms the bedrock of our society and legal system – especially now when it is so much in the news.”

She added, “We quickly ran out of all of our copies.”

Joined by fellow League member Jenny Muilenberg, senior director of the Health Sciences Library at the University of Washington, and her husband, Matt Muilenberg, a Lake Forest Park city council member, Kassover and others have secured a number of participants for the public reading, including Mayor Tom French and other local elected officials.

“We are reaching out to local schools, scout troops, the Rotary Club and all our communities in North King County,” said Kassover. 

“Everyone is welcome to join us and if you would like to be a reader, please sign up at www.LFPreads.com.”

LWVWA President Karen Crowley's fiery words receive applause from Washington State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, and Washington State Senator Marco Liias.

From Bellingham to Spokane, from the San Juan Islands to Yakima, League of Women Voter members across Washington State showed up at No Kings rallies on March 28 to defend democracy. Proudly wearing League T-shirts and displaying banners, members shared voter and civic education information, marched and chanted. League spirit was on display at small-town street corner gatherings and the massive 90,000-person rally in Seattle.

In Everett, several thousand people packed the Snohomish County Campus to hear a lineup of national, state and local speakers, including U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene and LWVWA President Karen Crowley.

As the nation looks to mark the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this summer, League members across the state are planning a variety of events and activities.

Helping to guide the planning is the Washington’s 250 Committee, chaired by Lt. Gov. Heck. The committee calls for June 14 Days of Service, special activities on July 4 and Days of Civic Engagement on Sept. 17.   

Partnering with a local library, the Kitsap County League is working on a First Amendment panel discussion, likely to be between Sept. 17-19. Local President Ursula Volwiler said the event will feature panelists whose experiences are directly impacted by the First Amendment, such as a journalist, a legal professional, a member of the clergy, an educator and an activist.

“We want to use storytelling and personal narratives to help people understand the importance of the First Amendment, what it means, and what ways it is under threat right now,” Volwiler said.

Skagit County League plans to participate in a birthday bash on June 16 at a recovery café along with other area nonprofits that support the community, local League President Jane Vilders said. In mid-July the Skagit League will host another birthday celebration planned at the Anacortes Family Center with games, art activities and cake. Finally, in September, Skagit members are making plans for a trivia night at a Mount Vernon restaurant where at least one round of civics questions will be on tap.

Other League plans are still in the brainstorming stage.

In Mason County, local League leader Peggy Morell said she is looking forward to an activity on the Day of Civic Engagement. She noted the local’s civic engagement storytelling project with the Office of the Secretary of State is a nod to the 250th anniversary. (See the story about that  project in this edition of the Evergreen Voter.)

In Spokane County, Lunell Haught said League members plan to produce an information card for distribution to libraries and schools and at tabling events. It will feature a timeline showing when voting rights were extended to different groups of people. The flip side will include references to lesser-known facts, including how some ideas promoted by Revolutionaries about creating a democratic republic originated from Native Americans, and perspectives Abigail Adams shared with her husband about the role of men and women in the new government.

The Spokane League will also collaborate with news outlets to raise awareness about the League mission of empowering voters and defending democracy. 

Haught noted the options for commemorating the anniversary present a challenge and an opportunity. “There isn’t a ‘rule’ about what we can do to mark the occasion and the structure is flexible enough to allow for creativity.”

Michael Bowman, left, with the Office of the Secretary of State, and Peggy Jewell, of the Mason County League of Women Voters, discuss the civic storytelling project.

By Dee Anne Finken, Communications Portfolio Director, LWV of Washington

Carolyn Maddux knows a thing or two about storytelling. After all, with 25 years as a reporter and an editor at the Shelton-Mason County Journal under her belt, Maddux estimates she’s written 12,000 stories in her lifetime.

So, it makes sense Maddux is involved in the Mason County League’s Civic Storytelling Project, an effort the local League has undertaken with the Office of the Secretary of State to boost civic engagement through first-person narrative stories.

“It puts a face, it puts a voice, a human response to all the events of the local world that play into where we go in our future,” Maddux said. The project launched in September with a $2,000 grant from the LWVWA Education Fund. The grant covers the cost of recording equipment, digital tools and transcription services.

“That’s where we’re really going with this,” said Maddux, who has worked with Peggy Morell, Peggy Jewell and a handful of other Mason County League members.

Morell, a transplant to Mason County from Portland, Oregon, leads the project. Under her guidance, volunteers help produce and then collect 15-minute oral histories aimed at finding out what motivates people to become more engaged in their communities. The first participants have been League members, followed by other area residents.

The first participants were encouraged to discuss what drew them to the League with this prompt: Describe the political or personal journey that led you to join the League of Women Voters.

Maddux uses other prompts to prod memories: Who in your community has inspired you? When do you feel most patriotic? Describe a time when you felt politically powerful.

The volunteers are assisted by Michael Bowman, the rural civic engagement specialist at the Office of the Secretary of State. They connected with him last year at his Civics 101 workshop at the Olympic Public Library.

