IN THIS ISSUE
Election Observers Needed
New Comprehensive Planning Work in Lacey and Thurston County
Voter Suppression in Indian Country
Timberland Regional Library - Transforming Lives!
Framing Our Future - LWV Membership Transformation Early Next Year
Four Conversations about Civics Coming in November
The Future of Freshwater Use and Conservation in Northern Thurston County
Let's Talk about Multicultural America Book Group
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Our Be a Voter Campaign
International Observers at the Olympia Library Ballot Party
Thank You for Book Discussion
Electoral College Explained
Book Review: Here We Are...
League Members Celebrate Olympia's Indigenous People's Day
State and National League Resources
Now is a Great Time to Join, Renew and Give LWVTPC Memberships | | | BE A VOTER. Make sure your ballot is submitted and encourage family members and friends to do the same! The Lacey Timberland Library and Elections Voter Services (2915 29 Ave. SW, Tumwater) are open on Nov. 5, Election Day. Find more local election information here. The League’s Vote411 site also includes valuable information about the upcoming election.
Election Observers Needed, Nov. 4-16. Sign up at info@lwvthurston.org.
Conversations about Civics. Discuss the League’s civics textbook through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion. Saturdays, Nov. 9, 16, 23 and Dec. 7, 10:30 am-noon. Contact NicoleLMiller@gmail.com. | Community Forum-Thurston County Water: The Future of Freshwater Use and Conservation in Northern Thurston County. Nov. 12, 5:30-8:00 p.m. at the Lacey Community Center, 6729 Pacific Avenue SE, Lacey.
Let’s Talk About Multicultural America Book Group. Biting the Hand by Julia Lee. Dec. 10, 6:30 p.m. on zoom. Contact anniecubberly@gmail.com.
Coffee and Breakfast with the League: Tuesday mornings at 10:00 a.m., River’s Edge Restaurant, Tumwater.
Catch up on LWVTC Board activities! This information is on the member only portion of the LWVTC website; log-in here and click on the Member Login button on the right side of the black banner at the top of the page. | | | Election Observers Needed
Maren Turner, a new League member, has been designated as Coordinator of Independent Election Observers by the Thurston County Elections Office. Let’s be observers! Sign up at info@lwvthurston.org. Shifts will be November 4 -16. Learn more here.
| New Comprehensive Planning Work in Lacey and Thurston County
By Loretta Seppanen
The City of Lacey seeks input for the Comprehensive Plan Update via a survey for people who live, work or go to school in the city or the Lacey Urban Growth Area. Respondents use the survey to place different types of housing on a city map with a goal of adding up to 8,250 more housing units. Similarly, respondents place 9,000 more employees on the map. Later the survey asks about the kind of jobs those should be. Transportation questions probe where and why you travel and ask about barriers to easy movement within the city. Respondents can check various observed local climate change experiences as well as marking on the map places they want protected from negative climate change harm. Take some time to complete this survey before the end of November.
As Thurston County ends this year of Planning Commission work on the Comprehensive Plan update, it is planning a gift for residents who want to be actively involved. That gift is a little more time – stretching out the timeline for our review of all ten updated Comprehensive Plan chapters. At the start of November, the Thurston 2045 website provides these 10 chapters as they were presented for review to the Planning Commission. At the end of November, those drafts will be replaced with a single document revised based on community and Planning Commission input. That review is planned for December and January with community input due to the Planning Commission in early February. Plan now to carve out time to read this important document during the two-month review period.
Follow Olympia here. For Tumwater, type “Tumwater 2025” in your browser.
| Voter Suppression in Indian Country
By Eleanor Walters
One hundred years has passed since enacting the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. And yet Native Americans and Alaska Natives are continually disenfranchised from their freedom to vote and their voter turnout remains low.
Using statistics between 2012-2022, the Native American Rights Fund writes that in 13 states with the largest Native American population, Washington being one of them, voter turnout is 25.7% lower than non-Hispanic white turnout – even worse than the national average of 20.5%.
