By Mary Coltrane, LWVWA President

Your LWVWA Board of Directors, with the able assistance of Administrative Director Amy Peloff, is hard at work finalizing details for our bi-annual Council. The League of Women Voters of Thurston County is kindly hosting the event, which will be May 31 (optional), June 1, and June 2 at South Puget Sound Community College. Please see the accompanying article, "Get Ready for the LWVWA's 2024 Council!," for more important details.

You may have heard: 2024 is a critical year for democracy. The League is on board to support democracy in every way we can, and Council can help with that. Our agenda is packed with speakers, workshops and caucuses. There will also be a plenary session where the work of the Nominating Committee, the 2024-2026 Board Nominees, will be voted on.

Here's what's expected for the workshops:

Summertime is Voter Services time in the League. Voter registration tables and candidate forums are important ways League members connect with the public so voters can cast an informed ballot. Workshops to hone member skills in these areas include Nuts and Bolts of Candidate Forums and Tabling with a Purpose. New or newly-active members will find a great way to plug in to League with these events. If you are an old hand, you will learn tips to engage new members.

Other workshops span the gamut of the League's mission-driven work. From the LWVWA Lobby Team to Program to how to use the information garnered from our recent Research Study conducted by Washington State University, your League will learn what's coming down the pike. There are three initiatives to the people on the ballot this year. What is the League's position and why? The Lobby Team will share information about this and other topics.  

In the League's work, Program precedes action. First a study, then member consensus, finally a position. Delegates to the state convention adopted two studies and a civic education project at our 2023 Convention: Caregiving; Welcoming Immigrants, and Multi-Member Districts. Where are they in the planning year and when will the studies come to local Leagues for discussion and member consensus? When will the Multi-Member Districts project be available for local League programming? The Program Workshop will cover this.  

It takes a lot to keeping League going. Council delegates will get a chance to take advantage of the Research Project findings and brainstorm how local Leagues can communicate more effectively with diverse entities.

Finally, there will be three workshops devoted to leadership and membership engagement. Our Membership, Engagement, Leadership and Development (MELD) folks are putting together a workshop to help build membership and engage members. A workshop on speaking with one voice (when there are many), and a workshop on leadership as a balancing act will round out leadership development skills.

More information about workshops, and other aspects of Council will be available on our Council website, especially as we get closer to the time.

I look forward to seeing many folks in Lacey in June. It will be fun! 

The LWVWA, together with our host Leagues, the LWV Thurston County and LWV Mason County, cordially invite you to beautiful Lacey, Washington, for our 2024 Council! The 2024 LWVWA Biennial Council will be held on June 1 and 2, with optional activities on Friday, May 31. It will be held at the South Puget Sound Community College's Lacey Campus.  

Registration

Registration is now open! Early bird registration continues at a discounted price until May 5. There are both in-person and virtual options available. In-person registration includes lunch, happy hour, a buffet dinner on Saturday, and a continental breakfast on Sunday. Coffee, tea, water, and other beverages will also be provided.  

Schedule

There are several engaging activities planned over the weekend! League-specific activities include caucuses, workshops, and plenaries throughout the weekend. There will also be plenty of opportunities to socialize via shared meals, a complementary happy hour, and a walking tour of the Capitol Campus.  

Lodging

There are two hotels within an easy 6-minute walk from the Council venue:

• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Lacey—we have a block of 15 rooms with 2 queen beds reserved for a discounted group price. See our Council website for more information and booking instructions.   
  
  
• Candlewood Suites Olympia/Lacey—while we have not reserved a block of rooms, if you prefer to make your own meals, you may prefer staying at this hotel, as their rooms have fully furnished in-room kitchens.

Homestays are also available, though limited in number. Priority will be given to those with financial need. Contact Darlene Hein for more information.  

We Want YOU to Help Shape Council

We invite local Leagues, committees, and other groups to set up (and staff) display tables for Council attendees so folks can learn more about your work!  

