This month, the LWVWA encourages local Leagues support our bid for national concurrence on our Local News position. This can be done through your League's program planning process, as well by supporting the concurrence proposal at the national Convention in June—attendance can be either virtual or in-person.

The LWVWA's study, the Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy, detailed the alarming effect of the nationwide loss of one-fourth of our newspapers and the statewide loss of one-fifth. The study showed we have fewer candidates for local office, lower voter turnout, greater political partisanship, less civic engagement, increased government costs, among other challenges.

Many local Leagues in Washington are familiar with the Local News study, having participated in the 2022 consensus process. However, if you are unfamiliar (or would like a refresher), visit our website. You will find our local news study, our position, and the current actions we are taking on this issue. For viewing during your program planning meetings, a 7-minute informational video—created by the LWVWA Local News Committee—and summarizing the issue is available here.

The problems that stem from the decline of local news in the U.S. are snowballing. National adoption of the LWVWA position would provide the basis for any League throughout the country to advocate on national, state, and local legislation aimed at rebuilding independent local news outlets and expanding news media literacy.

The LWVWA will propose that LWVUS adopt the position by concurrence. We are asking each local League to submit the proposal to LWVUS through its program planning process. This would entail including local news concurrence in the national survey no later than March 10. You can find further information on how to do this here.

LWVUS Convention

The concurrence proposal will be voted on at the national Convention taking place June 27-30, 2024 in Washington D.C. Learn more about the national Convention here.

Convention provides an opportunity to participate at the national level in a number of ways:

• Delegates from throughout the nation will vote on the 2024-2026 LWVUS Program, the LWVUS budget, the LWVUS Board of Directors and Nominating Committee, and bylaws amendments,
• By providing opportunities to network with fellow League members, 
• Enabling participation in a variety of workshops and trainings, 
• Through a number of opportunities to hear from dynamic speakers.
  

The LWVWA encourage each local League to send as many delegates as they are allowed by the LWVUS bylaws. Delegates at Convention must be voting League members and may vote only if their League has met its per member payment responsibilities. Convention delegates are determined by a local League's membership numbers. Each League is permitted at least one delegate, with one additional delegate authorized for every 50 voting members the League has. Learn more about delegate allocation in Article IX, section 2 of the LWVUS bylaws.

More information about the national Convention will be available on our website soon. Contact Shelley Kneip for more information on the concurrence process, and Dee Anne Finken for more information on the LWVWA Local News study and position.

Be sure to register for Democracy Lobby Week, organized in collaboration with Fix Democracy First, January 22 through 26. This year’s program features a different set of issues each evening. Pick one or attend all!

During the day, Legislative District meetings will be scheduled to discuss issues directly with your local legislators. Use your Speak-up School skills in these 15-minute sessions, which are invaluable in assuring that your legislators know what you would like them to do.

Register Now

Here’s the schedule for this week:

Monday, January 22

An overview of the week and presentation by the Secretary of State on election issues.

Tuesday, January 23

Three Environmental Priorities 

• Reducing waste with the passage of the Re-WRAP Act
• Maintaining funding for the Climate Commitment Act projects
• Establishing zero emission school bus program statewide

Wednesday, January 24

More about Elections: Achieving Better Representation in the 21st Century

• What would better representation look and feel like to you? 
• Why does better representation matter? 
  
• How can we achieve better representation?
• Overview of redistricting

Thursday, January 25

Promoting Basic Human Rights for People in State Custody  

Washington is committed to racial equity, safety and promoting successful community transitions for individuals detained in secure facilities.  What needs to happen in education, health care, voting rights and other state policies/programs to make these priorities a reality?   

Learn about bills being considered by the Legislature, including limiting solitary confinement and promoting voting rights and access to education.  Other high priority social and economic policy bills will be discussed briefly.

Friday, January 26

Take time to debrief and celebrate the week.

Join any or all of these sessions. We hope to see you there!

