By Shelley Kneip, Janet Lenart, Susan Martin, and Lydia Zepeda, Welcoming Immigrants Concurrence Committee, LWV of Washington

Each year, through the program-planning process, members determine priorities for local programs and review the programs from preceding years. Local Leagues are also an integral part of the “grassroots” planning at the state and national League levels.

State League program planning occurs in odd-numbered years, national program planning happens in even-numbered years. For example, in 2025, LWVWA adopted the Welcoming Immigrants position, which arose from a study proposed by local Leagues in 2023.

In 2024, the national League adopted our state League’s Local News & Democracy position by concurrence after being proposed by many Leagues across the country.

In 2026, local Leagues will be asked for their input to the national League program planning for 2026-2028. LWVWA proposes that the national League adopt the Welcoming Immigrants position through a concurrence process. We ask that local Leagues do the same.

Local Leagues can support concurrence in two ways:

• First, by submitting the Welcoming Immigrants position to the LWVUS as a program priority in the annual program-planning survey.

• Second, by voting in favor of concurrence at the LWVUS Convention in June.

Why should the LWVUS adopt the Welcoming Immigrants position?
We hear daily about immigration in the United States. Concerns about the lack of due process for immigrants and mass detentions and deportations are rising. The current national position mainly addresses admission of immigrants and regularization of those without authorization. By contrast, the Welcoming Immigrants position addresses what happens to all immigrants who are already in the country. Most immigrants are naturalized citizens or live in mixed-status families with U.S. citizen spouses or children. Most have been in the United States for more than a decade.

National adoption of the LWVWA position on Welcoming Immigrants provides a basis for advocacy for national, state, and local legislation aimed at protecting the legal rights and dignity of immigrants in the United States. If adopted by LWVUS, all state and local Leagues across the country would be able to utilize the position to advocate for immigrants' rights and access to services.

Ensuring that immigrants, alongside other residents in the U.S., benefit from these important rights is at the core of LWVUS’ mandate. Importantly, the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments to the U.S. Constitution apply to ALL residents of the United States, regardless of immigration status. The LWVWA position is based on that premise.

What evidence underlies the LWVWA position on Welcoming Immigrants?LWVWA undertook a two-year study on the situation of immigrants in our state. Washington state has a long history of welcoming immigrants who live in our state and has adopted laws to protect their rights. The study provides vital information about how important immigrants have been to the American economy and culture. The study evaluates the laws and programs in Washington with respect to immigrants who reside in the state. It also identified opportunities and gaps in state programs.

Most local Leagues are familiar with the study because they participated in the consensus process in 2025, which led to the adoption of the position.  For more information, you can find the position HERE and the study supporting the position HERE.

Why concurrence?
LWVWA proposes that LWVUS adopt our Welcoming Immigrants position by concurrence, which is the most efficient way to adopt a position. We ask that each local League's program-planning process include a discussion of concurrence of the Welcoming Immigrants position. 

Assuming members agree that concurrence is a priority, please make sure that you reflect it in the program-planning survey that will be available in January and due on March 10, 2026. LWVWA will be providing specific information on how to do this once LWVUS publishes its program-planning information.

What can you do?
The proposed concurrence will be voted on June 25-28, 2026, at the LWVUS Convention in Columbus, Ohio, by in-person and virtual delegates. We encourage each League to support concurrence not only by proposing the Welcoming Immigrants position as a program priority, but also by sending as many delegates as allowed.

We will be posting more information on the Convention on our website as it becomes available.  For more information and questions, contact Susan Martin, smartin@lwvwa.org, or Lydia Zepeda, lzepeda@lwvwa.org.

The task of taking a position to the LWVUS for national concurrence is no easy task. 

Besides ensuring that one’s position meets national standards, it means reaching out to state and local Leagues across the country to communicate your points clearly and thoughtfully enough to secure their widespread endorsement.

It also means rallying members in Washington state to support the effort, which also means sending a solid number of fellow Washington state members in June to Columbus, Ohio, the site of the national convention. 

It could mean helping with fundraising, planning, organizing and lots of communication work, from writing talking points to designing graphics to making videos. 

If you are interested and able to help, contact Susan Martin, who led the study, at martinsf@georgetown.edu.  

The “Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State” committee produced a solid study that led to a strong position.  Foremost, it states “the League of Women Voters of Washington believes that all residents of Washington state, regardless of immigration status or citizenship, should be treated with dignity and respect.”