In 2019 at The Carter Center, then Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman spoke to the barriers saying, “I was shocked that we’re talking about solving problems that I thought were solved 40 years ago.”
And despite the introduction of the bipartisan Native American Voting Rights Act of 2021 in both houses of Congress, state legislatures continue to pass discriminatory voter registration laws; laws that require proof of physical address, proof of citizenship, and some that establish polling sites hundreds of miles away from residents.
Read more, including examples, here. | Timberland Regional Library - Transforming Lives!
By Cheryl Heywood, Executive Director of the Timberland Regional Library
(shown at left)
As author Caitlan Moran writes, “A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life-raft, and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination. On a cold rainy island, they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen instead.”
Timberland Regional Library staffs 29 libraries, Anywhere Library mobile services, and website, TRL.org. We offer a wide array of services to residents in Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties. You can: | | |
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Read e-books, e-audio books, e-magazines, and more using the Libby app. For the second year in a row, TRL readers checked out over 1.5 million digital items – TRL is in the top 55 public library systems in the worldwide in total digital circulation.
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Get $44 per month of free printing, black and white and color. Access free scanning and faxing services.
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Check out the growing Library of Things, such as fishing rods and tackle boxes, birding backpacks, Discover passes, environmental backpacks, stargazing backpacks, assistive devices, early math backpacks, gadget library, and more.
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Sign up for the Expanded Access hours services on your schedule and get a key card from any of the 29 libraries to access certain libraries from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, including Sundays and holidays. This includes the Tenino library in Thurston County.
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Same day voting registration at all libraries in Thurston County. Ballot boxes are available at Lacey, Tenino, Tumwater, and Yelm libraries. Copies of voters’ pamphlets are available at many libraries. Lacey Timberland Library is a voting center – elections staff can help with ballot printing, replacement ballots, voter assistance and more.
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Connect to the library by the Books by Mail program.
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Attend hundreds of programs during Summer Library Program, for all ages, at all libraries, June 1 – Aug. 31.
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Visit Anywhere Library stops – bringing the library directly to where the people are at food banks, churches, Senior Centers, Senior homes, Headstarts, schools and more.
Visit the seven libraries in Thurston County: West Olympia Timberland Library at Capital Mall, Olympia Timberland Library, Lacey Timberland Library, Hawks Prairie Timberland Library, Tumwater Timberland Library, Yelm Timberland Library and Tenino Timberland Library. Learn more at TRL.org. | Framing Our Future – LWV Membership Transformation Early Next Year
In January/February 2025, LWVUS will implement significant changes to the League membership and dues structure. Until further notice, please continue to renew for 2024-2025 membership via the “Join Us” tab at www.lwvthurston.org.
Once the change happens early next year, we anticipate the following:
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Individuals will pay a standard individual rate of $75 – the same as current LWVTC individual dues.
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There will be a pay-what-you-can option where members can choose their own dues amount, with a minimum of $20.
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Although the payment category for an Additional Member in Household will be discontinued, a member joining from the same household as an existing member can choose to pay half of the recommended amount ($37.50) under the pay-what-you-can model.
When the new system is implemented, the portion of dues that local Leagues receive will decrease, i.e., the Thurston League dues allotment will decrease from $24 to $15 per member, $9 less per member joining or renewing.
Under the new system, the LWVUS will receive 33% ($24.75) of individual member dues ($75); the LWVWA will receive 47% ($35.25) of individual member dues; and the LWVTC will receive 20% ($15) of individual member dues. This significantly increases the proportion of dues received by state Leagues around the country and is intended to strengthen their capacity to support local Leagues in protecting democratic values.
For the first two years of this change in membership and dues structure, the LWVUS pledges to cover any shortfall in dues’ revenue experienced by local Leagues. See the timeline in the image below. |  | Why LWVUS Is Making Changes
The goal of this change is for all Leagues to have the same easy-to-navigate membership structure and for Leagues to maintain their focus on mission. This includes:
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Investing in membership growth to increase state and local League capacity.
