The League of Women Voters is a grassroots organization, and some of our most important work comes directly from local Leagues. This is especially true in program planning. Program planning sets the agenda for activities at the local, state, and national levels—and it all starts locally.  

Each year, usually in January, local Leagues get together and plan the “programs” for the upcoming two years. The “program” is defined in the LWVUS bylaws as:  “action to implement the principles and those governmental issues chosen by the convention for concerted study or concurrence and action.”  A proposed program may include studies, concurrence with another League’s position or educational programs.  

Every year, a local League can propose its own programs, like planning its “to-do list” for the upcoming year. The program is approved by membership at a local league’s annual meeting. In odd-numbered years, local leagues also propose programs for implementation at the state level, for example, a statewide study of local news. The state board will then recommend which of these proposals should be undertaken, and a vote is taken to approve the proposed two-year program at the state convention. All program planning processes should incorporate a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) lens into the analysis. 

In even-numbered years, local leagues can propose programs to the national league through a survey posted on the LWVUS website. Learn more about program planning at the national level here. In addition to information about the process, you can review the survey form and register for program planning webinars early next year.  

This year, the LWVWA is requesting the local Leagues support the LWVUS adopting, through concurrence, the LWVWA positions on The Decline of Local News. You can find information about this study and positions here.

We will be sending out more information in December on this issue, so be on the lookout!

LWVUS points out in its Membership Leadership Development Handbook that “how groups learn to handle conflict sets the stage for everything they do together. Research has shown that conflict resolution can spiral up or down." The Handbook recommends that Leagues adopt a conflict resolution policy to prepare for addressing the inevitable conflicts that cannot be easily resolved. 

 
LWVWA adopted a policy for conflict resolution at its October Board meeting. The policy began as a complaint resolution process but moved beyond that into a much broader policy. Based on guidelines provided in the LWVUS guidance on complaint processes, it addresses conflicts at the state League level—among Board members and in LWVWA committees, including the Lobby Team. It does not address conflicts at other levels of League. But the LWVWA Board of Directors hopes that this document can serve as a model for local Leagues, if they don’t already have a policy of their own. 

The process in this policy is based on the concept that the best resolution is among those directly involved, and at the earliest possible time. It provides a path for formal intervention and support, should the conflict not be resolved at the lowest level. 

We encourage our members to read the new policy in the LWVWA's Policies and Procedures here. See page 10 in that document for the policy summary and Appendix C for the policy in total. For more information, contact Shelley Kneip or Cynthia Stewart. 

Also take a look at the Membership Leadership Development Handbook. Among its many other features, It has a wealth of information about conflict, including about causes, types and ways to resolve it.   

The League of Women Voters is such an interesting organization because there are established processes in place to move ideas to action at all League levels: local, state and national. Program is hugely important in the League. Visit LWVUS, 2024-2026 Program Planning Instructions to learn more about what's going on.

There is often overlap and intersection among Leagues as we engage in this Program Planning. Concurrence is a good example. Different Leagues take advantage of the hard work other Leagues have done to adopt new positions for use in their community.  

I am pleased to report to you that LWVWA is now engaged in taking our Local News positions to the LWVUS Convention where we will ask Leagues across the country to concur with our position. The LWVWA Board of Directors approved this effort at our October board meeting.

How did we get here?

Last year, LWV of Washington adopted two sets of positions and added them to our already existing positions: Local News and Shorelines. First came Program Planning, where members submitted ideas for consideration to their local Leagues; they forwarded them to the LWVWA Board to be evaluated before sending on to convention. At LWVWA Convention, delegates adopted these ideas in the form of scope and focus. Committees delved into the topics and produced studies. After much hard work, the study committees presented their work to the membership for discussion and consensus. Finally, the LWVWA Board of Directors adopted positions. These positions are now available for use by state and local Leagues in the public arena—in Washington state, that is. How about the rest of the country?  

Our Local News study found that there are stresses in local news across the country. Should all 50 states do a study on this topic so they can use our excellent positions in their communities? Not necessary. There is more efficient way to go: concurrence.