Sign Up Today

Dear Members,

December can be a quiet time in the League year. The election is over and all the hubbub to educate voters via candidate forums, tabling events, and getting out the vote has died down. The legislative session has yet to begin. Studies and committee work are underway at both the state League and local Leagues. Many Leagues use December as a time for social connections and to meet legislators before the next election season gears up. Other work happens as well—much of it the behind-the-scenes type of work that keeps the League going. For example, there is much preparation at LWVUS happening for National Convention, scheduled to occur this spring, from June 27 to June 30 in Washington D.C. 

This convention will be particularly exciting for LWVWA because we are submitting our recently adopted positions on Local News and Its Impact on Democracy. Please see this article about concurrence for more information. The LWVWA is asking Washington local Leagues to also submit these positions to National Convention for concurrence.  

Much happens at National Convention. Program, budget, nominating committee—everything that will guide LWVUS for the following two years comes up in representative democracy fashion for delegates to act on. I hope every local League will be able to send a full delegation to this important event and urge folks to start thinking about it now. Doing so will increase the odds of getting as many people who want to attend—in-person or virtually—in the room.  

See LWVUS Program Planning Webinars to learn more about program planning at the National League level. 

Post script: The LWVWA Board of Directors will be holding a retreat later in December to review the findings of the Washington State University Research Plan for Assessing LWVWA Effectiveness with a particular focus on the External Survey. I anticipate that next steps for disseminating and discussing this information will follow. Stay tuned. 

 Best,

Mary Coltrane, LWVWA President

Increasingly, fewer candidates seem to respond to the League's outreach to participate in candidate forums. As a result—because of the League’s "no empty chair debate" stance—forums are often foregone, leaving those candidates who do want to participate without a venue to do so.

LWV Kittitas County's (LWVKC) goal is to create "super voters" (people who vote in every election for which they receive a ballot) in younger voters and underserved communities. In pursuit of this, LWVKC wants to get lots of candidate information in front of more voters.

In 2023, there were nearly 80 candidates running for 64 positions in Kittitas County (not counting Selah or Naches school districts). 15 positions had two candidates, the remaining positions had a candidate running unopposed. The League reached out multiple times to the 30 candidates in 15 races, offering something new: a one-on-one interview with a League moderator asking 3 questions sourced from the community. Regardless of whether the opponent also agreed to participate, the League would record and share the candidate’s responses.

Of the 30 candidates vying for 15 positions, the League interviewed 18 (including one write-in candidate for Ellensburg City Council). Interviews were conducted on Zoom with a League moderator and one candidate. Resulting videos were stitched together into a playlist. The League provided an intro explaining the purpose of the special district and its responsibilities and the candidate interview. Candidates for the same position were asked the same questions, in the same order. All videos were uploaded to the LWVKC YouTube Channel and shared with traditional and social media. In addition, ECTV2 ran all of the videos throughout the voting period.

In 6 races, the LWVKC interviewed both candidates for each race. In 6 races, only one of the two candidates responded and was interviewed. In 3 races, none of the 6 candidates responded to multiple outreach attempts by the League.

So, what do the analytics show about this experiment? Let's take a look!

Unique channel views represent all views of all content for the specified period of time, so they may contain views of more than our candidate videos. The unique views column on the right in each table represents total views from upload to date. In Kittitas County in 2021, the odd year election before this one, the League featured 9 candidates in 5 contested races in live recorded Zoom events.

2021 Position	Unique Views
Hospital District 1, Position 3	64
Ellensburg City Council, Position 2	43
Roslyn City Council, Position 6	22
Kittitas Mayor	18
Thorp School District, Position 3 (one candidate had family emergency and could not attend)	13
Election Period: Oct 14-Nov 3 Channel Unique Views = 295, Impressions = 1407, click thru = 5.8% 2021 CY Channel Unique Views = 2,282, Impressions = 18,379, click thru = 4.3% Average candidate race video length: 41 minutes

In 2022, the LWVKC featured 7 Kittitas County candidates in 4 contested races via Zoom. Keep in mind, last year we had national, statewide, and county-wide contests. LD 13 candidates ran unopposed, as did many county-wide positions. The 4 candidate race videos we produced got respectable traffic, as shown in the table below. Please note, the table of unique views is for 2022 to date, which is why unique views for the actual 2022 voting period shows considerably less.