We are also seeking folks interested in holding a caucus on topics of their choice! Caucuses are informal gatherings outside of the regular business meeting times (after the evening program). They may encompass a wide range of topics, from resource/knowledge sharing about the League’s work to generating interest in a new taskforce, committee, or toolkit.  

For more information about caucusing/tabling, or to request a caucus or a table, see our Council website.

In Star Trek, a “mind meld” is a kind of telepathic touch that enables the rapid sharing of knowledge and experience. Unfortunately for (at least most of) us, we are neither telepathic nor within touching distance of each other, so we have created a MELD Network* to provide a mechanism to better share tools, methods, practices, and accomplishments across the state with each other. 

The “League Mind MELD” column is a way to share even more information to all our members across the state. This column will run each month and will include the responses we receive to the questions posed at the end of the previous month’s column.   

April’s MELD Moment

Nonpartisanship, what does that mean to you? What does DEI mean to you? These are important facets of the League’s work but can be viewed differently by different people. With so many people, and so many views, all working collectively under the umbrella of "the League," it is important to have a shared understanding of these terms and how they guide our work.  

To this end, the LWVWA recently completed the process of updating our nonpartisan policy for use in our work. (A basic nonpartisan statement can also be found on our website.) In a similar fashion, the LWVUS updated the national DEI policy in January 2024—and it’s strongly recommended that local Leagues update their policies to reflect the LWVUS DEI policies. 

So, what about your League? Does your League post its nonpartisan policy in its newsletters, website, or press releases? Is the nonpartisan policy read at the election forums hosted by your League? Similarly, what are your League’s DEI policies, and where are they displayed? 

The League Mind MELD

Last month, we asked: “How do you respond when someone asks you ‘what does the League do?’” and “How is the League different from other nonpartisan groups?”

Below is a sample of responses we received:

Something that sets the League apart is its statements at the beginning of each election forum: “. . . As an organization the League is nonpartisan; it does not support or oppose candidates for public office. Also, the League is a strong proponent of Civil discourse in our proceedings. Civil Discourse means, at minimum, mutually respectful, courteous, constructive and orderly communications.”

“The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging informed and active participation in government. It influences public policy through education and advocacy. We never support or oppose any political party or candidate. Locally we arrange for candidate forums, register voters, and advocate for public policy based on issues we have studied. We publish The State We’re In: Washington, a textbook used in Washington state used to teach civics in both Spanish and English.”

“When I craft an answer to those questions, I first write down all our League's achievements that I am proud of. Next, I use the words “Here is what I do in our League...” and add in why I love doing this work. I strive to create intrigue and curiosity. Finally, I invite the person to an interesting League Activity.”

April’s question: What are some of your favorite “get-together” events that strengthen the ties and friendships that we enjoy with League members? 

Please send responses to Nancy Halvorson, MELD Director, by May 1.  

* In the context of the League, MELD actually has zero connection to Star Trek; it is an acronym for Membership, Engagement, Leadership, and Development. MELD pods meet each month to serve as platforms for sharing successes, addressing challenges, and exchanging ideas among local Leagues. Are you interested in learning more about MELD? Talk to your Local League Leadership about becoming involved in MELD. Are you interested in learning more about MELD? Talk to your Local League Leadership about becoming involved in MELD.

The League of Women Voters of Washington pursues education and advocacy to protect democracy and the right to vote through informed and active participation in government and increased understanding of major public policy issues. When you make a legacy gift to the LWVWA, you are doing something impactful for future generations in your community. 

As you make your financial and charitable giving plans for this year, you may want to plan for the future. You can make a legacy gift in a variety of ways, including an outright bequest or by designating the LWVWA Education Fund as a beneficiary to your retirement assets or life insurance policy. 

Maximize your Tax Advantage 

In addition to cashdonations (or an equivalent), you may want to consider other ways to give to maximize your tax advantage. 

• Stocks: You can take a charitable deduction for the full fair market value of the stock, but you don’t have to pay tax on the gain from appreciation. 
   