Program Chair Shelley Kneip is shepherding the work of bringing these positions to the June 2024 LWVUS Convention for concurrence, with the able assistance of the Local News Committee and its chair, Dee Anne Finken.  

There is much to learn about this process. For example, state Leagues can hold program planning meetings just as local Leagues do. Our state League hasn't done this in recent memory; what would it look like? We are delving into this and other questions about the process as we move toward the goal of Local News positions being adopted at the national level. If successful, LWVUS will be able to lobby at the congressional level, and all Leagues will be able to lobby for needed change at their state and local League levels. This is a powerful opening for change that empowers voters and defends democracy.  

This intriguing process is just one of the many ways to engage in the work carried out by the League of Women Voters. If you are looking for a way to take a more active role in League, please let me know and I will help you find your way.  

Mary Coltrane, LWVWA President
mary.coltrane@lwvwa.org

At our 2023 convention, members approved three new programs for the 2023-2024 biennium. This included two studies and a project. 

The two studies are:

1. "Caregiving in Washington State: What exists and what is needed to support seniors and other vulnerable adults and their caregivers." As defined by the study committee, the scope of this study will be “vulnerable adults sixty years of age or older who have the functional, mental, or physical inability to care for themselves and who still reside in their homes and communities.”  The Committee Chair is Karen Tvedt.
   
   
2. "Immigration and Immigrant Integration." The Committee Chair is Susan Martin.
   

The education project is:

1.  “Multi-Member Districts.” Committee Chair Kit Muehlman.

All three programs are underway and committees have been formed, but they welcome additional members.  If you’re interested in working on any of these programs, or learning more about them, please reach out to the committee chairs listed above.

State Board Action on Convention Resolutions: Closing the Loop

The League of Women Voters of Washington's 2023 Convention concluded last May with two resolutions and a budget amendment that required state Board follow-up. These include:

• A budget amendment directing the state Board to reach out to local Leagues to ask for input on  advocacy priorities;
• A resolution related to redistricting; and
  
• A resolution related to mature forests.
  

If you attended Convention, perhaps you wondered what became of these motions. The state Board dealt with these items at its September board meeting.

Here's what happened:

The Board reached out to the local Leagues to get views on the state League's advocacy as required by the budget amendment. Responses showed a fair amount variability. The state Board will evaluate legislative priorities with this input in mind.  

The Board adopted a plan to carry out the requirements of the Redistricting Resolution. The plan for the 2023-25 League biennium consists of the following:

1. Appointing a board liaison.
2. Coordinating fundraising with existing LWVWA fundraising efforts.
   
3. Undertaking a survey.
   
4. Incorporating redistricting in outreach to local Leagues.
   

The Board adopted a motion to establish the Redistricting Reform Task Force as a LWVWA committee. Alison McCaffree is chair and Martin Gibbons is the board liaison. Coordinating with overall state League fundraising and conducting a survey were also adopted by board motion. Committee work to accomplish this is underway. Contact Alison McCaffree for more information.  

Finally,  a Letter regarding mature forests was sent to Governor Inslee and others who were listed on the resolution. This letter urges the recipients to support an immediate moratorium on any further commercial harvest of mature forests on public lands in Washington State. In addition to carrying out this direction from convention delegates, the board established a Mature Forests Committee. Kate Lunceford has agreed to chair this committee. Contact Marty Gibbins for more information.

Vote411 has been published for the general election!

There are over 3000 races in this election, and although many are small, we had to find the correct information for each. Please be sure to check the information for your own races, so any errors can be corrected before a lot voters access the guide. With so many races, some errors are inevitable.

There are still some races that will not show up in Vote 411, because of the geographic information systems for some districts. This information determines who votes in the races, but it isn’t all included in the system yet. But we are continuing to work on getting it all in. Most of the missing races are water and sewer districts.  

This is a good time to check whether your candidates have responded, and encourage those who have not to do so. Ballots drop on October 20, and most voters will not check the guide until then. Let the candidates know that they can still submit, even though the guide has been published. 

And, as always, continue to spread the word about Vote411.org.