2022 Position	Unique Views
County Clerk (one candidate withdrew)	240
County Coroner	298
County Auditor	322
DC Judge	205
Election Period: Oct 19-Nov 1 Channel Unique Views = 625, Impressions = 4974, click thru = 3.2% 2022 CY Channel Unique Views = 2,200, Impressions = 17,224, Click thru = 4.1% Average candidate video length = 40 minutes

 

This year, LWVKC reached out to 30 candidates in 15 contested races and interviewed 18 of them. This is twice as many candidates as in 2021 and three times as many races as the past two years. The "*" in the table below represents the apparent winners.

2023 Position	Candidate	Unique Views
Parks & Rec 1, Position 1	Lucy Temple*	128
	Susie Weis	107
Parks & Rec 1, Position 5	Keegan Fengler	281
	Jennifer Hyatt*	365
Hospital District 1, Position 4	Jason Badgerow	315
	Jon Ward*	254
Fire District 2, Position 5	Neal Houser	258
Fire District 7, Position 2	Jeff Meyer*	122
	Bill Dickinson	81
Ellensburg SD, Position 2	Cathie Day*	177
Cle Elum-Roslyn SD,At Large2	Monica Oertli Medalen*	86
	Rob Iverson	69
Cle Elum City Council, Pos 2	Ken Ratliff*	41
Cle Elum Mayor	Matthew Lundh*	105
	Kerry Clark	100
Ellensburg City Council, Pos 4	Steve Verhey (WriteIn)	133
Kittitas City Council, Position 3	Jerry Lael*	13
Roslyn City Council, Position 4	Cathy Cook*	22
Election Period: Oct 20-Nov 7 Channel Unique Views = 2,629, Impressions = 9056, Click thru = 9.5% 2023 YTD channel unique views = 4,700, Impressions = 33,115, Click thru = 4.9% Average candidate video length: 7 minutes. Average candidate playlist length (two candidates plus intro) = 17.5 minutes, Average candidate playlist length (one candidate plus intro) = 10 minutes.

 

Caveats

For any given date range, unique views include all channel content, not just candidate videos. In 2023, LWVKC created multiple special district video explainers and playlists that also got a fair amount of traffic (775 views).

The YouTube algorithm favors shorter videos. YouTube Impressions are the number of times a LWVKC video thumbnail showed up in a viewer’s feed courtesy of YouTube. ‘Click throughs’ are the rate at which viewer’s clicked on those thumbnails.

In all three years, our videos were shared with ECTV2 and other traditional and social media.

Discussion

Our 2023 candidate interviews received a total of 2,629 unique views during the voting period, with nearly one thousand of those views occurring in the last three days of the election. This is four times the views in 2022 voting period and twelve times the views in 2021.

While the impression score has consistently risen during the voting period, in 2023, it was the click through rate of 9.5% that bears mention. That click rate means around 10% of the time, a viewer clicked on the LWVKC video thumbnail; twice what the amount in prior years.

By contrast, in-person candidate forums rarely exceeded 50 attendees.

Not only did the LWVKC interview considerably more candidates this year, but those interviews represented two to three times the races as in prior years. Half of our interviews were races where one of the candidates chose not to participate.

In viewing the age breakdown shown below, no measurable channel traffic by the 18-24 age group this year is disappointing, however, it is encouraging to see a more uniform distribution in viewers under the age of 65. This suggests success in LWVKC's outreach to younger viewers.

Viewer Age	2022 Percentage	2023 Percentage
18-24	8.1	0
25-34	8.1	17.7
35-44	14.5	16.2
45-54	8.8	19.1
55-64	18.9	21.3
65	41.6	25.7

 

Conclusion

This year, LWVKC offered more candidate content than any previous election and leveraged the YouTube algorithm—and viewership is way up. This method got LWVKC's content out to two or three times as many viewers.

All in all, LWVKC is encouraged by the traffic and viewership in the candidate interview experiment! Much thanks is owed to the Kittitas League's Board for its support of this experiment and especially to Katherine Murphy for moderating the candidate interviews.

