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League of Women Voters of Boulder County
Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy
Serving the People of Boulder County, Colorado
Date: 2/4/2021
Subject: LWVBC Voter February 2020 - Updated
From: Jennifer L Bales




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Positions for Action Review

League-wide Zoom Meeting Saturday, February 20 at 10:00 a.m.


Please join us for this year’s Positions for Actions Review Meeting.  This is the only full membership meeting where members can: ~ Identify Issues for Action to pursue on the local level and ~ Recommend additions to, revisions to, or deletions of existing league positions on the local, state and national levels. 

This is a grassroots effort—we want to hear from all of you about what we should be working on, and what YOU are willing to help with. This is where it all starts: with you, the members, providing direction for the League’s agenda.

Members should prepare for participation in Positions for Action Review by looking at our LWVBC Positions, the LWVCO's Positions for Action 2019-21 and LWVUS's Impact on Issues 2018-2020

Click to register for this important local and state-wide planning activity.


February 2021
Editor Jennifer Bales
communications@lwvbc.org
A PDF Version of this newsletter is available here.  Please allow a day or two from this mailing for the PDF to be uploaded.

PRESIDENTS' LETTER
February 2021
Elizabeth Crowe
Gaythia Weis

Presidents' Letter for February 2021

by Elizabeth Crowe

Reflection and Action!

2020: a year of unprecedented challenges to our health, economy, democratic processes and the very social fabric of our country. If it’s true that “hindsight is 20/20”, then it is incumbent upon the League to use what we observed and learned from last year, to make 2021 one in which we deepen our commitment to a just and fair democracy.

The League of Women Voters is fortunate to have YOU as a member on this important journey. Your membership is helping build and use our power for positive change. Already in 2021 League continued to defend the 2020 election results from unproven claims of election fraud. We called for the impeachment of President Trump for his role encouraging insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and condemned white supremacy. Our local LWVBC members participated in state and national League dialogue and planning meetings about longer-term actions – like promoting civics education and media literacy. We called our members to action to support the For the People Act to expand and enshrine voting rights for everyone, especially for people of color and other historically-excluded people.  

How might you want to use your skills and passion in 2021 to empower voters and defend democracy? Please take the survey below.
 


Please Take the 2021-2022 Issue Teams Survey
 
The LWVBC organizes our advocacy work through Teams that reflect priority policy issues and align with our focus on Making Democracy Work for All. The nature and level of Team activity changes from year to year based on the evolving community needs and organizational capacity.

To help us gauge interest in current or potential future Team activities, please let us know what Team issue areas you are, or might be interested in for 2021-22. We will use this information to update your membership record, so you can be contacted appropriately. Note that some of these teams already exist, and some would need to be formed, or re-formed, if there are enough members and leaders interested. Please consider putting your hand up to lead!
 

Take Action on the "For the People" Act

 

Letter to the editor by Elizabeth Crowe

 
Dear Editor, 

The For the People Act, the first bill introduced this year in Congress, will improve American elections by making our election system more free, fair, and accessible to all eligible Americans. This legislation will restore the Voting Rights Act, improve Automatic Voter Registration, modernize the public financing of elections through small donor matching funds, end gerrymandering, and restore transparency in our government. LWV of Boulder County joins with voting rights groups around the country in our enthusiastic support of this transformative bill.

Even though Colorado has already taken many steps to improve our election process and voter systems -- such as restoring voting rights to previously incarcerated community members, and putting in place anti-gerrymandering processes for drawing Congressional district maps -- we need action to make these and other changes on a national level. The bill also includes campaign finance provisions. For example, a small donor public-match financing process would help first-time election candidates, including those from underrepresented populations; funds for the public match would come not from taxpayers, but from a nominal surcharge on criminal and civil penalties assessed against corporate wrongdoers. The bill also increases donor transparency laws for media advertising through online platforms. 

If passed, this legislation will enshrine into law what all Americans know: that everyone deserves a voice in our democracy. The For the People Act is a huge step forward for democracy, one that we strongly support. 
Please contact your representative today through the capital switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to pass the For the People Act

 

Our New Website Team
Shelby Bates
Lydia Linke
 Welcome to our new website team Shelby Bates and Lydia Linke!  Shelby is the website contact person and can be reached for questions or issues at webmaster@lvwbc.org.
 
Shelby first got connected to LWV while in graduate school in St. Louis. At the time, she was interning with Jobs with Justice and working on a Medicaid expansion campaign. Having moved back to Colorado a few years ago, she is excited to have officially joined her local chapter. In her day job, Shelby is a social worker with Colorado Initiative for Inclusive Higher Education, a non-profit advocating for college access for students with intellectual disabilities (she also happens to manage their website). In her free time, Shelby likes to knit, play board games, read books, and spend time outdoors. During non-COVID times, Shelby enjoys visiting her family in Aurora, where she grew up.
 
Lydia just recently joined LWV in October 2020. She had first discovered the league back in 2017 while living in Minnesota, but had her hands full at the time with an infant and a preschooler. Lydia was born and raised in Alaska, but has lived in Seattle WA, Portland OR, suburbs of Minneapolis Minnesota, and for the last two years the Boulder area, where she and her family plan to put down long term roots. She earned her B.S in Biological Health Sciences from Washington State University, and has held a variety of jobs including Flight Attendant, Nursing Assistant, Barista, Receptionist, and Medical Scribe. In her free time, Lydia enjoys hiking, running, skiing, reading, and going on both big and small family adventures.

