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Date: 5/10/2021
Subject: LWVBC Voter May 2021
From: Jennifer L Bales

May 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.

See materials for the 2021 Annual Meeting in last month's newsletter

Register Here

Correction to slate of candidates: The fund development position, which Ruth Stemler is filling, is for one year, 2021 to 2022. See the corrected slate at the end of this newsletter.

President's Letter

for May 2021

By Elizabeth Crowe

Springing Forward

It’s spring, the season of rebirth and regeneration. Along with the environmental change of seasons, I love the way League has its own seasons and phases of regeneration. May is the month for our Annual Meeting (register today!) and the LWV Colorado Convention when local League delegates assess and inform our state level budget, structure and activities. We’re experiencing the state legislative season (visit the Legislative Action Report for more information); a new phase of voter registration trainings (contact Mandy Nuku if you’re interested in volunteering). League leaders recently birthed two new Teams: on Climate Action and Gun Safety. Our partnerships continue to grow and expand in new and exciting ways. We’re truly springing forward!

Have you checked out the news from LWVUS? Membership through our local League helps ensure League takes action on the national level as well, including acting in solidarity with states where voter suppression legislation is eroding hard-won voting rights gains. We’re still working to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For the People Act, and pushing for more state action against gerrymandering. On these and many other issues, League’s work is “evergreen”; constant throughout the seasons.

Keeping connected and communicating efficiently is a challenge for all of us, in these fast-paced and ever-changing times. To help with action alerts and other advocacy communications, many of our League leaders are learning about and experimenting with a tool promoted by LWVUS called “Outreach Circle.” League is offering demonstrations on Fridays through June 25 for members interested in seeing what this process has to offer. Several LWVBC members are already interested and have signed up for a demo. If you want to join in, click here to register for one of the Outreach Circle demonstrations and let us know what you think!

Till then, I hope to see many of you for our May 15 Annual Meeting and at any one or more of our upcoming planning events and forums. Thanks for what you do for and with League and enjoy the week ahead.

BULB SALE

Order your bulbs here! Orders for Bulbs must be in the mail by June 5.

Call or email Lois (303-499-2689) (lflinsky@hotmail.com) with questions.

Register here for the Four Better Alternatives webinar

Voter Strategy in Instant-Runoff Voting and Approval Voting

By the Voting Methods Team

A talking point getting a lot of buzz recently states that voters have to be strategic when they fill out an approval voting ballot. We’d like to disentangle this accusation. First, with any voting method, a voter always has the option of voting honestly; many naïve or passionate voters do so in every election. Second, strategy is a consideration with every voting method and is not inherently bad. Rather, strategic voting is a way for voters to react to the constraints of a voting method. Voting strategically can give a voter’s voice more weight in an election.

The LWV “supports voting methods … that encourage honest voting rather than tactical [or strategic] voting.” Vote-for-one plurality voting is infamous for encouraging dishonest strategic voting for the “lesser of two evils.” Because many alternative voting methods allow for more voter expressiveness and can reduce or eliminate vote splitting, these better voting methods encourage more honest voting.

Different voting methods lead to different strategies. In this article we discuss strategic voting in instant-runoff voting (one form of RCV) and approval voting.

Click here for full Voter Strategy article

Social Policy Team Meeting

by Angie Layton and the Social Policy Team

The next meeting of the Social Policy Team is the last Sunday in May at 7:00p.m. by Zoom. Register on the website for the zoom link. We are continuing to work on a strategy for helping victims of domestic violence participate in democracy.

From Membership

By Debby Vink, membership director

membership@lwvbc.org

Membership count: 281

Welcome to New Members

Our new members come from various corners of the county. From Boulder: Britta Singer and Dita Hutchinson. From Erie: Walt Meier (added to Stacey Johnson’s membership). From Superior: Rebekah Spann. And our only member from Mead which is northeast of Longmont: Natalie Abshier.

2021 Merit Award

Who will receive our 2021 Member Merit Awards and our 2021 LWVBC Student Member Scholarship Award? Find out at the virtual Annual Meeting on Saturday, 5/15 at 10:00 am. Thanks to those on my Awards Committee who reviewed the award nominations members submitted: Jean McGuire, Louisa Matthias, and Jennifer Bales.

Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting is one of only three LWVBC membership meetings during the organization year. Don’t miss it!

Watch for our next Virtual Member Coffee in June

We’ll discuss what happened at the LWVColorado State Convention among other things.

Website Tip of the Month

Check out what is going on with our Issue Teams. Click on “Teams at Work” and then the website pages for each of our Issue Teams.

Colorado League of Women Voters Action Alerts

LWVCO has issued action alerts for two gun safety related bills.

HB21-1298 is the Expand Firearm Transfer Background Check Requirements bill. This bill addresses four issues on Background Checks:

Violent Misdemeanor Prohibitions – a person who has had a conviction for certain violent misdemeanors will not be able to purchase a firearm for 5 years after the conviction. People who have demonstrated a tendency to violence are 5 times more prone to be arrested for further violent crimes than those without violent convictions.
Closing the Charleston Loophole – a transfer of a firearm cannot be completed until the background check is approved. This removes the current 3-day limit for CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) to do the background check.
Extending the appeal period – The period for CBI to resolve an appeal to a background check denial is extended from the current 30 days to 60 days.
Final dispositions – Under current law, the inability of CBI to obtain the final disposition of a felony case could not constitute a reason for denial. This provision is removed.

More information on the background check bill here

SB21-256 is the Local Regulations of Firearms bill. This bill declares that the regulation of firearms is a matter of both state and local concern and removes some of the preemptive language passed in two laws enacted in 2003. It will remove those prohibitions and thereby permit:

A local government to enact an ordinance or regulation prohibiting the sale, transfer, or possession of a firearm, ammunition or firearm component or accessory as long as the ordinance or regulation is not less restrictive than that of the state.
A local government, including a special district or the governing board of a college or university to enact an ordinance, resolution, rule or other regulation that prohibits the carrying of concealed handguns in a building or area within that body’s jurisdiction.

More information on the local regulations of firearms bill here

Secretary of State Jena Griswold Convenes Bipartisan Election Advisory Commission

Secretary of State Jena Griswold has convened the office’s Bipartisan Election Advisory Commission, which met on April 16, 2021, via webinar to discuss Colorado’s election process. The commission’s purpose is to make recommendations to the Secretary of State regarding the development and implementation of best practices, administrative rules, and legislation.

The membership roster, recordings of meetings, and materials are available on the commission website here.

Slate of Candidates (corrected)

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 1-year term 2021 – 2022 Ruth Stemler

(corrected)

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

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