By Sarah Beth Miller and Barb Tengtio, LWV Seattle/King County

This fall, civics came alive for the students in Alexandra Baker’s high school Civics Classes! With Ms. Baker's guidance and support from LWV Seattle/King County (LWVSKC), Inglemoor High School students took the lead in organizing and conducting two city council candidate forums in November. This was just one of many elements in Ms. Baker’s semester of civics instruction that enabled students to be active participants in the future of their community.

Planning for this semester of civics instruction actually began in late summer between Ms. Baker and LWVSKC members. They discussed how a student led forum could be organized; what support would be needed to accomplish this; and how the forums would compliment students' classroom civics education. LWVSKC drafted a plan and at the start of school in September, Ms. Baker secured a facility for the forums. The students jumped right in at the beginning of the school year!

Here’s a look at what the students accomplished:

1. Inviting:
   The students' first task was to recreate the LWVSKC TRY (They Represent You) Pamphlet in poster-size. This activity helped familiarize the students with government offices and local officials in their community. Then, an email went out to all city council candidates in both Bothell and Kenmore, inviting them to participate in the student led forums. Each student had to follow up the invitation with a second email or phone-call introducing themselves and thanking the candidates in advance for participating in the forums.
   
   
2. Preparing:
   
   Students researched current local issues and the candidates themselves. They then developed questions for the forums and created materials to promote the forums on social media and other community outlets. Each student also reached out to an elected official about an issue important to them and asked them to comment back.
   
   
   
   To aid their preparations, a LWVSKC member visited the classes to share information about conducting a forum, the importance of voting, and the League of Women Voters. LWVSKC also provided a forum script, which the students edited and added their questions to. The students were each assigned roles for the forums. There were two student moderators for each forum, as well as students serving as greeters, time keepers, photographers, etc. 
   
   
   
   
3. Success!:
   
   The Inglemoor students practiced their roles and the forum script in class—and went on to execute everything perfectly the night of the forums!
   
   
4. Continued Learning:
   
   The following week, Ms. Baker shared three civics modules on voting, provided by LWVSKC. The first module covered the history of voting in the US and included a game where students took on different avatars (personas) to visually see who could and could not vote at different times throughout US history. The second module included information on who is and is not currently voting in the US and had the students engage in a voting excuses game. The third module focused on local government elections and how to make voting choices based on candidate positions that support an individual’s value and priorities. The module also included a questionnaire designed for students to discuss qualities they value in a leader.
   
   
5. Voting:
   
   Finally, the students had the opportunity to vote in a mock election! LWVSKC worked with King County Elections to produce a sample Kenmore ballot. The students could then practice voting in a election, using a facsimile of a real ballot. LWVSKC tabulated the results and Ms. Baker and students discussed their results with the actual election results.
   
   
   

Of course, Ms. Baker’s semester on civics also included essential instruction about a number of other topics, including: the branches of government, the electoral college, what it means to be a republic, what a primary is, and more. The partnership between Ms. Baker and LWVSKC was able to provide a dynamic, hands-on learning experience on top of this instruction for the Inglemoor students. Our mutual goal was to offer experiential education to allow students to practice participating in the democratic process. We hope that their civics experiences will make a lasting impression and empower them to become future voters.

Going forward, LWVSKC’s plan is to share this program—the civics modules, student led forums, and mock ballot voting—with other schools in King County. Partnering with a social studies teacher in each school is critical. Ms. Baker did an outstanding job with her students and LWVSKC looks forward to working with her again!

LWSKC’s bright hope for these students and for the expansion of the program is grounded in hearing the reflections of Ms. Baker's students. Here are just a few, so you can be heartened too:

• “It was exciting and interesting to write to a city council member.“
  
  
• “The mock election prepared me to vote”
  
  
• “Voting feels like a scary thing. Doing the mock election helped me understand how to vote.”
  
  
• “King County Elections should allow more high school students to have mock election voting.”
  
  
• “I felt very empowered when I wrote my own lobby letter.”
  
  
• “It felt like I had a voice.”
  
  
• “I felt like I was being set up for success.”
  
  
• “If more mock elections were held it would result in more young people voting.”
  
  
• “Voting gave me a better sense of community.”
  
  
• “I thought it was good, very educationa.l” [The candidate forums.]
  
  
• “I thought it was going to be boring, but it was interesting.” [The candidate forums.]
  