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Allowing Leagues to prioritize mission work over administrative tasks.
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Developing a plan to empower state Leagues, with their newly built capacity, to support and manage local League administrative burden.
Questions? Contact Carol Goss, Membership Chair, at Membership@LWVthurston.org to schedule a Zoom overview of what these changes mean to you and LWVTC. | Four Conversations about Civics Coming in November
By Nicole Miller, DEI & J Steering Committee and Liaison to the Board
WHAT: Discussion of The State We’re In: Washington through a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lens to deepen our understanding of civics and Washington State history. We’ll learn from each other based on how we’ve prepared for each conversation and our own perspectives.
WHO: Open to all members of the League of Women Voters of Thurston County.
WHY: These membership meetings will lead us into areas you may not have openly discussed before, such as anti-racism and the illusion of equality in our country. We will build trust and commitment to our DEI and Justice goals. For that reason, we hope you can commit to all four conversations, though missing one is fine.
HOW: We ask that you prepare for each conversation by reading some chapters in our civics book and choosing additional resources from our plan such as going on a field trip, watching a video, listening to a podcast, or completing a suggested reading. The edition of the book we will read was written for middle school students, so it is brief.
NOTE: We know that the times and dates are not possible for everyone. We hope to repeat this series before June with input from all those who participated.
| | The Future of Freshwater Use and Conservation in Northern Thurston County
By Nathaniel Jones
The Thurston League will present a community forum on the future of local freshwater use and conservation from 5:30-8 p.m. , Nov. 12, at the Lacey Community Center, 6729 Pacific Avenue SE in Lacey. Invited panelists include representatives from: | | |
- Thurston County Water Resources Advisory Committee
- Olympia Public Works
- Lacey Public Works, and
- Tumwater Water Resources and Sustainability Department
Preceding the panelist presentations, the forum will feature a demonstration of freshwater’s dynamic movement above and below ground-level in our region.
The purpose of the forum is to advance public discussion of the most significant findings of the League’s recently completed freshwater study, including challenges and opportunities to address a static water supply and burgeoning population growth. The panel will take audience questions following their presentations. Come to hear the experts’ best projections of our shared future and use this opportunity to get your questions answered. | Let’s Talk About Multicultural America Book Group:
Biting the Hand, by Julia Lee
The Let's Talk about Multicultural America book group is reading and discussing Biting the Hand, by Julia Lee, 6:30 p.m., Dec. 10 on Zoom. To join the discussion, email anniecubberly@gmail.com.
The following description is from Henry Holt and Company, April 18, 2023: Julia Lee is angry. And she has questions. What does it mean to be Asian in America? What does it look like to be an ally or an accomplice? How can we shatter the structures of white supremacy that fuel racial stratification? | | | When Julia was 15, her hometown went up in smoke during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The daughter of Korean immigrant store owners in a predominantly Black neighborhood, Julia was taught to be grateful for the privilege afforded to her. However, the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, following the murder of Latasha Harlins by a Korean shopkeeper, forced Julia to question her racial identity and complicity. She was neither Black nor white. So who was she?
This question follows Julia for years to come, resurfacing as she traded in her tumultuous childhood for the white upper echelon of elite academia. It was only when she began a PhD in English that she found answers—not through studying Victorian literature, as Julia had planned, but rather in the brilliant prose of writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. Their works gave Julia the vocabulary and, more important, the permission to critically examine her own tortured position as an Asian American, setting off a powerful journey of racial reckoning, atonement, and self-discovery.
Julia lays bare the complex disorientation and shame that stem from this country’s imposed racial hierarchy. She argues that Asian Americans must work toward lasting social change alongside Black and Brown communities to combat the scarcity culture of white supremacy through abundance and joy. Julia interrogates her own experiences of marginality and resistance, and ultimately asks what may be the biggest question of all - what can we do? | LWVTC Leadership Team
By Annie Cubberly
As I write this, the election is LOOMING LARGE, taking up space in the media, on lawns, and - worst of all - in my head. It is hard to look away. The truth is no matter who wins there will be work for us to do. We need to keep in mind that local politics matters a great deal. This may be where our League has the most influence, especially as a nonpartisan organization.