Now, perhaps more than ever before, extending the call that all residents of every state, regardless of immigration status or citizenship, be treated with dignity and respect is vital.

Doing so would empower League members throughout the country to act on the Washington position.

Help make national concurrence a reality and lend a hand.

Immigration committee co-chair Susan Hales, left, introduces Rumyana Kodeva, presenter of Saturday’s Cultural Awareness workshop, which was sponsored by the Spokane League and Eastern Washington University’s School of Social Work.

Looking for how they might best support the Spokane area’s immigrant population as it faces increased distress, more than 30 League members participated in a three-hour “Cultural Awareness” workshop Saturday morning.

“Sometimes volunteers don’t know how to be with people of a different culture,” said Louise Chadez of the Spokane League’s Immigration committee. “And so we wanted to learn more about how to understand other cultures, whether people are citizens or not.”

Chadez, who co-chairs the Spokane committee with Susan Hales, said workshop presenter Rumyana Kudeva, a doctoral-level social worker from the Spokane Regional Health District, emphasized the importance of both “maintaining cultural humility” and recognizing differences exist from culture to culture and within cultures. 

 “There is still much to be learned,” Chadez said, adding plans are for additional workshops in the future.

The Spokane Immigration committee, which has about 12 members, began forming in February this year, motivated by the increased presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the area and the LWVWA's "Welcoming Immigrants to Washington" study led by Susan Martin.

“We took Susan’s information to heart,” Chadez said.

The workshop was held in collaboration with the Eastern Washington University School of Social Work.

One of the main takeaways of the workshop for Chadez? 

“Remember to exhibit compassion for others rather than empathy. And be true neighbors, rather than just allies, to those of cultural differences.

LWVWA President Karen Crowley

By Karen Crowley, President, LWV of Washington

As many of you know, there has been a change in the way League membership dues are collected and distributed. Members now join at the national level, identifying the local League where they choose to participate, and then are connected automatically with the appropriate state League.

Dues are ‘pay what you can’ with a recommended level of $75 annually.

Your dues are distributed in this way: 

The portion to local Leagues remains steady at 20%. Our state League split has increased to 47%—with the difference carved from the national percentage.

Understandably, members have questions related to this change, including one that surfaced at the 2025 Convention in June. Through the resolution process, members requested “the LWVWA board establish a planning process, in consultation with local Leagues, for increased revenue which provides increased support to local Leagues and/or increased support for grassroots advocacy as intended by the LWVUS Transformation Process.”

The state League has taken this request to heart in several ways.

At its July retreat the 2025-27 Board of Directors created this list of priorities for the biennium:  

Strengthen Operational Infrastructure
Review staffing and technology needs. Commit to adding capacity to grow League impact statewide.

Grow Financial Resources
New financial resources must be generated to support both LWVWA infrastructure and services to local Leagues.

Focus on Membership and Leadership Development
Create effective tools to recruit, engage and retain new League members. Build future League leaders at all levels.

Enhance Internal and External Communications
Tell a clear, powerful, ongoing story of effective civic education, engagement, and advocacy to League members and residents across Washington state.

Increase Statewide Community Outreach and Engagement
Build deep, true, sustainable partnerships with democracy allies across Washington state.

Following the retreat, we convened an ad-hoc committee to address the first two priorities. I lead that team, which also includes three local League leaders: Barb Tengtio, president of the Seattle King County League; Vallie Needham Huisman, a member of the LWV Thurston County Leadership Team, and Robin Barker, vice president-Communications of LWV Bellingham-Whatcom County; and LWVWA board members Sasha Bentley and Toyoko Tsukuda.

This team is wrestling with these two questions: Does the state League provide the services local Leagues need? What additional services might local Leagues need?

To answer, the committee is surveying local Leagues, asking for feedback on services currently offered by LWVWA and inviting input on what additional services they would value. That survey has been sent, and we encourage local League boards to gather feedback and provide their input by Nov. 30. We will report that feedback to the board and then develop recommendations for action.

You will be hearing more. Know that our goal is to be an effective, powerful advocate for democracy. LWVUS tell us: The fight to ensure free, fair elections must be waged at the state level because state Legislatures most often control critical election-related issues: voter access, redistricting, government ethics, transparency, campaign finance, and more. State Leagues are a vital part of the LWV’s grassroots’ power and strength. They provide essential communications, organizing, advocacy, and administrative support to local Leagues and members in their states.