• Real Property: Donating your primary home, your vacation home, or other property can reduce capital gains tax as well as give you a charitable deduction. 
   

• Retirement Accounts: If you are at least 70 and 1/2 years old, you may make a distribution of up to $100,000 from your IRA to the League, and it will not be considered income to you. 

Consult with your legal and financial advisors to learn how a gift would work in your circumstances. Laws and regulations governing all gifts and availability of certain life income gifts vary. In addition to providing a wonderful legacy for the community, bequests decrease the size of your taxable estate. 

Giving Options 

The LWVWA offers multiple ways to give:  

• Unrestricted gifts: These gifts support daily operations including voter education efforts, youth programs, and citizen education on issues. 

• Endowment gifts: Gifts made to the Centennial Fund provide income used for League operations. 

When you name the LWVWA or LWVWA Education Fund to receive a gift through your estate, you play a personal role in protecting democracy’s future. Learn more about legacy giving at our website.

The process of redistricting is fundamental to your voting power. The last cycle happened in 2021, but now, in March 2024, Washington will have new legislative district lines to be used in 2024 elections. The remedy to the Soto Palmer v Hobbs lawsuit that declared LD15 discriminatory will produce a new central Washington district that will ensure Latino voters can elect a candidate of their choice. There will also be changes in as many as 13 districts that will affect many other people. 

Recent years have brought a significant rise of mis- and disinformation on a number of critical topics—including election security—which has caused concern about the integrity of our elections. Our current times have also illuminated the importance of news literacy; democracy needs informed participants who can tell if what they read, watch or hear is fact or fiction.

To aid in increased news literacy in Washington, and show how our elections are safe, secure, and accurate, the LWVWA has added two ACT via Zoom sessions on these topics, extending the program beyond Washington's legislative session. The two additional sessions will be on March 18 and 25, from 10:00 to 11:00 AM. As always, all League members (and their guests) are invited!

The March 18 session, News Literacy for an Election Year, will focus on news and information in our current political environment. It will feature Chelsey Cartwright, LWVUS Program Manager for the Democracy Truth Project. Cartwright will join us from the “other” Washington, where she works to counter mis-and disinformation and advance a better public understanding of democratic and electoral processes. Cartwright works with Leagues across the country to develop and implement training sessions and events that advance this mission.

The March 25 session, Election Security: Your Ballot’s Journey, will answer questions about election protocols. This session will feature Garth Fell, the Snohomish County Auditor, and will detail the entire journey each ballot takes during an election. Fell will discuss both the electoral process and election security in Washington.

Folks who attend the two sessions will learn information and skills to help dispel mis-and disinformation about election security and increase media literacy among our communities.

If you are already registered for ACT via Zoom sessions, you’ll receive links to the two new sessions automatically on March 18 and 25. If you have not yet registered, but would like to attend, you can register here. There is also one remaining ACT via Zoom from the original schedule on March 11, which will feature a legislative wrap up from LWVWA's Advocacy Team.

You can find links to the previous ACT via Zoom sessions on our YouTube channel.

The League of Women Voters of the United States will be holding its biennial convention from June 27-30 in Washington D.C. The LWVWA is hoping a significant number of delegates from Washington's local Leagues will be able to attend—either virtually or in person—to support our Local News positions.    

The LWVWA is very excited to be promoting our Local News positions for concurrence at the National Convention. Our Program Chair, Shelley Kneip has been working hard to encourage Leagues throughout our state, and across the country, to submit our Local News positions for concurrence at National Convention. The Local News Committee has also worked tirelessly to answer questions from Leagues about what it would mean if LWVUS adopted our positions, making them available for use by every League in the country.

All of this work is the culmination of the study and consensus process LWVWA began in January 2021. Last year, local Leagues throughout Washington read our study, The Decline of Local News and Democracy, and then discussed it and came to a member consensus. The LWVWA Board adopted the positions derived from this consensus process. Now, we are ready to take these positions to the national League Convention so they can be used to lobby at local, state and federal levels of government. This process is the foundation of all League advocacy and demonstrates democracy in action within our organization.   