“We often have experienced a particular kind of civic engagement in our schools, but that’s abstract and distant,” Bowman said. As a result, “as adults we might not identify ourselves as being civically engaged.”

Getting people to slow down and reflect on ways they have engaged or seen others in their community be civically engaged can prompt even more interaction and connection.

One obstacle in getting people to tell their stories is their frequent misconception that they don’t have stories to tell. Maddux’s experience as a writing teacher and reporter comes in handy as she helps people think through what they’re going to say.

While Mason County is the only League Bowman has worked with on a special project, he has engaged with League members who have visited a civic story-telling booth elsewhere. In Everett, he interviewed Brenda Mann Harrison, a former journalist who serves on the state League’s local news committee. As she talked about her passionate interest in journalism—a vital catalyst of civic engagement—she recalled a conversation with a hospital nurse.

“She described how, when people were in the waiting room or waiting with their loved ones in a hospital room, that if they pulled out the newspaper and started reading … for a moment, it brought a sense of normalcy to them because it kept them connected to the outside world, to their community,” said Mann Harrison in the recording. “And I thought, ‘Wow.’”

Later this year, recordings from the Mason County League storytelling project will be accessible to anyone through the Washington State Digital Archives. For example, the recordings might be helpful to students or others researching Mason County local history, said Bowman.

Morell added, “We want to make civic storytelling a permanent part of the League’s work and preserve these stories in our archives.”

A League of Women Voters of Washington position that calls on elected officials to condemn xenophobia, discrimination and anti-immigrant rhetoric is a step closer to becoming a national policy of the nonprofit, nonpartisan League of Women Voters of the United States.

If adopted in June by the national organization, the position also would empower members in more than 800 state and local Leagues to advocate for legislation and establish programs to ensure immigrants—regardless of immigration status or citizenship—have access to essential state-funded services, legal representation, the opportunity to live and work in safety, and to be treated with dignity.

In recent weeks, against a backdrop of an increasing number of assaults by the federal government on immigrants and U.S. citizens supporting immigrants’ rights, the LWVWA has learned that dozens of state and local Leagues support its policy.

“Los Angeles and New York City notified us of their intent to vote for concurrence, along with many local Leagues throughout their states,” said Susan Martin, co-author of the study “Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State” and former Executive Director of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform.

Concurrence is the process used by the League to adopt a position based on the research, consensus, or study materials produced by another League or committee.

Martin, professor emerita of International Migration at Georgetown University, said support from Los Angeles and New York is particularly welcome because both cities are expected to send large delegations to the convention, to be held June 25-28 in Columbus, Ohio.

Delegates to the June convention, where the voting will take place, are not bound by the decisions of their state or local Leagues, but individual delegates tend to vote in alignment with their affiliations.

So far, eight state Leagues also have notified the LWVWA that they support the position, including Illinois and Minnesota, both recent targets of increased federal crackdowns on immigrants. The others include two border-hugging states, Arizona and New Mexico, along with Delaware, Utah and West Virginia.

The Washington state League adopted its position in June 2025 after the two-year “Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State” study led by Martin and Lydia Zepeda.

Martin and Zepeda, along with fellow immigrants study committee members Janet Lenart and Shelley Kneip, invested many hours explaining how concurrence would empower Leagues nationwide to advocate for the protection of the rights of immigrants.

“We continue to reach out to state and local Leagues to urge their support,” Zepeda said. “We continue, too, to hone our arguments to address the skeptics and to respond to questions asked by supporters.”

One out-of-state League already adopted the position independently, months before the convention, so its members could use the LWVWA position immediately to pursue better practices. “It was a request we were happy to fulfill,” Zepeda added.

Nonpartisan since its founding 106 years ago, the League never endorses candidates or political parties. Taking positions on issues, such as the treatment of immigrants, is central to the League’s mission of defending democracy and empowering voters. But the League only takes positions on issues after extensive study and with the agreement—or consensus—of its members.

Other concerns on which the League has adopted policy positions include reproductive rights, health care, environmental protection, education and the protection of democracy.

Two years ago, the national organization also adopted the LWVWA’s position on Local News & Democracy, allowing members across the country to advocate for legislation and other programming to address the local news crisis.

Gov. Ferguson, with Lt. Gov. Heck at his side, shakes hands with Sen. Claudia Kauffman of Kent at bill-signing ceremonies in the state Capitol in Olympia on March 25. The governor signed four “democracy” bills for which the League of Women Voters of Washington vigorously advocated. Next to the senator is Alison McCaffree, the League’s Democracy Issue Chair.

With voting rights under assault across the country, democracy advocates in Washington state—including members of the League of Women Voters of Washington (LWVWA) and other organizations—have reason to celebrate following two new developments.

The Legislature passed—and the governor signed—a suite of bills that offer added protection for voters.

In addition, a new policy position from the LWVWA calling for better protection of the rights of immigrants might soon receive approval at the national League level, which would empower members in more than 800 local Leagues across the country to advocate for the well-being of newcomers.