You may have heard the saying “faith without action is dead” and so it is with democracy. I think we can rest assured that we have been active. We are doing what we can to empower voters and defend democracy in this election and beyond.
- Thanks to Vallie Needham Huisman for seamlessly managing our candidate forums.
- Thanks to Susan Fiksdal, Audrey Levine and the army of volunteers for tirelessly tabling at every event over the last few months. Whew!
- Thanks to Carol Goss for planning the fun membership meeting and coordinating the book group on Making Democracy Count.
- Thanks to Brenda Paull for organizing a League presence at the Harlequin production, What the Constitution Means to Me.
- And, of course, thanks to the powerhouse team led by Karen Verrill and Eleanor Walters for raising funds to put civics textbooks in the hands of every child in Thurston County!
Regardless of who wins the elections, we will continue to be active. We purchased new equipment for videotaping and conducting hybrid meetings that will help us have more effective and inclusive meetings.
I am pleased to welcome three new members to our communications committee. Karen Chenett will be helping with the website. Lena Mejia will be managing social media and sharing her talent as a graphic designer. And Sholonda Aikins will be helping us with our new technology for hybrid meetings.
Onward!
| THOUGHTS ON LEAGUE ISSUES
| Our Be a Voter Campaign
By Susan Fiksdal
We expect a huge turnout for the Nov. 5 election. For the past two months, the Voter Services committee has been in more places and talked to more people than ever before! We attended the College, Career, Apprenticeships, Resources & Education Options (CARE) event at the Yelm High School and pre-registered over 15 students at Avanti High School. We spent two days at each college in our county: South Puget Sound Community College, The Evergreen State College, and St. Martin’s University where students thanked us for coming. We helped the County Auditor’s Elections Office to register voters at food banks in Rainier and Tenino. We also went to Roof Food Bank in Rochester.
In some cases, we set up tables where people could pick up information because it was more efficient. For example, Michelle Gipson, Director of Briggs YMCA, requested a table for one month and we maintained all the information people might need thanks to Laurie Smith and Audrey Levine. Peggy Smith used our materials for a registration event at United Churches, and Gail Wrede did the same for the Books, Brownies, and Beans event at the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation.
On National Voter Registration Day, we joined seven other Leagues at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Clinics to register voters, our first statewide coordinated effort to target one group of voters.
Thanks so much to our wonderful volunteers for their time and expertise: Suzanne Beatty, Barbara Buchan, Annie Cubberly, Maggie Lott, Brenda Paull, Vallie Needham Huisman, Darlene Hein, Janet Hyre, Wendy Kitmacher, Rhonda Porter, Joli Sandoz, Teresa Stall-Cowley, and Kate Walsh. Thanks also to Eleanor Walters, Brenda Paull, and Karen Verrill for attending quarterly Pulling Together Events for the Nisqually Tribe. | International Observers at the Olympia Library Ballot Party
By Susan Fiksdal
Annie Cubberly and I met two international elections observers at the ballot party on Oct. 23. They had a lot of questions, including asking if we had received any threats or harassment about the elections. I explained that I received one request to register voters that was from a bot, and several others that could have been testing whether we are nonpartisan. One question I found quite odd: they asked if we knew of any “ballot harvesting.” | | | | The party attracted about 12 people, most of whom came in small groups and had their ballots. The event featured pizza and the showing of our candidate forums in one of the library meeting rooms. | | | Thank You for Book Discussion
Thank you to the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation and John Gear, facilitator, for two engaging book discussions on Making Democracy Count.
Couldn’t make the meetings but want the book? Contact Carol Goss at cgosslwv.tc@gmail.com. Books are $30 each or on a sliding scale if needed. Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation, by Ismar Volić, 2024 Princeton University Press.
