Currently, the Kittitas County League is reimagining its work by seeking partnerships and event cosponsors in vulnerable and underserved communities. The goal is to improve voter registration and voter turnout in marginalized communities and among younger voters.  

For many years, the LWV has conducted voter registration events in the lobby of Central Washington University's (CWU) Brooks Library, at the Library's invitation, on National Voter Registration Day. Building on that relationship, we offered expanded services to staff and students (training staff how to register voters, track a ballot, importance of ballot signature, etc.). After the offer, library staff met with League members to discuss education possibilities. The staff routinely offer Research Smartz events to help students navigate college, the library, and adult life. These events have typically been virtual, live events for students.  

Library staff offered to do a fall Research Smartz panel event called: Discovering Your Civic Power. This event will feature League members, library staff, and students discussing how local governments work, the impacts of voting, how to locate nonpartisan sources of information to make informed ballot choices, answering student questions on civics, voting, and more. The event will be recorded and subsequently posted on the Library's Civic Engagement Research Guide.

To help spark interest in the October event, and civic engagement in general, Library staff Bridgette Flamenco, created a civic engagement book display featuring LWVKC bookmarks, LWV vote stickers, and more, which will remain in place for the month of September (see the above pictures). 

LWV Kittitas County is excited at this opportunity and hope to expand into other areas on campus! For example, there are discussions with ASCWU to co-sponsoring a campus program on presidential primaries and the need to declare a party affiliation in order to participate. The League and ASCWU did a similar event in 2020, which featured a panel including a moderator, the Kittitas County Auditor, Kittitas County Democrat Chair, and Kittitas County Republican Chair. We hope to schedule the campus program in February 2024 (the 2024 Washington State Presidential Primary is scheduled for March 12, 2024).