Dear League Leaders and League Members:

The voter services delivery of our League, LWVDV, has been nothing short of extraordinary.  We all were determined and made a commitment to transform our services to make a difference in this COVID-impacted election.  We wanted to make a statement about the critical importance of being well informed and participating in this election, especially when our democracy is so challenged.

In providing such an intensified effort, our teams set records to be proud of this year, both in quantity and quality of outreach.

We presented 5 Public Programs, every one of them a model for future programs. Kudos, and thank you, to these leaders for their outstanding effort!  

All videos are still available for review on the Contra Costa Library website or YouTube channel, or the LWVDV YouTube channel, and are well worth reviewing, even now.

• LWVDV Chairs: Diane Bianchi and Ann Flynn, with Shawn Gilbert and team: Nancy Bocanegra, Joanne Supersad, and Paul Derksen.
• Contra Costa Library: Liz Fuller, Senior Community Library Manager; David Greene, Adult Services; Team: Gia Paolini, Catherine Oliver, and Rich Hall.
• CCTV: Chris Verdugo, CCTV Manager; CCTV Team: Ilena Ferrer and Christiana Altimari.
• Contra Costa County Elections: Debi Cooper, County Registrar of Voters, and the County Elections Dept.: Scott Konopasek, Dept. Manager, and Karen Tedford.

• Moderator Marti Roach
• Panelists: Diane Burgis, Contra Costa County Supervisor; Dr. Cynthia Mahoney, Citizens Climate Lobby; Mariana Moore, Richmond Community Foundation; Beth Salwin, Climate Interactive.
• See: Contra Costa Library video.

• Moderator: Alison Peters, Contra Costa Library
• Panelists: Diana Madoshi, Educator; Dr. Alison Parker, University of Delaware; Dr. Lori Watson, Educator; Lauren Babb, LWVDV, Community Activist.
• See: Contra Costa Library video.

• Moderators:  Janet Hoy; Carol Murota, LWVDV Chair, Proposition 15;
• Panelists: Lynn Mackey, County Supt. of Schools; Carol Moon Goldberg, President, LWV California; John Gioia, Contra Costa Board of Supervisors.
• See: LWVDV video.

• Eren Mendez, County Elections Dept.; Candace Andersen, Contra Costa County Supervisor; Cindy Mataraso, LWVDV Voter’s Edge.
• See: Contra Costa Library video.

• Moderator: Elaisa Acosta, LWVDV
• Panelists: Bett Andersen, student activist leader; Eren Mendez, County Elections Dept.; Patricia Sunseri, community volunteer; Genoveva Calloway, LWV West Contra Costa County member and community volunteer. 
• See: Contra Costa Library video.

We presented multiple Voter Services events:  LWVDV, CCTV, County Library Candidate Forums.  With new voting districts added in cities and school districts throughout the County, 32 Candidate Roundtables/Forums were recorded on 14 separate dates.  These were held on Zoom or YouTube, and all were very well moderated with timely policy-focused questions.  Truly an amazing accomplishment by all!  Shoutout and thank you to organizer Martha Goralka!  The New Professionals did the moderating for CCTV.  LWVDV moderators included Gayle Saxton, Gail Murray, Sharon Burke, Janet Hoy, and Ann Flynn.  LWVDV Timers included: Peggy Huston, Karen Dolder, Marian Shostrom, and Marielle Boortz. (See: LWVDV YouTube videos)

In the Voter this month you will see the report on Voter’s Edge and thanks to all the volunteers who supported this amazing effort.  Also impacted by many more candidates in many more districts, the County Chair, Marian Shostrom, and her capable assistant Cindy Mataraso, are recognized by LWVC for their expertise and accomplishment with best-case delivery of information, number of hits on the website and high participation by candidates, especially in such a large county.

The State Ballot Pros and Cons Co-Chairs, Kay James and Janet Thomas, are to be commended for taking the initiative to provide their 12 thoroughly researched ballot measure scripts to be videotaped and disseminated through LWVDV’s YouTube channel.  Their exceptional effort, working with a talented group of St. Mary’s College student interns and their creative Associate Professor Jason Jakaitis, is a model for the future delivery of complex public policy information to help communities make legislative decisions for constructive social and economic change.

Shawn Gilbert, our LWVDV VP and retired teacher, created a most effective online Voter Resource list of helpful links. She also researched and provided fascinating stories of our suffragist history. She focused on the extraordinary leadership of the women who were the drivers of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and the establishment of the LWV, making it her priority to include the very effective suffragist leaders of color.  She Zoom-delivered these messages to library programs, schools and other non-profit organizations. 

I cannot miss this opportunity to recognize our outstanding Communications Team. Elaisa Acosta Mendez was a talented jump-starter for our social media effort, adding new platforms as needed, including YouTube and TikTok.   Leslie Stewart has kept the information flowing through emails to members and the public.New member Kathi Bruce has stepped up and so effectively helped us to keep the website visually effective for our Voter Services coverage.

Paul Derksen launched our new Google Non-Profit Suite account.  With his help and his administration of email set-up and more recently Google Meet, Paul has been essential to helping us expand our volunteer teams' contacts and required communication.  He also served as Zoom host on many occasions where larger meeting attendance drove an increased need for more technical management of Zoom.

Then there is our outreach to our local Latinx communities. Our work with NETO Concord made possible Spanish translation of resource documents, poster designs in English and Spanish and public programs all in Spanish.  Molly Clark, Luz Palomera Sierra, and Herbert Lee of NETO, with LWVDV’s Shawn Gilbert and Joanne Supersad, were our organizing leads and Elaisa Acosta Mendez and three new friends of the League were our translators.  This outreach has laid the foundation for future collaboration with the Latinx communities on Action-Advocacy and program activity in the new year.

We thank you all for sharing in your community circles and with family and friends the non-partisan election information that we prepared in best-case-delivered voter services. And thank you too for volunteering so readily to help us transform from in-person to totally online services.

Don’t stop now!  LWVDV won’t stop until the election has been decided.  So do continue to contact anyone and everyone that may need help getting prepared to vote in these final days of the election and even Election Day.  Share the details of Action Alerts and the post-election process as you receive them in future emails.

Finally, we encourage you to stay tuned to learn how we can work together after the election to make a healthy and constructive difference in our re-imagined communities.

Suzan Requa, LWVDV President