Were you unable to attend the LWVUS National Convention? Not to worry! We’ve asked some of the folks who attended the Convention as delegates for Washington to provide In League readers with their experiences.

There is also more information on the 2024 Convention on the LWVUS's webpage, a daily recap of each 2024 Convention day's events. Stay tuned for the Convention recording in the next LWVUS League Update!

In the meantime, you can find a taste of what it was like to be at the National Convention below.

Beth Pellicciotti, LWVWA Board (Civics Education) and LWV Spokane
The 2024 LWVUS Convention is the third LWVUS convention I have attended. In 2020, the convention was an experiment in Zoom-land, and the plenaries and voting seemed like an extraordinarily long process. This was in the throes of Covid though, so any contact—even five hours on Zoom—was a diversion.

In 2022, I attended in person in Denver. The plenaries were still long but breaks provided opportunities to meet with League delegates from near and far. I stopped by the Indiana delegation to tell them how they inspired me to join the League (they fought against voter IDs); I visited a Washington State friend who was now in the California delegation. I had fun! Our table of delegates ate tons of trail mix, we learned to vote on our phones, and I attended all the workshops on youth engagement. 

In 2024, I attended remotely again. I presented in a pre-convention workshop, represented LWV Spokane (informed, but not instructed on their issues), and was very aware that LWVWA had a concurrence on the agenda. Ultimately, I was back in Zoom-land, experiencing technical glitches during workshops and spending long hours at the screen. I will long remember the 5:00 AM start on the last day of convention—and how much I respected the west coast delegates who managed to turn their cameras on, ready to go! I was also immensely proud of the LWVWA Local News Committee’s work on the Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy. I was proud, too, of our League leaders, Dee Anne Finken, Shelley Kneip, and Mary Coltrane, who shepherded this study’s concurrence to a successful passage.

My final and best memory of the 2024 LWVUS Convention is Vallie Needham valiantly making motions to make reproductive rights part of the LWVUS Program. Each time she spoke, she had to give her name and League affiliation. Finally, after four or five times of introducing herself and naming her League, she simply said, “I am still Vallie Needham and I am still from Thurston County.”

Sally Carpenter Hale, LWV Clark County
While attending Convention, I was struck by how many Leagues across the country have similar priorities to the Washington Leagues—and what good ideas these Leagues have had to achieve their goals! For example, there are multiple Leagues in California with interesting ideas to engage young voters. These include having high school students on their boards, filling League internships (financed by a Rotary grant), peer-led voter registration drives, and even games! The LWV of Missouri and the Voter Girl project in Ohio have a lot of cool swag (t-shirts, buttons, license plate holders).

Why should we reinvent when other Leagues have already come up with wonderful ideas that we can borrow? We should all collaborate more! We need a way to easily share these best practices across Leagues nationwide!

Notes from LWV Thurston County
Though the delegates from Thurston County had networked constantly by text prior to the National Convention, those who attended virtually were still quite surprised to see Vallie Needham—who successfully submitted LWV San Juan’s resolution on an updated League position on reproductive rights—at the mic. And not just once, but three times! Needham, along with Eleanor Walters, made sure the virtual delegates from Thurston County (Karen Tvedt and Susan Fiksdal) knew when it was time to vote and what the motion was about. This was crucial because Fiksdal had to set up and tear down the LWV Thurston County booth at the Capital City Pride Celebration that day.

For those who attended the National Convention in person, the visit to the US Capitol was time well spent. Walters and Needham met with Representative Strickland (LD 10); and Walters also met with Representative Delbene (LD 1). Representative Delbene co-introduced the bipartisan “Community News and Small Business Support Act last year. Walters and Needham are happy to report their League badges and ID pins were noticed and respected at the Capitol!

Whether they attended in person or virtually, Thurston County’s delegates celebrated the national concurrence of the LWVWA’s local news position. Dee Anne Finken competently fielded questions from the floor with sound rebuttal. The highly effective campaign Finken and the Local News Committee created ensured that delegates understood the position. In person delegates enjoyed the camaraderie of the other League delegates during business meetings and over meals in the culturally diverse DC niche neighborhoods.

Judy Golberg, LWV Benton/Franklin Counties
I experienced the LWVUS Convention virtually—and though I know attending virtually did not allow me the same personal connections gained by those who attended in person—the experience was still quite worthwhile.  It wasn’t difficult to attend workshops, the trainings, or the plenary sessions. I found the key to a good experience was doing your homework ahead of time! Voting did prove to be a challenge for some virtual attendees, but most of us had no problems. The workshops I attended included:

•  “How Can We Disagree Better to Build Trust in Our Democracy,” which offered ideas for modeling good civic behavior and building a civil community.
• “Turn Up for One Person, One Vote,” where attendees discussed the Electoral College and the popular vote.
• “Book Banning,” which focused on fighting against the banning of books, censorship, and how to become a library advocate.
•  “Meet the Candidates,” where we had the opportunity to meet the candidates for the new LWVUS Board, including the new LWVUS President Dianna Wynn.
• “Rethinking your Webpage,” which discussed using a committee to manage your League’s webpage and learning as you go.
• “DEI in the Work,” learning and discussing how to build a more diverse League.

I am happy to answer any specific questions regarding any of these topics, please get in touch with me!

Cindy Madigan, LWVWA Issue Chair and LWV Bellingham/Whatcom County
I appreciated the opportunity to travel to Washington DC to serve as a delegate for the 2024 LWVUS Convention. This was my first in-person national convention, and it was so easy to get caught-up in the buzz of League volunteers, staff, and guests from across the country!

Among many highlights was the successful concurrence vote on the LWVWA local news position. I felt proud to be part of the Washington delegation supporting the Local News Committee that studied this issue, prepared our members for participating in consensus, and effectively reached out to the LWVUS board and other Leagues across the country over the past year. And, of course, this effort culminated in a national League position to address the local news crisis and its impact on our communities and democracy.

I am eagerly anticipating the recordings for the event! There were so many compelling workshops to choose from, and I want to both refresh myself on the sessions I attended—and catch the ones I missed!

As many of you know, I’ve been advocating at the local and state level for ranked choice voting in both single and multi-seat elections. Meeting League colleagues from Oregon, California, Florida, and Maine who are also dedicated to this work was a joy! We are building a nationwide grassroots affinity group and resource repository—PRAG-LWV—and actively seeking folks to join us!

Above all, I felt hopeful hearing and participating thoughtful discussions marked by respect and health disagreement. It was democracy in action.