  
• “It made me feel special when I got a response from the city council member.”
  
  
• “Because of my experience with the mock ballot I got to sit down with my Mom and talk about her ballot.”
  
  
• “Being moderator was really fun.”
  
  
• “I will be paying a lot more attention to voting in the future.”
  
  
• “I had never met any candidates before this. I was surprised at how friendly and open-minded they seemed.”
  
  
• “Doing the forum really affected my life.  I’m going to pay more attention to elections from now on.” 
  

Because a strong democracy requires informed citizen participation, the LWVWA invites each of you to Action Coffee Time—or ACT via Zoom. All League members, and their guests, are welcome to attend and will learn more about the topics and action alerts in the weekly Legislative Action Newsletter.

The weekly ACT via Zoom gatherings consist of informational and question-and-answer sessions using LWVWA, WA State, and community resources. They will provide the background information you need on topics related to current Washington state legislation. Get the basics, then use the Legislative Action Newsletter to make sure your legislators hear YOUR voice!

ACT via Zoom sessions will be held every Monday from 10:00-11:00 AM (with an optional 11:00-11:15 social time) from January 8 until March 11. Attend as your interest in a topic and schedule allow! Each session will also be recorded and posted to our YouTube channel so you can view them anytime.

Topics for the month of January:

• Jan 8: Legislative update and how to use the Legislative Action Newsletter.
• Jan 15: FairVoteWA: Proportional Representation and Multi-Member Districts.
• Jan 22: How a Bill Becomes Law (in Washington)
• Jan 29: Breaking down Even Year Elections
  

Look for more information and Zoom links in the coming weeks. Please join us!

As local Leagues prepare for 2024 Program Planning, they should be aware of the state League's bid to have LWVUS adopt our positions on Local News through a concurrence process. Each local League can assist this effort by submitting individual requests to LWVUS to adopt the positions by concurrence.   

The Decline of Local News & Its Impact on Democracy is a seminal study that was completed by the LWVWA last year. The Study shows that the loss of local news can have serious consequences for communities in a variety of ways:

• In areas without a local news source, there are fewer candidates running for office, a lower voter turnout, and decreased civic engagement.
  
• Without a local news watch "watchdog," the cost of government can increase through the decline of bond ratings.
  
• There is an increase in political divisiveness when information is limited.  
• Finally, a lack of local news sources can result in public health challenges because messaging is limited. 
  

The LWVWA Study was disseminated to all of the local Leagues, and a statewide consensus process gave rise to the adoption of advocacy positions for rebuilding local news.
 
Because the League is a grassroots organization, each of the local Leagues will have an opportunity to suggest programs to LWVUS through the 2024-2026 Program Planning Survey. When filling out the survey, we encourage each local League to complete the following process:

1. Select "yes" when  promoted with the question “Would you like to recommend another program item, in addition to or instead of the Campaign for Making Democracy Work®?"—this will prompt a drop down menu with two additional questions.
   
   
2. Select "representative government" in response to the question,"please check which of the four LWVUS issue headings your recommendation would fall under."
   
   
3. You will then be prompted to provide a statement describing the scope of the recommendation. The LWVWA has prepared language for that statement:

"The LWVWA’s study The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy showed local news media outlets are declining at an alarming rate. This loss impacts our democracy, including: (1) fewer candidates running for office; (2) lower voter turnout; (3) increased political divisiveness; (4) decreased civic engagement; (5) increased cost for government; and (6) public health challenges.  These issues are occurring nationwide.

Based on this study, LWVWA adopted positions, including this position in brief: “The League of Women Voters of Washington believes it is the responsibility of the government to provide support for conditions under which credible local journalism can survive and thrive.” 

National adoption of the LWVWA positions on Local News would provide the basis for League advocacy on national, state, and local legislation aimed at rebuilding independent local news outlets and expanding news media literacy. No resources are needed for adopting this concurrence.

The League of Women Voters of Washington supports credible and ethical local journalism—in whatever format it is published—as it is essential to our democracy. We support efforts to ensure everyone has access to the information necessary to cast an informed ballot and believe credible local news sources are integral to this pursuit.