We also act on democratic principles when we send delegates to convention. Delegates are selected according to each League's bylaws, and they are informed about the issues at hand, but not instructed on how to vote. Delegates carry the duty of voting with the interests of League members who don't attend in mind. This is extremely important, because LWVUS bylaws, nominations, budget, and Program affect each League and how the League overall functions and operates.

Delegates must study up on the topics proposed at the National Convention, so they can represent their Leagues—however, ultimately, the votes they cast belong to them. This is what we see in a representative government and this is how League operates as well. 

The LWVWA has formed the National Convention Planning Group so we can maximize our delegation's impact in all of the above areas. We will be reaching out to Washington's local Leagues to provide opportunities for caucusing and to learn about our Local News positions in a friendly and fun manner. All League members will be invited to the caucuses so the delegates can hear from them, and local Leagues may also have caucuses of their own. All of these opportunities are intended to connect with our grassroots, because the League is first and foremost a grassroots organization.  

Look for an email with more information about LWVWA's first caucus in May. We'll also caucus again during LWVWA's Council in Olympia, on May 31-June 2. I hope to see you at LWVWA's caucus and Council!

In League,

Mary Coltrane, LWVWA President

In Star Trek, a “mind meld” is a kind of telepathic touch that enables the rapid sharing of knowledge and experience. Unfortunately for (at least most of) us, we are neither telepathic nor within touching distance of each other, so we have created a MELD Network* to provide a mechanism to better share tools, methods, practices, and accomplishments across the state with each other. 

The “League Mind MELD” column is a way to share even more information to all our members across the state. Starting this month, this column will run monthly and will include the responses we receive to the questions posed at the end of the previous month’s column.  

The Leagues in Washington are increasingly aware that the work they do supports our DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) policy, and it is important to recognize these activities! In MELD pod meetings, we’ve heard about local Leagues advertising in a bilingual newsletter, translating information on ballot issues, and co-hosting events with underrepresented populations. 
 
A recent example of this work was a program hosted by LWV Thurston County on February 24, 2024. The program, called "Confronting a Racist Past & Creating a Future Where All Women Belong," featured portions of the book The Untold Story of Women of Color and the League of Women Voters by Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, LWVUS President 1998-2002.  
 
Sharing resources and ideas about how to further the League's DEI work is just one example of the value of our MELD network. We know there are more—and we want to hear them! 
 
Questions for this month:  How do you respond when someone asks you, “What does the League do?” or “How is the League different from other nonpartisan groups?” Email examples and replies to the questions to MELD Portfolio Director Nancy Halvorson by April 1.  

*In the context of the League, MELD actually has zero connection to Star Trek; it is an acronym for Membership, Engagement, Leadership, and Development. MELD pods meet each month to serve as platforms for sharing successes, addressing challenges, and exchanging ideas among local Leagues. 

Are you interested in learning more about MELD? Talk to your Local League Leadership about becoming involved in MELD. 

by Beatrice Crane, LWVWA Vote411 Project Manager and LWV Seattle/King County member.

For those who are vague about what the Vote411 Committee does, here is a brief explanation:

Vote411 is an online voters’ guide managed by LWVUS, which provides the basic structure of and information on the voting system in each state, as well as for national elections. Each state or local League, which chooses to participate, is responsible for setting up the part of the guide which applies to its own jurisdiction. As the state League, LWVWA covers all the races in the state and thus we have a Vote411 committee that manages our portion of this online voter's guide. For each election, this committee gathers information about all the races and candidates in Washington and puts that information on Vote411.org. We also establish district boundaries on the website to ensure voters will only see the races on their own ballot.

To accomplish the above, the Vote411 Committee uses resources at the state level to set up the online guide, but it also reaches out to local Leagues for information on local issues, as well as for help urging candidates to provide information for Vote411and encouraging voters to consult that information.

