| April 2021
Editor Jennifer Bales
communications@lwvbc.org | | | See materials for the 2021 Annual Meeting
at the end of this newsletter
| |
President's Letter
for April 2021
By Elizabeth Crowe | | | |
The Magnitude of the Challenge Ahead |
I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. How about you? The stress and anxiety of the pandemic; grief and pain following the mass shooting at King Soopers; the plight of children and families at our southern border. Waiting for a verdict for George Floyd’s death even as another young black man is killed during a traffic stop. State-level attacks on hard-won voting rights.
At the same time, our League is not for one minute stopping our work for democracy and justice. Our members are active in the state Legislative Action Committee, tracking bills on critical issues like immigration, education, and the environment. Our new Gun Safety Team is enabling advocacy to protect our communities from gun violence, at the same time our Social Policy Team is fostering collaboration with the Safehouse Progressive Alliance on Nonviolence (SPAN) to address the needs of people impacted by domestic partner violence. Our Voter Service Team is ramping up plans for voter registration training and strategic outreach to people who are often less welcomed into the political process. Our Schools Team is investigating innovative approaches to civics education that help our young people better understand the power of civic engagement in shaping our future. I believe this work, and that of our other Teams, is strategic and necessary if we are to achieve justice and truly be “a more perfect union.”
This Voter issue is packed with information that enables members to prepare for our Annual Meeting, which will be on May 15. This is our opportunity to take stock of what we’ve done this past year, and ensure our organizational structure is appropriate for the work at hand and that which lies ahead. In Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins’ book, “The Untold Story of Women of Color in the League of Women Voters” she writes, | “In celebrating one hundred years of existence at the 2020 convention the league should take pride in its accomplishments and recognize the magnitude of the challenges that lie ahead….The league must be in a constant state of continuous improvement in order to adapt, evolve and remain relevant in an ever-changing society.” | Tending to the structural business of our League can also be overwhelming, especially as we work to right the wrongs of exclusionary, divisive practices in our own organization and set in place new, more equitable practices and policies. It is as important as the advocacy work we undertake because without it, we cannot sustain our work to secure solutions to the problems we face.
I hope you’ll all join me, our Board, Team leaders and fellow members on May 15 for a celebration of our work and that of our partners, and call to be a League that can boldly, strategically tackle some of the challenges that feel so overwhelming. Till then, thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do!
| We WILL be having a bulb sale this year! Details are still being finalized. There will be several new bulbs added this year and our website will be updated as soon as the details are available.
Deadline for orders will be June 1. Contact: LoisLinsky@gmail.com for more information.
| Forming Gun Safety Issue team
By Sylvia Bernstein, Action and Advocacy Chair
Turn Your Grief Into Action
Recently our beloved community experienced something both unspeakably tragic, and shockingly normal: a mass shooting. In light of these events, the LWVBC is forming an issue team to promote community awareness regarding gun safety, and to actively lobby for gun safety regulations that are currently making their way through the Colorado legislature. We will be working closely with the LWVCO and local gun safety activist groups, such as Moms Demand Action.
For reference, here is the LWVCO's current position on this issue:
Gun Safety
Protect the health and safety of citizens through limiting the accessibility and regulating the ownership of handguns and semi-automatic weapons. Support regulation of firearms for consumer safety.
Given the current urgency and momentum of this issue we plan to meet weekly through this year's state legislative session, and will then reassess. If you are interested in joining us please fill out this form, and let me know your interest.
| Assisting Victims of Domestic Violence
Participate in the Political Process
by Angie Layton and the Social Policy Team
The social policy team is working with safehouse in boulder to develop a plan for assisting victims of domestic violence to participate in the political process. We are also reaching out to other organizations including area nonprofits, school districts, and immigration attorneys to see if policy changes at a county level can assist these folks.
Our next meeting is by zoom on Sunday, April 25th at 1:30.
