Win at Trivial Pursuit! When was the first Temperance and Good Citizenship Day in Washington state? Hint: not long after women won the right to vote and the League of Women Voters was established.

In 1923 the Washington State Legislature proclaimed Temperance and Good Citizenship Day. Almost 100 years later, the purpose is still the same: “To promote civics education and peaceful citizen engagement.”

Clark County League member Teresa Torres talked about the purpose of this day with high school juniors, telling them that:

Temperance and Good Citizenship Day seems like an odd name for an important date. In this case, temperance means exhibiting moderation. Today you are going to learn an important part of being a good citizen—registering to vote and then using that right for the common good.

Read Teresa’s recent article, “Local View: Observance Vital for Democracy,” in The Columbian.

State law requires that all high schools in Washington state reserve this day every year for voter registration. Did your League work with schools for Temperance and Good Citizenship Day on January 14, 2022? Contact LWVWA Board Member Beth Pellicciotti—she would like to learn more about your work with schools.

By the LWV of Washington Nominating Committee

Do you have a passion for our democracy and defending it in these difficult times? Have you thought about your role in leading the LWV of Washington into the future?

If you're like me, the last few weeks have been tough. Commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, watching the same violent footage, and hearing some members of the U.S. Congress defend or even deny what happened can be beyond discouraging. But I hope you are also like me and turning that discouragement into motivation to do everything possible to defend our democracy from very real threats.

Service on the state board offers an opportunity to work collaboratively toward LWVWA goals, share your League successes with other members, build your leadership skills, help set the future for the LWVWA, and expand your commitment to the League.

We have extended the application deadline through February to give you some extra time to consider applying to the LWVWA Board.

We are looking for individuals who are:

• Dedicated to the League’s mission, “Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.”
• Committed to the LWVWA’s strategic plan, our nonpartisan policy, our commitment to advocacy, voter services, civic education, communications, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

The position serves on both the LWV of Washington Education Fund (c3) and LWV of Washington (c4) Boards.

We encourage individuals with varying work and volunteer experiences to apply. Whatever your background, we would like to talk to you. We seek individuals who are creative and hard-working. If this sounds like you, apply to the LWVWA Board. We also welcome your recommendations for candidates to the LWVWA Board.

More information about how you can contribute your time and talent by serving on the LWVWA Board is available on the LWVWA website. If you would like to know more, contact the Nominating Committee at nomcom@lwvwa.org.

By Dee Anne Finken, Local and Regional News Study Chair, LWV of Washington

The state study looking at the impact of the decline in local and regional news operations continues its work as the new year begins: the study group has already conducted 20 interviews, primarily with scholars, journalism professionals, and government and civic leaders. The 10 League members who are participating have reviewed more than 400 articles and other documents.

Among the findings to date are a correlation between the decline and increased public financing costs, less scrutiny of government and corporate decisions and actions, greater political polarization, and reduced civic engagement.

Studies the group has reviewed include Financing Dies in Darkness: The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance; When Towns Lose Their Newspapers, Disease Detectives Are Left Flying Blind; When Newspapers Close, Voters Become More Partisan; and Civic Engagement Strongly Tied to Local News Habits. 

Much has been written about the national decline; this study group is tracking staff cutbacks and closures in Washington state, and then looking at how those reductions are impacting various aspects of our society, including public health, public financing, civic engagement, and political participation (by candidates and voters). We are tracking how civic and government leaders view these changes and specifically how they impact our basic democratic systems.

The group is researching a range of suggestions for turning the tide, including the development of community partnerships, nonprofits, and legislation. Also being addressed is how the pandemic has changed the climate for news organizations and consumers.

Another area being explored is the impact social media giants are having, from publishing content local and regional news operations produce to the advertising revenues they capture. Additionally, sources are addressing the impact of misinformation and disinformation from social media and so-called “pink slime” publications that, while pretending to focus on local news, are actually promoting partisan issues and gathering user data.

Celebrating the League’s Birthday

In February, the League will be celebrating its 102nd birthday with action, advocacy, and storytelling. Women have powered democracy for over 100 years, and for our birthday we are coming together across the country to build power for elections in 2022. We will honor the 102-year legacy of our organization with a day of unified, pro-voter action as one League, together. Celebrate the League’s legacy by joining Leagues across the country for LWV Birthday Action on Feb. 14, 2022. Sign your League up to take action. More resources are to come.