The Vote411 Committee has been in existence since 2011, and our membership has changed as some people move on from this committee and others move in. At present, we have shrunk to a core of four members, so we are urgently recruiting! We need:

• A volunteer to handle candidate questions. This person has a cache of generic questions available for each office, but would also work with local Leagues on crafting questions for candidates about local issues.
  
  
• A publicity person to work on ways to increase our visibility, especially in areas of Washington with no local League. We also want to make sure local Leagues are aware of available marketing tools and explore new publicity strategies (such as partnering with media or other nonprofits).
  
  
• An increased level of redundancy through the committee. This is to make sure that there are members who are familiar enough with the current system—and willing—to take over whenever the current leader steps down.

The LWVWA volunteer pool is simply the aggregate of all of the local League volunteers, so it's up to the same volunteers to fill the state's Vote411 Committee. Any League member from within Washington State can join this committee.

If you, or someone you know, may have some time to spare for this work, please consider joining us! Reach out to the Vote411 Committee, and we will be happy to answer any questions, discuss possibilities, and provide further information. Thank you, and I hope to hear from some of you soon!

The future of Vote411 in the state of Washington depends on the continued support of volunteers like you.

by Nancy Halvorson—LWVWA Board Member, MELD Portfolio.

Hello! I've recently been appointed to the LWVWA Board and taken over the vacated MELD portfolio. So, what is MELD and does this all mean for League membership? Keep reading to find out!

Each month, local Leagues send a representative to our Membership, Engagement, Leadership, and Development—or MELD—meetings (pods). At these MELD pods, we share our successes and challenges, learn what other local Leagues and the state League are doing, and receive training on an extensive number of topics. MELD members then take what they learn back to their own local League.

MELD is a great avenue for information sharing between the state and local Leagues, and—most importantly—it enables lateral information sharing among the local Leagues in Washington State. The ideas and suggestions that emerge from the MELD pods are a valuable resource center for other Leagues. This information sharing between the Leagues at all levels strengthens us as an organization, and that is MELD's goal.

Current MELD work focuses on:

• Understanding the League's mission—i.e., what do you respond when someone asks you "what does the League do?"
  
  
• Nonpartisanship—is this talked about in your local League meetings? Is there a clear understanding of best nonpartisan practices? Does your community understand and believe the League is nonpartisan? Are Leagues being responsive to our communities.
  
  
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)—Is DEI at the top of our minds when organizing an event or meeting? Is it an integral part of our outreach efforts? What are best practices to insure equity?

Moving forward, MELD will also be focusing on growing and retaining membership, and as we grow, some things will need to be done differently. We'll will work to make sure that local Leagues fully understand the LWVUS Transformation Process and the dues changes that are coming in the months ahead. MELD will also fully engage with membership leads in order to retain members—what are creatives ways to do this? How can we show appreciation for our members, because remember the League is a grassroots, volunteer-based organization!

MELD will also be exploring how we can foster leadership development. What kind of training is currently available? What resources do local Leagues need from the state League in this area?

Also, don't forget that 2024 is a critical election year. Here in Washington, there is very strong outreach done to register eligible voters; however, actually getting those voters to return ballots often lags behind registrations. At MELD pods this year, members will be sharing their strategies and tips for successful GOTV outreach, election forums, and how League's publicize these efforts. Each League has something valuable to offer, and it is our job to honor those contributions!
 
Do you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions? What ideas do you have about what would constitute value to your local League in the MELD pod setting? Please feel free to contact me, I welcome your comments and ideas. As the saying goes—there is no "i" in "team," this is a group effort!
 
You have questions, concerns, suggestions?  What would constitute value to your local League in the MELD pod setting?  Please feel free to contact me as I welcome your comments.  As the saying goes—there is no “i” in Teams, this is a group effort!

Warmly,

Nancy Halvorson, nhalvorson@lwvwa.org