If you would like more information call me at 720-934-9497 | An End to Campaign Finance Corruption and More
By Carolyn Elliot, Co-chair of Money in Politics
Such a state of affairs would be music to my ears! It is possible, with the passage of the United States Senate Bill #1 (S #1), the “For the People” Act that passed the U.S. House of Representatives (HR #1) March 3rd, and was presented in the U.S. Senate on March 8th, 2021. PDF text of bill
● will close loopholes that have allowed foreign nationals to spend money in elections of the United States
● calls for audits and reporting of illicit foreign money
● prohibits in election campaigns audio and visual deep-fakes, which “…use machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive"
● requires nonprofit organizations, which are often formed and used as shell companies or LLC’s for money laundering, to report all political money
| |
What Is RCV Anyway?
by Celeste Landry of the LWVBC Voting Methods Team
(with appreciation for article review by helpful team members)
The term ranked-choice voting (RCV) is so bandied about these days that it tends to take up all the oxygen in any discussion on better voting methods. However, RCV is actually an umbrella term referring to several, though not all, ranked-voting methods.
Click below to learn about 7 different RCV and 4 additional non-RCV ranked-voting methods. Most descriptions include links to short (less than 5-minute) video explanations.
|
Welcome to Our Newest Members!
Welcome to New Members Jennifer Greene and Veniece Miller
Member Coffee
At our last Member Coffee on Saturday, April 10, we discussed our upcoming Annual Meeting and heard from Rebecca DiMaio and Marsha Weaver, high school social studies teachers who took part in the Harvard Case Study training sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the U.S. At each coffee, we are also taking a few minutes to demonstrate a helpful hint about using our website. If you know someone interested to know more about the League, please invite them to come to a coffee.
“Remember Me on This Computer”
Make it easy for yourself and enable automatic login to lwvbc.org by clicking the box beside “Remember me on this computer” in the login screen if you are on your personal computer. Ahh, you say, I don’t need to login to register for an event or meeting. Did you know each time you register for an event without logging in, you create a separate entry in our non-member database? Judy White, Membership Team member, has the job of deleting each of those entries, so that we don’t fill up our non-member list and have to start paying for additional entries. Please do login before registering for events, either when you enter the website or when you are asked if you are a member. Say “Yes” and login.
Kate Ward has joined the Membership Team
The Membership Team is pleased to welcome Kate Ward to our team. Kate, who is a very new member herself, is already helping to welcome other new members and provide support for our member coffees.
We’d love to see your face in our Member Directory and have you win a prize!
To encourage you to add your picture to your profile in our Member Directory, we’re having a drawing among all those members with pictures on our website. For instructions on how to add your picture, view the entire article here
| | The Board wishes to let members know that Gaythia Weis resigned her Co-President position in March. We want to thank Gaythia for her dedication to this leadership role, and for helping ensure that LWVBC operates efficiently, effectively and ethically. | |
Annual Meeting Materials
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Meeting announcement
- Budget Preamble
- Proposed Budget 2021-2022
- Financial Review
- Nominations
- Proposed Bylaws Change
| |
Annual Meeting Announcement
| ANNUAL MEETING
Saturday, May15, 2021
10:00 – 11:30 am
LWVBC 2021 Annual Meeting will take place via Zoom. After registering for the event at lwvbc.org you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please plan to attend the LWVBC Annual Meeting virtually, on Saturday, May 15th. You may be able to “see” many of your League friends, even if we can’t meet in person. We look forward to seeing you!
We will begin the day with the business meeting, which will include election of officers, approval of the budget, approval of by-laws changes, and adoption of the 2021-2022 program. We will then proceed with the Awards portion of our meeting--honoring two elected officials, a community partner, and members who have worked so hard all year long!
All registered members will receive the Annual Meeting booklet with the annual reports about 3 days in advance. | |
Budget Preamble
Proposed LWVBC 2021-22 Budget
by Peggy Leech, Budget Committee Chair | On behalf of the Budget Committee, I am pleased to share this proposed 2021-22 budget, which was approved by the LWVBC Board. Budget Committee members are myself (Chair), Pat Long, David Stemler, Anne Bryan, Jennie Arboagash, Elizabeth Crowe, and Mandy Nuku.
The Budget Committee feels it is important to provide some context and explanation about our proposed budget, for LWVBC members’ consideration.
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- Total revenue and expenditures. You will note that the proposed budget shows a deficit of $4,781. This is because, after careful consideration of each line item, the Committee determined that the amounts are realistic, necessary, and that if we need to use a small amount of reserve funds, it will be worth the investment. LWVBC is still transitioning to an organization with increased staff capacity and a larger number of volunteers to meet the demand for voter service and advocacy. We believe that the investment in increased staffing, volunteer management, fund development and other operations activities is necessary in order for LWVBC to thrive. Despite the negative impacts of the COVID pandemic, our fundraising efforts have yielded good results and we believe 2021-22 results may be even better.