2022 Legislative Trends

The LWVUS strives to provide guidance and policy outlooks to state and local Leagues around the country, whether it be tracking legislation, interpreting bills, or responding to advocacy inquiries. The League is revamping its legislative guidance this year to provide a better outlook on the trends that Leagues may expect in state legislatures. This comes in direct response to feedback from League leaders, and we hope it will be helpful as Leagues consider their legislative priorities for 2022.

LWUVS Advocacy Legislative Office Hours

To provide more direct support to Leagues this coming year, the LWVUS Advocacy team will be officially launching Legislative Office Hours—register and see dates. This is a regular space to open our virtual offices and listen to and support your legislative work. To start, office hours will be the second and last Thursdays of every month, from 3–4 p.m. ET/noon-1 p.m. PT. To accommodate those interested, please plan on having the meetings last up to 15 minutes. If you plan on calling about specific positions or bills, please contact us at advocacy@lwv.org with an email subject “Leg Office Hours,” a brief description of what you wish to discuss, and any documents/attachments. This will ensure our team can come to our meeting as prepared as possible.

LWVUS Small-Dollar Funding Flyer

Prior to the holiday break, the LWVUS sent boxes of small half-page flyers to state Leagues outlining the merits of small-dollar campaign funding. It is our hope that Leagues will use these flyers over the course of the next year as we work to engage voters in the 2022 election. Provisions in the Freedom to Vote Act provide the opportunity for states to create small-dollar funding systems, which give voters more of a voice in elections. Whether the bill passes or not, we will need to build support for small-dollar funding across the country. If you have any questions or concerns, or you are a state League that has not received flyers, please reach out to jjones@lwv.org.

Updated LWV Website and Resources

For the past year, the LWVUS team has been hard at work on a website redesign that showcases the LWVUS even more powerfully. We're pleased to announce that the updated site design will launch the week of January 24! This relaunch is the first major part of ongoing work to make our site stronger and includes:

• New homepage design that better highlights our focus areas, major legal cases, recent news, and VOTE411.
• An update to the main directory of resources and points of contact. The Guide to LWV Services for Leagues is the best starting place for League leaders to receive answers to their questions and get in touch with the right staff person at the LWVUS.
• Modernized design across the site.
• Custom "Take Action" to-do lists on our primary issue pages to empower users to get involved.
• Enhanced search abilities, including the ability to search by content type and topic.
• On-page donation options to ease the donor experience.
• Accessibility upgrades on the back end to improve the user experience.

This is ongoing work—changes currently in progress or coming later in the year include:

• A legal center with detailed information about all our legal cases.
• A new design for our League Management Site.
• Thorough accessibility upgrades to all of our content.
• Updates to all of our web content.

We're very excited to introduce the new site design to you and to continue our digital enhancements throughout 2022.

2022 Program Planning Leader’s Guide & Survey

The Program Planning Leader's Guide and survey response form are now available for Leagues to use at their program planning meetings in early 2022. The input of League boards will help shape the proposed program of study and actions that will be voted on by convention delegates in June. Program planning report forms must be returned online by Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Each League is entitled to one response, and individual member responses are not accepted. Access the Leader’s Guide and the 2022 Program Survey. For questions about program planning, email progplan@lwv.org.

LWVUS 2022 Convention

The 2022 Convention will take place June 23–26 in Denver, CO, and online. Current information is available now on the LWVUS website, including FAQs as well as the following resources:

• Proposed Bylaws Amendments
• Program Planning Survey Forms
• Hardship Designations
• Caucus Applications
• Wares Market Table Applications
• Event registration and hotel reservations are scheduled to open at the end of January.
  
  

In Case You Missed It

• Blog: 5 Ways to Defend Democracy in 5 Minutes, by LWV president Dr. Deborah Ann Turner
• Blog: The League's 2021 Accomplishments, by CEO Virginia Kase Solomón
• Report: Election Audit Report comparing 2009 League Guidance and the 2021 Bipartisan Policy Center Report

New Redistricting 101 Video  

The LWVUS is excited to launch What Is Redistricting?, a 60-second video that explains the redistricting process, its impact, and how people can get involved. This is a new tool for Leagues to use that can be found on the League of Women Voters YouTube channel.  

Additionally, the LWVUS has created a social media toolkit that includes a link to the video and sample social media posts to use when sharing the video online.  

