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

As longtime League member Jeanne Crevier sees it, tabling — staffing a table at a public event to encourage passersby to register and vote — is the League’s most fundamental act of voter outreach.

With a few weeks before the midterms, local League members are out in droves, tabling at farmers’ markets, neighborhood nights-out, Pride events, fairs and festivals, food banks, high schools and other venues.

In Snohomish County, where she’s never received so many invitations for the League to table, President Brenda Mann Harrison sees a straight-forward reason for the increase in requests: “People realize the importance of having everyone participate in the democratic process.”

Not long ago, in Ellensburg, Kittitas County members partnered with a local group serving people with disabilities to register voters and remind them of the Nov. 3 ballot deadline. As summer neared its close, members of the newly formed Grays Harbor local tabled at the annual Loggers’ Play Day in Hoquiam. Tacoma-Pierce County League members held postcard signing and tabling events on Sept. 15, Constitution Day.

League members in Seattle turned out at Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shops for tabling events, while Snohomish League members were tabling at area parades. 

In previous years, the League was involved in “Floats for Votes” events on the Vancouver campus of Washington State University. There, students listened to candidates, read League brochures about civics and sipped on root beer floats provided by student government. In an interesting twist, this year’s tabling took place as a “Goats for Votes” event, which featured real-life goats that students enjoyed petting.

As one Voter Services committee chair quipped, “Tabling is what we do.”  

League members at some events distribute pocket-sized copies of the U.S. Constitution. Others promote the League’s “The State We’re In: Washington” civics textbooks while elsewhere members distribute colorful “They Represent You!” brochures featuring contact information for respective local, county and state elected officials.

More than a handful of locals have displays featuring civics trivia questions or “chance” wheels that passersby spin to win token prizes. 

In Clark County, League member and retired mechanical engineer Dennis Megrditchian has fashioned a table-top voting machine where youngers are encouraged to vote for their favorite ice cream flavor or pet and watch the count jump on a battery-powered tally machine.  

“It’s a great little tool,” said state League first vice president Nancy Halvorson, of Clark County.

Crevier, who calls tabling the League’s fundamental voter outreach effort, said locals are tackling the task with an organized, systems-management method.

“They are breaking down the task into specifics,” Crevier said. “Whatcom County organizes it by venue. If a food bank contacts them, then that's the group that’s responsible for covering food banks gets the assignment.” 

The Clark County League has developed a similar arrangement — with different groups handling different assignments — high schools, colleges and universities, Girl Scout troops and festivals.

Some Leagues organize their tabling geographically. A recent report to the state board from new state director Elaine Harger noted Seattle has moved tabling out of the local-wide calendar into geographic units. 

‘’The common thread is ownership,” wrote Harger. When a team owns a “venue,” the ask for volunteers stops being a “can somebody cover Saturday” and becomes “this one is ours.”

Crevier acknowledged that, in a vote-friendly state like Washington, few people need actual help to register, except maybe young voters. “Rather, the work is to remind people to vote and to point them to ballot boxes.”

So, while “tabling” is a standard League activity, Crevier suggested using different words to attract volunteers. 

Asking League members to volunteer “to help get out the vote” and “to help with tabling” describe the same Saturday afternoon activity, she said. “But the invitations attract very differently, particularly with new members who want to feel like they’re making a difference.”