The LWVWA also believes media literacy and news education, including support for journalism students, are essential. These opportunities should be expanded in schools and throughout communities. We believe support for the viability of local news may take a variety of forms and control of the content published must remain exclusively with the news organizations.

The League of Women Voters of Washington believes that everyone should have access to comprehensive, credible local news—and that barriers to access should be removed. These barriers include, but are not limited to, geography, economic status, and education.

We encourage each of the local Leagues in Washington to participate and support our national consensus effort!

If you have any questions about this, please contact Shelley Kneip.

If you are interested in the exciting opportunity to serve on the LWVWA Board, but cannot figure out if you will have time for it (board work is a minimum of 15-20 hours per month, but varies by position and interest). Here are some tips for processing this dilemma: 

• First, be clear that it is something you would enjoy doing.

• Make a list of your present commitments with your schedule and actual time involved.

• Go to the Nominating Committee website research the specifics of the board commitment.  

• Talk with previous board members—they will be honest with you!

• Make a list of people you have who would be willing share some of your present tasks and talk with them about your desire to serve on the state board.

• Take another look at your present schedule and see if, given the new information, adjustments can be made.

Make your decision based on what is best for you!

You might be wondering—it's the end of 2023, why are we getting new districts now? 

In August, a federal court judge declared Yakima Valley Legislative District 15 discriminatory against Latino voters under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. District lines must be redrawn before the 2024 elections. The Governor and Legislative leadership declined to call the Legislature back in session to convene a new redistricting commission. And, despite a request for more time from Republican minority leadership, Judge Lasnik of the U.S. District Court has decided to move ahead with a process to hire a special master who will assist the court in redrawing the lines. 

To comply with the court order, legislative maps must be redrawn to have a true “opportunity district” for Latino voters—a district where a candidate supported by Latino voters can prevail. A preferred map shown during the trial has Eastern Yakima and Eastern Pasco tied together with smaller cities in the Yakima Valley and includes the Yakama Nation Reservation. To implement this map, four surrounding districts must be changed, and it could change as many as nine or even twelve other districts.  

The timing will be tight. By the court’s own order, the maps must be submitted to the WA Secretary of State by March 25, 2024, so that the process can move forward for the 2024 election.  

For the next redistricting cycle in 2031, Washington State deserves a better process. The LWVWA Redistricting Reform Campaign Taskforce is working to maximize opportunities for people to engage in the redistricting process and to ensure the broadest possible representation with a process that is transparent and accountable. LWVWA positions call for a commission that “…produces maps that are apportioned substantially on population, are convenient, contiguous and specific standards for fair representation should be assured. ”The Redistricting Task Force believes a state constitutional amendment is needed to change the composition of the commission to improve to the commission processes.  

 Step Up! Join our movement to reform the way Washington State does redistricting. Attend a 2-hour training and receive critical information about how you can make a difference. Local Area Action Teams are starting in every corner of our state. Training topics will include local team development, redistricting reform talking points, community outreach strategies, the latest on the new legislative maps, and much more. 

Join us on Saturday, November 18 from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM for this don’t miss training! Register here.

For questions please contact Alison McCaffree, Redistricting Issue Chair. 

Each year, the LWVWA Lobby Team participates in planning and conducting two events related to the Legislature—the Action Workshop and Democracy Lobby Week. This year we are also incorporating the Speak Up School, which has been a separate event before.  

In December of each year, the Lobby Team conducts an Action Workshop, where League members and interested members of the public learn about what issues are likely to come up in the upcoming legislative session and get tips about League positions to support.  For an agenda for this year’s event, click here.

Register for Action Workshop

The Speak Up School on January 6 from 9:00am to 12:30pm will provide information about how to use the legislative web site, track bills, comment and other things members need to know; plus it offers training in developing and presenting testimony. 

In January, the Lobby Team works with Fix Democracy First (FDF), a partner organization, on Democracy Lobby Week. During this week, League and FDF members have an opportunity to attend evening and daytime sessions. During the evening sessions attendees get more details about specific bills that we are supporting and during the day time sessions, they have an opportunity to meet with their local legislators in support of these bills. 

Watch our website for registration links, which will be announced soon.