With the green light from the state Board to pursue national concurrence of the Local News position—as well as a number of other advocacy and education efforts—the state Local News Committee is moving forward and welcomes your participation! Learn more about the work the Committee has been doing.

The Committee meets the third Tuesday of each month, via Zoom, from 1:30-3:00PM. The next meeting is on Tuesday, October 17. Contact Dee Anne Finken with questions or for more information.

On October 9, the State Board approved a motion for the LWVWA to seek national concurrence of the Local News position, which will mean a lot of work in the coming weeks.

Concurrence is the act of agreeing with a position, which then allows for League membership to take action on that position. In Washington, our state League conducted an extensive study on local news and its significance to democracy. We then reached consensus on a position based on that study.  Because we conducted the study and then, as a state, reached consensus on the position, we can take action. For other states and the national League to be able to take action on a position, they can conduct their own studies and reach consensus, or concur with our work.  The latter, of course, is a great deal less work.

The value of another state concurring with our work is that that state could also take action.  With national concurrence, all other tate and local leagues may rely on the positions to develop support for actions taken at those levels. For local news, that is valuable because federal legislation has been proposed to deal with the decline and passage of federal laws could be helpful nationwide.  Other states have also proposed legislation and local jurisdictions may do the same.  Concurrence nationally would allow for advocacy that could result in benefits uniformly across the country at all levels.

Representatives from other state Leagues that have pursued national concurrence have advised LWVWA leadership that a state is more likely to secure national concurrence if there is broad support from individual state Leagues as well. Thus, one key effort will be creating support for our position among the other 49 state Leagues across the country. Already, the Colorado state League has signaled interest in supporting the LWVWA position and the Virginia state League has requested a presentation by the LWVWA League on our position.

Meanwhile, the Local News Committee is also tracking legislation and programs in other states that support local news. These range from proposals for refundable payroll tax credits for newspapers that hire additional staff, all the way to university fellowship programs that will add journalists to newsrooms in underserved communities. 

The Committee is also kicking off a pilot program to provide News Media Literacy training for social studies instructors in Spokane Public Schools. Committee member Joanne Lisosky (LWV Pierce/Tacoma) is taking the lead. Lisosky taught for more than 20 years at Pacific Lutheran University, where she developed a news media literacy curriculum. First vice president Beth Pellicciotti noted that this effort aligns with goals identified in both Civics Education and the Local News positions.  

In early October, the Yakima Herald-Republic published an op-ed submitted by League president Lee Murdock and state director Dee Anne Finken discussing the philanthropic efforts to support the Yakima Free Press Campaign, which includes the goal of expanding digital access to local news to low-income residents. 

“The local news crisis is daunting,” said Sharon Miracle, executive director of the Yakima Valley Community Foundation, which organized and leads the Free Press campaign.  “But we are doing our utmost to ensure we are well positioned to maintain local journalism.” 

In Clark County, the League will join with the Fort Vancouver Regional Library to host a community conversation about the local news crisis and its impact. Titled “Does Local News Even Matter,” the November 16 event will feature Vancouver mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, who is a League member; a dean from the University of Oregon’s Agora Journalism Center; a faculty member from Washington State University Vancouver’s Edward R. Murrow College; and journalists from four local news outlets.  

To learn more about the local news crisis and its impacts on democracy, you can read the LWVWA's study, "The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy," available as a free PDF or for purchase as an e-book ($1.99) or paperback book ($9.52) on Amazon.

By Miriam Kerzner, LWVWA Board Member and Nominating Committee Member

The Board of Directors for the League of Women Voters of Washington is seeking applicants or nominations for the next board term. Learn more, apply, or nominate someone here.

I had long supported my local League financially when I was chosen to serve on the state board.  In all that time, though, I had never actively participated. While I appreciated the League of Women Voters in general, my knowledge of what it did and how was shallower than a puddle. Surprisingly, becoming involved first at the state level was an excellent first step to learning about the League and provided me with the tools to become a more effective member of my local League at the end of the two-year term.  