VOTE411 Voter Guide Platform Training 

You still have three more chances to take the VOTE411 Voter Guide platform training on the new voter guide technology, which all Leagues will use to complete their 2022 voter guides. The training will teach you about the new platform and you will be able to ask questions about the technology or the VOTE411 program in general. These webinars are for both current VOTE411 Leagues and Leagues that have never used the platform before—if you’re curious and want to learn more, register now! The final three trainings will be held on the following dates, with registration required. You need only register for one training, as all trainings are the same.  

Saturday, Dec. 18, 9 a.m. PT 

Tuesday, Dec. 28, 11 a.m. PT 

Thursday, Jan. 6, 3 p.m. PT 

How Native American Women Inspired the Women’s Suffrage Movement 

Read the LWVUS blog post on the vital role that Native American women played in the women’s suffrage movement, although they were excluded themselves from the movement. 

A League Member’s View of the UN Climate Change Conference 

During the first two weeks in November, the United Kingdom hosted the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. One League member received a scholarship to attend this event as a delegate observer for the LWV of the United States. Read her report on the LWVUS website 

With the holiday season upon us, the newsletters will be published on the following schedule: 

• The Voter, will not be published the first week of January. The next Voter will be published on February 4, 2022 (article deadline Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022). 

• This Month in the League will be published on January 21, 2022 (article deadline Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022). 

In the meantime, the Washington State legislative session begins Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, and is scheduled to run through Thursday, March 10, 2022. In anticipation of the legislative session, the first Legislative Newsletter will be published prior to the legislative start and then published every Sunday throughout the legislative session. Don’t forget to sign up for the Legislative Newsletter. 

You can find submission information for both newsletters in every TMIL as well as on the LWVWA website. 

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year from the LWV of Washington! 

By Susan Fleming, Advocacy Lobby Team Portfolio Director, LWVWA

Sad to say, the holidays will soon be behind us. But the exciting work of moving our wonderful state of Washington forward will be commencing when the 2022 legislature begins on Monday, Jan. 10. There is so much on the table for this short, 60-day session, which has already started in many ways. Bills are being proposed, committees are forming and meeting, and the legislative chambers and legislators’ offices in Olympia are being prepared—even if some things will be remote this session.

Lobby Week is also one of those things that will be remote again this year. We need to remember that while conducting business remotely has its challenges, it also has benefits, such as the ability to meet and testify from home! So many more of us have been able to participate because of this—it is perhaps a step forward for democracy.

Lobby Week begins on Monday, Jan. 24 and concludes on Thursday, Jan. 27. The first evening will be a jam-packed, information-filled program, followed by two and a half days of district-level meetings with legislators, and a concluding program on the final evening. The Monday evening program, which begins at 5 p.m., will include:

• Democracy topics, including elections, voting, and money in politics
• Redistricting status and ongoing work
• Climate, land use, and housing
• A moderated panel discussion with legislative leaders
• A How-to-Lobby session, including questions and answers

For more information and to register, visit the Lobby Week page on the League website. A $5 donation is requested to help cover expenses; this will be shared with our co-sponsor, Fix Democracy First. An additional donation to either Fix Democracy First or the League of Women Voters of Washington is welcome and appreciated.

Please join us for this event. It’s a great way to both learn about the upcoming session and get real experience lobbying along with folks in your district.

Because a strong democracy requires informed citizen participation, ACT (Action Coffee Time) via Zoom invites you to learn more about the topics we are called to take action on in our weekly Legislative Newsletter. League members statewide and guests who want to be informed citizen advocates are all welcome to attend. 

Weekly informational and question-and-answer sessions using League, state, and community resources will provide the background information you need on topics related to current Washington state legislation. Get the basics, then use the LWVWA's weekly Legislative Newsletter to let your legislators hear your voice. Public banking, local options (ranked-choice voting), advisory votes, carbon pricing basics, and gun safety legislation will be some of the topics discussed. 

ACT via Zoom sessions will be held every Monday beginning Jan. 3, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (with an optional 11-11:15 a.m. social time) through March 14. Attend as your interest in a topic and schedule allow. Each session will also be recorded so you can view them anytime. 

To receive a schedule of topics and the Zoom link, email Carol Sullivan. You can also make note of the recurring meeting ID and  password: 

Zoom Meeting 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82841749719?pwd=K3cweWNUbkg0bkM0ZzRML2U1TXVBdz09 

Meeting ID: 828 4174 9719 

Passcode: 619917 

To put these meetings on your calendar, you can import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system. 

