Photo: Our own Martha Goralka, receiving Elections Department tour from Debi Cooper, Clerk-Recorder/Registrar, and Tommy Gong, Deputy Clerk-Recorder, as part of the County’s CEO program the League participated in.
The LWVDV Voter Services team were busy in May, with forums and outreach activities for the June 7th California Primary.
The Diablo Valley League held our final forum for the Primary Election on Wednesday, May 18th with Stephanie Williams Rogers stepping in as moderator of this well-attended Contra Costa District Attorney candidate’s forum. She was backed up by Karen Dolder, question sorter extraordinaire, timers Shawn Gilbert and Annette Lewis, and question retrievers Joe and Martha Goralka. Co-sponsors were the Delta Association of Realtors, The Rotary Club of the Delta, and the Antioch Chamber of Commerce, which provided the venue (Delta Association of Realtors Conference room) and water. Our co-sponsors were impressed with Stephanie’s adept, even-handed handling of the forum and our dedicated volunteers. The League continues to get compliments for Stephanie and her crew in the greater Antioch community. Cathleen Kirk held down the membership table, connecting with attendees while managing the bathroom key. Approximately 50 voters attended.
Earlier the LWV Diablo Valley teamed up with the LWV of West Contra Costa to host two back-to-back Zoom forums, trying out an experimental Justice Forum for Contra Costa Sherriff and District Attorney candidates, followed by the new Congressional District 8 candidates. At the last minute, the moderator was unable to attend; so, Linda Whitmore of LWV West Contra Costa County and Martha Goralka, LWVDV, redid scripts and served as moderators for these two Zoom forums. CCTV’s Chris Verdugo had a new Zoom version, so we muddled our way through with decent results. Richard Lee from KCRTV, a West County channel, handled the timing, and several League members helped in many other ways.
Suzan Requa and Joanne Supersad staffed a booth at the Water Park Block Party in Antioch on May 5. Several attendees expressed an interest in joining our League. Our volunteers also helped the Elections Department sign up poll workers, and offered Voters Edge bookmarks and voter registration forms.
Shawn Gilbert and Martha Goralka participated in the Citizen’s Election Observer (CEO) program, a several-weeks focus on the voting process for this year’s primary election, with a look at poll worker training, ballot tracking, signature verification, ballot counting equipment and testing, and so much more. This is a fascinating look at the process for how we vote in Contra Costa County. The program may be repeated for the General Election. Well worth attending!
Patti Bittenbinder’s volunteers filled registration form holders throughout our Diablo Valley region. The last day to register was Monday, May 23, so volunteers made extra efforts to be sure there were plenty of forms available – although most people register online now.
Janet Thomas is already getting requests for Pros & Cons presentations for the General Election ballot measures. Because of the time it takes to research the propositions and prepare the scripts with accurate, up-to-date information, the soonest we can offer Pros & Cons presentations is in October. We do plan to partner with students at St. Mary’s College again, but those videos also won’t be completed until that time.
If you are interested in helping with Voter Service activities for the November 2022 Election, please contact Martha Goralka at voter.services [at] lwvdv.org.
Be sure to vote in the the June 7 California Primary Election! Click here for more information.