Possible Changes to City Council Elections in Colorado

By Celeste Landry of the Voting Methods Team

 

Lafayette and Boulder - A Different Way to Report Elections

 

Our team sent a letter to County Clerk Molly Fitzpatrick asking her to consider changing the reporting of Lafayette City Council and Boulder City Council election results to include each candidate’s votes received as a percentage of ballots (aka voters).  Click on the article link below to see a nifty graph and to learn more.

 

Broomfield and Denver -The Opportunity to Adopt a Better Voting Method

 

Broomfield and Denver are learning more about instant-runoff (ranked) voting and approval voting as they consider adopting a better voting method.  Denver also has a 2-winner city council contest and may adopt a multi-winner proportional form of ranked voting for it.  More details at the article link below.  Meanwhile, check out these two recent segments on Channel 7’s 360 program.

 

Jan 22 IRV-RCV - After a Contentious 2020 Election Some Say It's Time to Try Ranked Choice Voting (5+ minutes)

Jan 29 approval - Colorado and the City of Denver Take a Closer Look at Approval Voting for the Future of Elections (2+ minutes)

 

Please read the rest of this article on city council elections here.


Pat Johnson Further Bequest and Oral History
By Gaythia Weis
 
In the February, 2020 LWVBC Voter, it was reported that Patricia Johnson, who died in October 2019, aged 93, left a wonderful legacy gift to the Boulder County League, a bequest of just over $17,000.  Just this month we have received a further bequest from Pat Johnson of $5,714.  

Pat Johnson was a highly valued leader of our Boulder County League of Women Voters group, as well as of the Colorado State League.  She served as LWVBC Fund Development Director, as well as President of both our local and the state League.  Debby Vink, our Boulder County League membership coordinator, has located an oral history interview with Pat Johnson which was recorded in 2011. This interview was conducted by and is housed in, the Carnegie Library for Local History in Boulder Colorado. 
 
Please see the rest of this article on Pat here. A PDF download of the oral history interview is linked there as well.

From Membership

By Debby Vink

membership@lwvbc.org

Membership count:278

 
Welcome to Our Newest Members!

 
Welcome to five members who have joined since our last newsletter:  Shannon Nelson, Denys Vigil, Tara Menza, John Balassa, Indigo Farmer, and Crystal Gray.  


Spotlight on a LWVBC Member:  Sarah Vlasity
 
Sarah became a member of LWVBC during this past year after discovering us through her work as a librarian and archives specialist. Having read about the League while researching an exhibit on the women’s suffrage movement, she was inspired to join us. The in-depth exhibit, which she curated as a special project for CU Boulder Libraries, is available digitally at https://scap.omeka.net/exhibits/show/suffrage/intro

Sarah, who is a native of Boulder, encourages us to visit her at her workplace at the Carnegie Library of Local History at 1125 Pine Street in Downtown Boulder once it’s open to the public again.

Sarah Vlasity
Carnegie 2
Carnegie Library of Local History
What’s in Your Profile at LWVBC.ORG?
 
Have you checked out your profile in the Member Directory on our website lwvbc.org?  Click on the word Profile in the upper righthand corner of the website after logging in.  

Can You Answer 15 Questions About the League?
 
Email me at membership@lwvbc.org if you would like to receive 15 questions about the League and test your knowledge of what we are about.  Answers can be found by referring to our local, state and national websites and the LWVBC Member Handbook. The Handbook is available after logging in to LWBC under the Member Info dropdown menu. So far only two members answered all questions correctly. Most have gotten 13/15 right.  Accept the challenge and go for 15/15. I’ll let you know how you do.
 
 

LWVCO Receives NASS Medallion Award

     

Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold awarded the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Medallion Award to five individuals and entities for their contributions to the success of the 2020 elections, including the Colorado League of Women Voters (LWVCO). Secretary Griswold pointed to unprecedented challenges in 2020, including forest fires, the Covid19 pandemic, and rampant election disinformation.  

 
Please see the rest of this article about the NASS Award here.
Karen Sheek, LWVCO Board President
NASS Award Medallion

2021 Colorado Legislative Session: What's in it For Women?
 
When: Wednesday, February 3, 2021, 5:00-6:00 PM
 
Join the Women's Collaborative of Boulder County as we kick off 2021 with a virtual discussion of this year's state legislative session and its challenging priorities for women and families. Guest speakers Carol Hedges, Executive Director Colorado Fiscal Institute, and Evie Hudak, former CO State Senator and women's advocate, will provide an overview of the legislative landscape.
 
Register here to receive a link to access the event. More legislative session information here.
 

In Memoriam Judy Steuben
 
Judy Steuben was born Judith Ann Dickens August 8, 1938 in Lansing Michigan. She attended MSU before marrying Norton Steuben and moving to Buffalo and then Boulder where she completed her degree in education. She joined the League of Women Voters of Boulder County in 1980 where she was especially active in the "alternatives to the automobile" committee. She worked hard to update and add safety features to Boulder's roads and sidewalks to make sure walking was an option. LWVBC members remember Judy was very glad to get back to Boulder after living with her husband in Ukraine for several years. She and Norton had two children, Sara and Marc.

Please see Judy's obituary in the Boulder Daily Camera