Your state League is committed to supporting national work as appropriate and necessary here in Washington state, and we are committed to supporting and facilitating critical, grassroots work by local Leagues. We look forward to increasing our capacity to do both because this system works best when we work in concert and solidarity.

If you have questions about this effort—or any state League initiative—please reach out to me at kcrowley@lwvwa.org.

The state Nominating Committee is inviting all members interested in learning more about serving on the state board of directors to a Zoom "meet and greet" on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 10:30 am

Committee member Beth Pellicciotti encourages members to bring questions to the informal discussion to learn more about what service entails and how being a state director can enhance your understanding of the impact of the work of the League of Women Voters.  

Register for the meet and greet HERE. Find more information on the nominating process is on our webpage.

The LWVWA board of directors recently approved new publication dates for three of the four newsletters the state League distributes electronically to all members. 

In League will be published on the third Thursday of each month; Resisting Threats to Democracy on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month; and the Evergreen Voter on the first Thursday of alternating months. 

Meanwhile, the Legislative Action Newsletter will continue to be published weekly on Sundays during the legislative session. 

Leadership explained that changes reflect both expanded programming and growing interest in knowing about the work of the League and its members, specifically around efforts to defend democracy in the face of threats to the US Constitution. 

• In League (distributed to members): Published the third Thursday of the month.  

• Resisting Threats to Democracy (distributed to members): Published the second and fourth Thursdays of the month. Note: During WA's legislative session, publication moves to “as needed.” 

• The Evergreen Voter (public and members): Published the first Thursday of the month, every other month. 

• The Legislative Action Newsletter (public and members): Published every Sunday during WA's legislative session. 

How to Submit 
Submissions are encouraged for the In League, Resisting Threats to Democracy, and Evergreen Voter newsletters. Please email submissions to comms@lwvwa.org. All submissions will be edited according the LWVWA Style Guide. If we make significant changes, we will come back to you for review before publication.  

The submission deadlines are the Monday a week prior to the publication week by 12 pm. (Ex: If the publication date is Nov. 20, the deadline for submissions is Nov. 10.) 

 Please include the following with your submission: 

• Email Subject Line: Please include the name of the newsletter to which you are submitting your article.   

• Attach your article as a Word document with the author’s name and League affiliation and a suggested headline. 

• Optional information: Links to external websites or specific League URL’s 

• Photographs are encouraged, especially if they are NOT of people posed and lined up in a row. Ideally your photographs will be candid and show people in action. Be sure to include the names of all persons who are identifiable in the photograph. Attach as a .jpg or .png. 

In addition to submitting an article about an event, use this online form to add your event to the LWVWA events calendar. 

Patriotic red, white and blue are certainly good, as are the League’s hues of gold and purple. 

But looking for a fashionable change of pace, the Skagit County League is going grape! Along with a throw-back to the ‘60s! 

The front of LWV Skagit County’s new long-sleeve t-shirt proclaims the League mission while featuring a drawing of a dove clasping an olive branch as it hoovers over a pair of daisies. 

“The hippie in me just came out,” said League President Jane Vilders of Mount Vernon, who recently unveiled the new look. “We just wanted something different.” 

The owner of a local print shop produced the design free of charge, Vilders said. The back features the Skagit League name. 

For a dressier look, Skagit members turned to another graphic designer in Mount Vernon.  Shop owner and artist Kristin Loffer Theiss created a 26-inch square scarf that the Skagit League will sell for $26 at state Council in the spring. 

Featuring red poppy-like flowers at the center and outward, the soft cotton scarf proclaims: “Stand up for what you believe in.” 

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

This fall, many voters heeded the guidance from their local Leagues, county auditors and the U.S. Postal Service to mail their ballots at least a week before Election Day. The intent was for ballots to reach elections offices early enough to be counted. 

But League members in Kittitas County aren’t convinced that the guidance was shared widely enough, and they question whether the seven-day guideline to reach the Election Office was sufficient. Among their reasons: anecdotal evidence of other mail being delayed, reduction in the number of postal sorting centers statewide, and the need for mail to be consolidated before it is shipped to sorting centers. 

So how long does it take a letter to get from point A to point B via U.S. mail? 

Members of the Kittitas County League have launched an audit of local postal systems to find out. They’re asking their members to send test mail to Board Vice President Charli Sorenson and include the date and time the letter or postcard is sent. Sorenson is recording sorting center/postmark and arrival date. 