Registration is now open for the Cultivating Civic Conversations (CCC): About the State of Our Democracy seminar group. This free, 10-week seminar begins Thursday, Jan. 6 and runs through Thursday, March 8 and is presented twice a day (11 a.m. and 5 p.m.) to accommodate different schedules. Open to the public, it offers participants an opportunity to step back and use a “beginner’s mind” when discussing civic education and engagement. If we want to encourage our friends, co-workers, and family to participate in our democracy, then sometimes we need a fresh approach—one that makes fewer assumptions about what “everyone knows” about our history and government. 

The CCC seminar uses the LWVWA’s elementary civics textbook, The State We’re In: Washington, as the anchoring framework. The book is available online at no charge or as a hard copy (purchase through the LWVWA website). Links and purchasing details will be included in the registration and welcome materials. Register and view more information on the CCC Sutra site. 

Cultivating Civic Conversations Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2022 

Join Katherine Murphy and Bonita Gill for a CCC event celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 17 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the general public, will focus on three elements:  

• Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”  

• Dr. King’s 1967 interview with NBC 

• The principle of nonviolent direct action  

Participants will receive the links to this content in advance so that we can have a constructive conversation about Dr. King’s legacy in its original historical context. This session will include music, video, and other content and offers time for large group reflection and small breakouts. We hope that the event will encourage all of us to honor Dr. King’s legacy throughout the year by “getting in good trouble.” Register on the CCC Sutra site. 

To stay apprised of CCC events, sign up to receive the CCC newsletter. For more information about the Cultivating Civic Conversations program, contact Katherine Murphy.  

 

By Alison McCaffree, Redistricting Issue Chair, LWVWA 

Redistricting in 2021 for Washington state’s legislative and congressional districts has been full of surprises. In the 2020 legislative  session, the LWVWA saw support for a reform bill (HB 2575), which passed the House but not the Senate. Three people of color were appointed to the Washington State Redistricting Commission, the first time the commission wasn’t all white. Over a six-month input process, the commission had unprecedented input from communities. More people understood, cared about, and acted in the process than ever before, and communities small and large clearly stated their preferences for their voting districts. 

Unfortunately for public advocates, the commission finished with behind-the-scenes negotiations that included a last-second vote before the constitutional deadline. The chair of the commission officially stated that they did not meet their deadline and handed responsibility over to the Washington Supreme Court. The commission completed and published its maps anyway, indicating in a press conference that the four voting commissioners supported the maps and they hoped the court would accept them. 

In a surprise order on Friday, Dec. 3, the Washington Supreme Court declared that the Washington State Redistricting Commission had substantially met its constitutional deadline. The court declined to redraw the maps. The commission’s final maps will stand as the district lines for elections in 2022 through 2031. The court did not make any decision on the constitutionality of the maps, which could be challenged under the federal Voting Rights Act and the Open Meetings Act. We will see in the coming months how many lawsuits will be filed challenging the commission’s process and the final maps. 

You can find the final maps on Dave’s Redistricting website at the following links. These maps allow you to compare the new districting with the old districts. 

Legislative maps 

Congressional maps 

The maps appear to have been done in haste, and there are many areas where the maps do not follow what we heard from communities. The LWVWA will look to those communities most affected to lead when it comes to challenging the maps. The LWVWA will move ahead on legislative and constitutional reforms to the redistricting process. 

Here's what’s next: 

• Feedback: Many of you participated in the redistricting process over the last years. To help us plan for the next round, we need your feedback. Please fill out this quick survey. 

• Short-term reform: Using the momentum stemming from the discord over the rocky end to the redistricting process, we need to act quickly to create reform. In the 2022 legislative session, we will be lobbying for a redistricting reform bill. Our goal is to implement comprehensive change that modernizes the process, ensures transparency, and gives equal access to all. 

• Long-term reform: We know the world has changed considerably since 1983, when an independent bipartisan redistricting commission was established by law. We are advocating for structural change to our commission that would include ordinary citizens and citizens who do not represent either major party. This will require a bill in the legislature and a vote of the people to pass a state constitutional amendment. 

If you have any questions or comments, or want to be involved in short- and long-term reforms, please contact me, Alison McCaffree.