- Dues. This budget assumes an increase from $76/year to $80/year. After researching dues amounts for other local Leagues with paid staff, we feel this is a reasonable amount. For a 2-member household, the amount will increase from $114/year to $120/year. Dues for students and for lifetime members remain at $0 and we have the ability to offer assistance as necessary.
- Voter Service. This budget line item includes investment in more media to promote Vote411, as well as increasing our voter registration drive supplies so that we can have 4 sets stationed around the county (tables, chairs, banners, signs, Chrome Books, and supplies.). We feel these expenses – many of which are one-time expenditures -- will greatly elevate our effectiveness.
- Delegate expenses. This assumes the LWVUS Convention will be in-person in Denver, in June 2022; thus, we will save on travel expenses.
- Liability insurance. This line item includes an additional $950 to provide protection for our board, a common and helpful expenditure for non-profit organizations.
- Operations Director compensation and related payroll taxes. The Committee reviewed the current Operations Director job description, discussed the anticipated staffing needs for next year and the organizational benefits associated with various staffing levels. After considering three scenarios we settled on an average of 25 hours/week for budget purposes. This is an increase of 3-4 hours per week from the current fiscal year.
| A budget is a guideline, and unexpected revenue and expenses will undoubtedly occur. Meanwhile, LWVBC has good reserves to be able to handle some investment in our future.
| April, 2021
FINANCIAL REVIEW for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-20
League of Women Voters of Boulder County (LWVBC)
I have reviewed the record keeping of LWVBC which includes monthly revenue and expenditures reports, beginning and ending cash balances and the FY end bank statement/reconciliation. I find that the books are an accurate reflection of the financial condition of the LWVBC for the FY 2019-2020 and of its operations and cash flows for that fiscal year. I commend the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer for their commitment to accuracy, clarity, transparency and compliance with recommended best League and general accounting practices.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Brown
| Slate of Candidates for 2021 to 2022
By Carolyn Elliott, Outgoing Nominating Committee chairperson
April 2021
As the season turns, so does our need for new people to serve in our League’s official positions. Therefore, the Nominating Committee presents this slate of candidates for the membership’s approval at the May 2021, annual meeting. This slate presents the following two elected directors, and Nominating Committee chairperson with two committee members:
Elected Directors:
Fund Development 2-year term 2021 – 2023 Ruth Stemler
Membership 2-year term 2021 – 2023 Jean McGuire
Elected Director-at-Large:
Position 3 2-year term 2021 – 2023 VACANT
Elected Nominating Committee (off-Board):
Chair 1-year term 2021 – 2022 Debby Vink
Members (2) 1-year term 2021 – 2022 Holly Monkman
Mary Ann Wilner
____________________________________________________________________________
Elected Officers Continuing:
President 1-year term 2021 – 2022 Elizabeth Crowe
First Vice President 2-year term 2020 – 2022 Carol Brown
Board Secretary 2-year term 2020 – 2022 Molly Saunders
Treasurer 2-year term 2020 – 2022 Pat Long
Elected Director Continuing:
Action 2-year term 2020 – 2022 Sylvia Bernstein
Elected Directors-at-Large Continuing: (3 positions) with specialties determined by individual and Board:
Position 1 2-year term 2020 – 2022 Shiquita Yarbrough
Position 2 2-year term 2020 – 2022 Jackie Alderete Urena
Serving off-board Continuing:
Communications Coordinator Jennifer Bales
Governance/Leadership/Planning Resource Caroline Himes
Youth Engagement Coordinator VACANT | LWVBC Membership Director proposed to the Board a modification to the bylaws that would clarify the role of organizational committees and teams, and support their functionality. The Board approved these suggested changes, which will now be considered by LWVBC members: changing the title of Article V from “Officers” to “Leadership”; and adding a new Section 6 for Committees and Teams as below.
| Article V. Officers Leadership
Section 6. Committees and Teams: The Board of Directors approves the establishment of additional ongoing committees and teams, not otherwise mentioned in these bylaws, to enable the work of LWVBC. Leaders of these committees and teams must be voting members of LWVBC. If these additional ongoing committees and teams do not meet at least three times per year, then the Board of Directors must disestablish them.
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