There is no better way to grasp the League’s web of organizations than to sit in the middle of it.  Nowhere else do you sense the tension between adhering to National’s broad mandates and respecting the independence and limits of local Leagues.  Similarly, the state board gives participants the opportunity to see how state-wide projects grow out of local concerns and interests, flourish with the active support of state-level institutions, and sometimes influence national or other state organizations.  

The best part is that the network is made up of deeply engaged, caring, thoughtful people all of whom care about the League and for other volunteers.  I had never organized an event before joining the state board.  Organizing the Convention was terrifying. I succeeded because of the generosity and support of the other board members and that of the host league, Benton-Franklin County.  Everyone lent me their experience, their time, their knowledge, and their sympathy. In the process, I have developed a set of friends I know I can call on for help and advice in the future. My experience reinforced that none of us need to be experts; we just need to be willing to show up.  

Ultimately, the foundational work is done at the local League level and being a member of the state board provides you with tools and friends that can enhance that effort and enrich your life in unforeseen ways. 

More than a half-dozen Washington newspapers in mid-August published an op-ed by LWVWA President Mary Coltrane and state board member Dee Anne Finken about the LWVWA study, "The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy."

The authors used the news of the early August police raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas as a jumping-off point for the op-ed, saying the incident “should remind us of the vital role local newspapers play throughout the country, serving us all.”

The Salish Current, Tacoma Weekly, South Seattle Emerald, Wenatchee World, Kitsap Sun, Cascadia Daily News, and The Chronicle of Chehalis and Centralia were among the news outlets that published the piece. The op-ed that appeared in the Salish Current also featured details about local League efforts in Skagit, Whatcom, and San Juan counties in support of expanding awareness about the importance of local news.   

President Coltrane said expanding awareness about the impact of the decline is key in the League’s efforts to empower voters and defend democracy.  “As our study indicates, robust local news is critical for people to be able to be active in their communities and participate with their local government.”

After the study was completed, members reached consensus on a League position on Local News. Most recently, the position enabled League leadership to advocate for the successful passage of WA Senate Bill 5199, which enables publishers to seek an exemption from the Business & Occupations tax.

You can read the op-ed in each of the following publications:

• Kitsap Sun
• South Seattle Emerald
• Tacoma Weekly

• The Wenatchee World
  

• Cascadia Daily News
• The Chronicle of Chehalis and Centralia
• The Salish Current
  

by Linda Benson, LWVWA Nominating Committee and LWV Clallam County.

When I was asked to apply to be on the Board of Directors at the state level of the League of Women Voters, I was surprised to say the least. I was involved in my local League and didn’t even send money to state or national when they did ‘asks’ for specific projects. I felt that working with, and financially supporting, my local League was where I could contribute the most.

After some conversations with local members and friends, I decided to fill out the application and see where it went. When I did the phone interview, I was in California because of a death in the family and didn’t feel very motivated. I was honest about my hesitation and, at that point in time, didn’t really care to make any commitments. Well...the rest is history! 

I ended up making the commitment to work at the state level for two years, while maintaining my connections where my heart was, at the local level. This decision was one of the best ones I’ve ever made, not just for me but also for my local League. When I joined the state board I didn’t know how much I didn’t know about the League of Women Voters. Here are some things I learned that very much contributed to my local League: 

• There really isn’t a state or national “League.” You join at your local level and become a member of a federation, with three levels.
  

• The main purpose for the state and national levels are to support the local Leagues and provide resources. 

• Local Leagues “loan” a member for two years to work at another level. 

• The League of Women Voters functions like a representative government (a republic, if you will). It is governed by consensus at local levels. From this consensus, policy positions are established by delegates from local Leagues at state and national conventions.  

• There are many benefits to a local League when there are interactions at those other levels of service. The quick connection to resources alone has been greatly beneficial for my home League. 

Though I'm no longer on the state board, I’m now dedicated to the state Nominating Committee and there are six board positions due for election at the 2024 Council. Terms are staggered so that new members join ‘seasoned’ members who help them with the transition. The state board is a team that works hard to support each other, with the goal of supporting Leagues at the local level to accomplish their goals. Please consider joining the team at the state level. Go to the website for more information and consider a new adventure of learning and fun!