Alison McCaffree, LWVWA’s Democracy Issue Chair, said the Washington League identified SB 5892, SB 6035, HB 1710 and HB 1916 as priorities. Each bill strengthens a certain stage of the voting process: registering to vote, keeping personal information private, reviewing changes to election law, and suing because of discrimination.

“We worked hard for the passage of these bills and are pleased that the League played a role in their successes,” said McCaffree. “We thank our members for their letters, emails and calls to lawmakers.  We were proud to partner with the Washington Voting Justice Coalition on these efforts and look forward to many more successes in the future.”

More details are available about the Washington League’s progress to national adoption of its position on Welcoming Immigrants. The position itself is outlined more fully on the LWVWA website as well. 

This week LWVWA President Karen Crowley sent a letter, co-signed by LWVWA Immigrants Issue Chair Lydia Zepeda and "Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State" study co-author Susan Martin, to WA Gov. Ferguson and Attorney General Brown. 

You can read the letter below.

Dear Gov. Ferguson and Attorney General Brown:

Thank you for your leadership as expressed in your joint statement on Jan. 26 denouncing the ICE operation in Minnesota and preparing for a similar incursion in Washington state.

The League of Women Voters of Washington joins you in supporting action now to protect the rights of immigrants in our state. The national League of Women Voters of the United States issued a statement the same day, condemning “the escalating actions by ICE that put people at risk, deny individuals their constitutional rights, and undermine the democratic values meant to protect us all.”

It went on to say: “The League of Women Voters reaffirms that the rights outlined in the Constitution belong to all people, without exception. We will not accept policies or practices that suppress civic participation, weaponize enforcement, or undermine fundamental rights and human dignity.”

In 2025, LWVWA adopted a position on the rights of immigrants after undertaking an extensive study that addressed the contributions of immigrants as well as the challenges they face. That study, “Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State,” and other efforts demonstrate Washington is clearly a leader in protecting immigrant rights - but we can do more.

In that vein, we appreciate your willingness to fight for just and humane policies through both legislation and action.

As we write, our League is lobbying for enactment of the bills you reference in your statement: SB  5855, SB 5876/HB 2165, and HB 2105/SB 5852 as well as several others we believe will enhance the rights of immigrants. We also support the SAFE Act, which prohibits ICE activity in sensitive areas such as schools, hospitals, and election offices; HB 2648, concerning state and local law enforcement interactions with federal immigration enforcement officials; HB 2632, modernizing terminology when referring to individuals who are not citizens or nationals of the United States; and HB 2105, Immigrant Worker Protection Act.

Additionally, we support legislation that safeguards personal information, creates remedies for violations of federal constitutional rights occurring during immigration enforcement, levies fines on private detention facilities that deny entry to the department of health for an inspection, and mandates divestment of public investment in private detention centers.

We applaud your decision as well to have Sarah Peterson, the chief of the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance, attend cabinet meetings. In fact, LWVWA’s position on Welcoming Immigrants recommends that Washington state take steps to ensure effective coordination among state agencies and other organizations that interact with immigrants and refugees, including funding to permit such coordination.

We would be pleased to brief you further on the work of LWVWA in protecting the rights of immigrants. Again, thank you for your leadership.

Sincerely,

Karen Crowley, President
for/and
Lydia Zepeda, Ph.D., LWVWA Immigrants Issues Chair, co-author of “Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State”
Susan Martin, Ph.D., co-Author – “Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State”

Each month, LWVWA members responsible for the Media Literacy and News Education Project share a media literacy tip with the Project for Civic Health, an initiative housed in the office of Lt. Gov. Denny Heck and which was established to foster greater civic dialogue and health. 

This is the most recent tip the League shared:  

On Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is essential for civic health because it enables you to draw sound conclusions and make informed choices. 

Using critical thinking to analyze information takes five steps: 

The hardest parts of critical thinking include admitting when you’re wrong or don’t know the answer and preventing emotions or a gut reaction from influencing your thinking. That’s because our brains don’t automatically practice critical thinking. 

Our brain has two systems. The System 1 brain is fast, subconscious, automatic, useful for everyday decisions and error prone.System 2 is slow, conscious, requires effort, helps with complex decision-making and is reliable. 

Critical thinking is the practice of engaging the System 2 brain. 

Learn more about your two-system brain in The Decision Lab.

In Jan. the League shared the following tip:

Making sense of information 
When a group of people creates a shared understanding of a complex or ambiguous situation in order to make decisions and take action, we call that collective sensemaking. 

Today, our collective sensemaking is disrupted because of a number of factors, including facts and frames that can be faulty, either intentionally or through misinterpretation. 

Here are a few quick definitions that put this into perspective. 

The media literacy tips above are from the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Washington. Dedicated to empowering voters and defending democracy, the League works to expand public knowledge and understanding of media literacy and news education as both are key to developing healthy, civically engaged communities. 

Learn more about these terms and definitions from this research article from the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public.