“We hope to use the data to inform our election recommendations and probably to change our election graphics, like those we used in 2024, when we were suggesting something like only four days.” 

Sorenson said she and others are concerned that many voters don’t know that U.S. mail isn’t postmarked until it is sorted at a processing center that is sometimes hours away. She also noted that the USPS has reduced mail pick-up at some local post offices from twice a day to once.

Judy Hucka, Whidbey League president, far left, joins University of Washington Associate Professor Matthew Powers, Washington State University’s Jennifer Henrichsen, Ph.D., and TVW’s Austin Jenkins for a discussion about local news in the state earlier this month.

Local news is a key component of the League mission of empowering voters and defending democracy, Whidbey Island League President Judy Hucka told an audience at the University of Washington on Nov. 13.  

Hucka, a member of the state Local News team and an advocate on the state Lobby Team, was invited to present at the university’s Department of Communication Journalism and Public Interest Communication program Autumn Mixer. 

Austin Jenkins of Northwest News Network and host of TVW’s “Inside Olympia” program moderated the panel, which also featured associate professor Matthew Powers of UW’s Center for Journalism, Media & Democracy and Jennifer Henrichsen, Ph.D., the chief researcher for a major Washington State University study on Washington’s news ecosystem. She is also an assistant professor at WSU. 

Hucka said the League study “The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy” was the first comprehensive look at the decline of local news outlets in the state. It was completed in 2022.  

The study led to state and national League adoption of the policy position allowing Leagues nationwide to advocate for legislation and other solutions to the local news crisis, Hucka said. She also explained how the position has led to LWVWA advocacy of several bills in the Washington Legislature. 

The panel explored the state of journalism in Washington today and how to use research and knowledge to strengthen democracy and local news.  

Dozens of UW journalism students and Seattle-area journalists attended. 

Hucka is a former journalist and adjunct faculty at UW, where she oversaw a training program that placed student journalists in Olympia to report on the Legislature.  

For more information about the League’s work in local news, contact News Team chair Dee Anne Finken.  

The News Team meets the third Tuesday of each month. 

Cynthia Stewart, LWVWA Board first vice president and Advocacy Chair, receives the 2025 Dorothy Roberts award at the state League convention in June in Clark County. The award recognizes commitment, dedication, and passion for the mission of the state League and salutes the recipient’s work in the wider community that has brought recognition to the League.

By Angela Gyurko, Nominating Committee Director, LWV of Washington

“What made you first step into a leadership position?” I asked Cynthia Stewart, the LWVWA board’s first vice president. Her answer caught me by surprise.  

“Someone asked me to.” 

Stewart first joined the League in 1972, staying active until 1977 when she returned to the workforce to support herself and her three children. When she retired in 2009, she stepped back into League work, noting that many of the people she had met in the 1970s were still friends and still active. 

“I enjoyed the grunt work,” she explained, “doing the typing, copying, and addressing newsletters when all that work was done by hand. When I came back in 2009, LWV Thurston County was doing a study on governance in Thurston County. There were three cities, a small population, and a lot of repetitive structures that didn’t seem to make sense. I dove right in, helping with the study, and doing newsletters and mailings.” 

“But how long,” I asked her, “before you first joined a board?” 

For Stewart, it was one year after she rejoined the Thurston League that she first served on their board. Three years after that, in 2013, Stewart first served on the LWVWA board. 

There’s a perception that a person has to serve a certain number of years or participate in a certain number of activities before they are “qualified” to be a League leader. I came into the League with that perception, but as we talked, it became clear that the person willing to do the on-the-ground grunt work is often the best person to try their hand at leading.  

“It helps everyone when leaders serve at every level,” she told me. 

Stewart is definitely an expert at this, and her experience highlights the importance of rotating between local League duties, local League leadership, and state League leadership.  

The recipient of the 2025 Dorothy Roberts award, Stewart has served two terms on the LWV Thurston County board, three terms as president of LWV Tacoma-Pierce County and three terms on the LWVWA board. She’s also served on the Advocacy Team since 2009 and is the current Advocacy Chair. 

“I always want to be contributing,” she told me.  

If you feel like now could be your time to step up and lead, consider this your invitation.  

Talk with your local League about their leadership needs or check out the LWVWA Nominating Committee website to learn more about serving at the LWVWA level.  

The strength of the League has always been its members. And leading is a great way to learn about all the possibilities for engagement and involvement that exist within the League.