"Math professor Ismar Volić, an émigré from Bosnia, has written an extremely thoughtful and completely accessible book about how to “do” democracy so that it works as advertised instead of producing persistently undemocratic outcomes and giving excess power to a thin slice of the electorate at the expense of everyone else. The book is engaging, even-handed, nonpartisan, thoughtful and should be available as a reference to anyone who wants to see democracy flourish rather than flail." John Gear, LWVTC Member | Electoral College Explained
By Annie Cubberly
I have never really understood the Electoral College, so I took a deep dive and broke it down to understand it. The Electoral College is a process established by the Constitution for the indirect election of the president and vice president of the United States. It came about as a compromise between two conflicting ideas: 1. Presidents should be selected by the popular vote; and 2. Congress should select the president. There is more history to this, but this is the short answer.
Each state is allocated electors equal to its number of Senators and Representatives in Congress. Washington has 10 representatives in the House of Representatives and two Senators, resulting in 12 Electoral College votes. Nationally, there are a total of 538 electors, and a majority of 270 are needed to win the presidency.
On election day, citizens vote for president; but in reality, a slate of electors votes for their chosen candidate. Electors are typically nominated by each political party at their convention. After the general election, the electors meet in their state capitals in December and cast their votes. Most states use a “winner-take-all” system; the presidential ticket that receives the most votes is entitled to all the state’s electoral votes. The results of the electors' votes are certified and sent to the President of the Senate, the National Archives and Records Administration, and other relevant parties.
In January, during a joint session of Congress, the electoral votes are counted, and the presidential ticket that receives a majority of the votes (at least 270) is declared the winner.
In theory, the electoral college is intended to balance the influence of populous states with less populous ones in presidential elections. However, it is subject to debate regarding its effectiveness and fairness. The League of Women Voters advocates getting rid of the electoral college. See a link to the League's position here. In short, the League states, "The Electoral College distorts the democratic promise of 'one person, one vote' by awarding electoral votes from each state in support of a candidate instead of simply counting the total number of votes nationwide." | | Book Review:
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth and Begin Again: How We Got Here and Where We Might Go, both by Oliver Jeffers
By J Sandoz | | | What do we need to tell a story to replace social divisiveness? Artist and author Oliver Jeffers has an idea. His award-winning picture book for very young children, Here We Are, introduces the concept of a broad perspective. A subsequent picture book, Begin Again, is composed of art and text that includes a poem and an Author’s Note essay and presents content for all ages.
Jeffers began thinking about cognitive shift just after his first child’s birth. His son would need to learn to navigate not just a family or a neighborhood, but also life on Earth – life with (at least) 7,327,450,666 other human inhabitants and uncounted animals. So Jeffers created Here We Are, introducing land, sea and sky with appealing drawings of a benevolent planet. He ends the book with the concept of relying on others, noting that “You’re never alone on Earth.”
The ideas in Begin Again are more complex and stem in part, Jeffers notes, from growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during political chaos and violence. We’re “never alone,” but here Jeffers reminds us that we’ve repeatedly drawn us/them lines that separate. To begin again, humans must face the realities Jeffers portrays in two of Begin’s array of visual metaphors: The first depicts Earth as a ship on fire. The second portrays a whimsical Earth ship adorned with a billowing sail, suspended among a spangle of stars. “Wherever we go,” reads the accompanying text, “we all go together.”
Facing both of these truths may save us – we are going somewhere, and together – coupled with changes in perspective. Focusing on right/wrong locks us to the past, as Jeffers observes. Hope, though, “requires imagination about an unwritten future.”
| League Members Celebrate Olympia’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day
On Oct.14, League members from Thurston, Clark and Spokane Counties, danced in step with tribal members, as the Steh-Chass Band of Indigenous people of the Squaxin Island Tribe and City of Olympia honored the Medicine Creek Treaty and the strong government-to-government relationship between them. The close relationship has provided for such things as natural resource protections and climate change response.
Squaxin Island Chair, Kris Peters, stood among the towering, centuries old evergreen trees at Squaxin Park, singing and drumming with his family as they carried on the traditions of their ancestors. In his speech, he noted that it was also Columbus Day, a national holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus. Columbus was interesting to him as a school boy, but sadly the history was “based on some misinformation, perpetuated by lies, sprinkled in with a little racism, and unfortunately perpetuated in our school system for decades.” | Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne and council members joined Peters to honor the Tribe’s history and continued stewardship of the water surrounding Olympia. Payne encouraged us to view the new park entrance sign, Squaxin Park, redesigned in collaboration with tribal artist Taylor Price. He also noted that the new interpretative sign was developed in collaboration with the tribal council and museum staff, Olympia Historical Society, Saint Martin’s University and the City.
The dancing, storytelling, and meaningful tributes were followed by a meal of chowder and frybread.
In photos above, members of Thurston and Clark County Leagues dancing. | State and National League Resources
While our local League stays busy with local activities and events, our national and state Leagues provide training events and resources too.
National League- LWVUS:
To check out what LWVUS is doing to protect Voting Rights, Health Care Reform, Immigration and the Environment, go to the LWVUS web site, https://www.lwv.org.
An example of nonpartisan messaging guidance is this about Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris:
"In Aug. 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris secured the Democratic presidential nomination. As an organization that believes in the power of women to create a more perfect democracy, we can celebrate the progress and historic impact of a woman of color securing her party’s nomination for president while remaining rooted in our foundational principle of nonpartisanship. Leagues can use these talking points if asked about the League's take on Harris as a nominee:
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While the League never endorses candidates, we recognize the historical significance of a woman of color receiving her party’s nomination for president.
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Representation matters. For women and girls, especially women of color, this is an exciting moment.
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Every time a barrier is crossed for women, we celebrate that progress which opens doors for more women who look like her to succeed.
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As an organization founded to support women in exercising our right to vote, we celebrate the first women of color at the top of a major party ticket.
State League - LWVWA:
Check out the state League website’s menu of resources and webinars, including state-wide candidate debates, at https://lwvwa.org. And tune in for online forums and events at https://lwvwa.org/events. An example of information available at the state League website is this:
Multi-member district education project (LWVWA), 10-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov 9; Virtual
The system used for electing our representatives is seldom questioned in the United States. Recently, in the face of voter apathy and increased expressions of antipathy towards government, some Americans have begun to consider that there may be a relationship between the method used to select their representatives and peoples’ numerous complaints about the government it produces. This presentation will outline what multi-member districts are, where and how they are used, and how they could improve representation. Register here.
| Now is a Great Time to Join, Renew and Give LWVTPC Memberships
Why wait to join or renew - Act now! With LWVUS assuming membership administration early next year (see the article "Framing Our Future" above), now is a great time to renew or give friends, family and students a Thurston League membership.
Why now? After the LWVUS Transformation Membership launch on or about Feb. 1, 2025, our local League will get a smaller amount of the dues you pay, and our household membership category will end, along with our free student scholarship membership.
Before the end of January or early February 2025 we still offer the following:
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Household memberships for $100. After LWVUS assumes membership and dues registration, household memberships will discontinue. However, a member joining from the same household can choose to pay half of the recommended amount under the pay-what-you-can model.
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Free student memberships for full- or part-time students.
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Subsidies for low- and fixed-income memberships. Due to the generosity of our members, LWVTC pays the $50 dues portion (per member payments) to the state and national Leagues. No financial information is required to join as students or for low & fixed income memberships.
Questions? Contact Carol Goss, Membership Chair, at Membership@LWVthurston.org. | EMPOWERING VOTERS. DEFENDING DEMOCRACY.
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
Copyright © 2022, League of Women Voters of Thurston County, Washington
Our mailing address is:
P.O. Box 2203
Olympia, WA 98507
http://www.lwvthurston.org/ | |