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March 2022
Nominating Committee
Redistricting
Advocacy and Program
Voter Service/Engagement
Post Board Summary
President's Letter
Hello League Leaders,
A salute to all the League members who so diligently and patiently followed the twists and turns of redistricting in their local jurisdictions! League members up and down the state spent hours upon hours monitoring the redistricting process in their areas, offering comments to redistricting bodies, and working in coalition with other groups to encourage adherence to the Fair MAPS Act. This was an arduous process to follow involving late nights and many many meetings. The LWVC thanks you all for undertaking this historic and vital part of making democracy work.
A salute also to Chris Carson and Helen Hutchison who represented the LWVC singly and in coalition with other good government groups in monitoring the second ever California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Helen and Chris offered public comment and written advice to the Commission throughout the process. The LWVC worked hard to bring the Commission into existence and wants to make sure that it continues to create legislative districts that represent the people that live within them. The LWVC has plans to preserve and perpetuate this important legacy for the future through research and writing academic papers on both levels of redistricting. Click here to learn more.
The legislative session is underway so the LWVC is at the Capitol (speaking figuratively) cosponsoring the Racial Justice for All Act and an important bill that will prevent overly aggressive voter roll purges. In addition the League is supporting legislation to help protect election workers and to require disclosures about digital political campaigns. The latter bill was proposed by the Fair Political Practices Commission as a result of the work of a task force that League members Jennifer Waggoner and Katie Zoglin were members of. Plus the LWVC is working to get voter education funded in the current budget and to reform recall elections. Read all about it here.
Speaking of advocacy, please remember that the League speaks with one voice when it comes to communications about legislation. Take a look at the Speaking with One Voice policy. If a piece of legislation is of interest to a particular League and or has direct impact on the League’s location please consult with the LWVC before any communication, whether that is submitting testimony, responding to a reporter’s questions or sending a letter to the editor. Please use the Action Request Form which is found in the Program and Advocacy section of the MyLO Members Only site. The League is stronger and more influential when speaking as one.
The June Primary Election is bearing down upon us. The LWVC has toolkits and guidance for your use, along with products like the Easy Voter Guide and Voter's Edge to help your League with voter service work. Please click here for a summary of what is available.
The LWVUS Convention (June 23- 26, 2022) registration is open and will remain open until June 6. The number of delegates a League may send to the convention is based on the number of members the League reported in January, 2021. Click here for a spreadsheet that tells you of the number of delegates your League may send. Please be aware that the number of members on this spreadsheet is based on preliminary figures. They are probably accurate but rest assured the spreadsheet will be updated when we receive final numbers.
The Nominating Committee is open for business! Please consider your fellow League members for possible nomination to the LWVC Board of Directors. Make suggestions of people to guide the LWVC into the future.
In closing I’d like to leave you with this. All across the country Leagues are involved in litigation and battles over voting rights, elections, and redistricting. Californians are so fortunate not to be suffering that political angst. Yes, there are issues with threats to elections officials, suspicion of voter fraud, and some attempts to purge voter rolls. But these are not issues that are insurmountable. California built an elections system that made the transition to vote by mail ballots for all possible and a process for successful redistricting by independent commissions. With vigilance and openness to continual improvements in the ways Californians participate in our government this state will continue to be an example for the rest of the country. Let us remember and value the work of League members and their allies that created the stable elections and redistricting process we now enjoy. Let us lead by example that other states can emulate.
Thank you for your dedication and hard work,
Carol
Nominating Committee
The Nomination Committee for LWVC is hard at work, seeking out people who would be a great fit for the LWVC Board of Directors. The committee seeks suggestions from everyone. Suggest someone; suggest yourself! Please help the committee build a strong representative board as we build the future of the League of Women Voters of California. Click here for details
Redistricting
Statewide redistricting
The League’s work in statewide redistricting does not end even now in the absence of a court or ballot challenge to the maps drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. The LWVC EF is starting the process of conducting a deep dive assessment of the 2021 Commission and the redistricting process. This is being done in partnership with Common Cause. The paper follows LWVC’s last paper in 2013 “When People Draw the Lines.” This document was used by the current CCRC to inform its operations. This new paper will preserve and perpetuate the legacy of the League’s work, and will provide advice to future redistricting processes, not just in California, but for the rest of the United States. California is ahead of the rest of the country on this issue and must show that citizens drawing the districts is a process that works and that leads to better representation for all people within the districts.
Local Redistricting
The process of local redistricting is not quite over because some local jurisdictions have not completed the process and some challenges are pending in the court system. Local Leagues that monitored redistricting in their communities participated in a survey and webinars exploring the ways in which their jurisdictions did and did not follow the Fair MAPS Act that governed redistricting for the first time. The executive summary and specific responses are located here.
This also not the end of League work on local redistricting. The LWVCEF and a small coalition of groups join to assess the local processes, with the same idea as the state level paper. It will be an assessment, fed by stakeholders interviews and participation, that evaluates the processes. What worked, what didn’t work, and ways it can and should be improved for the future. The information gathered in the survey and webinars is part of the research for this paper. As with statewide redistricting, the LWVC was part of the creation of the process and seeks to preserve the legacy of the work and to provide advice, direction, and reform for the future.
Advocacy and Program
The Board approved the 2022 Legislative Priorities -
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Making Democracy Work with focus on voting rights, protection and expansion of the electorate, money in politics and redistricting,
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Housing(implementation and community education focused)
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Housing supply – availability, affordability, and production
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Homelessness
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Climate Change with focus on water, and
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Criminal Justice reform.
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Additionally, requests from local Leagues on bills of interest affecting their jurisdictions, bills in our core League work, and high priority items in each of our program areas as identified by our volunteer advocacy team position directors.
LWVC is co-sponsoring two bills this session:
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AB 256 (Kalra) The Racial Justice Act of 2020 was a first-of-its-kind law in the state prohibiting the use of race, ethnicity, or national origin in sentencing and convictions. This new bill is the Racial Justice Act for All and is designed to address the people languishing in jails & prisons right now. The coalition which includes LWVC has been advocating for over a year to pass this bill that will extend civil rights in the courtroom to all who are impacted by racist convictions and sentencing prior to 2021.
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AB 2841 (Low) This legislation will require a notice of registration cancellation be sent to voters prior to cancellation and offer them an opportunity to correct any errors related to official records. This bill also introduces procedures to ensure more consistency and transparency related to the finding that someone is disqualified to vote due to “mental incompetence.” This legislation is needed because errors in existing reporting systems and overly aggressive voter purges leads to disenfranchisement of eligible voters who are disproportionately Black, Brown, indigenous or other people of color, low-income and young people.
Elections and Redistricting supported by the LWVC
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SB 921 (Newman) This bill will create an online archive of every digital political ad employed by a political campaign or committee and will provide voters and stakeholders more information about campaign activity, including funding sources. This bill grew out of the work of the Fair Political Practice Commission’s Task Force on Digital Transparency. Among its members were the LWVC’s Jennifer Waggoner and Katie Zoglin.
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SB 1131 (Newman) This bill would allow elections workers who are subjected to threats to enroll in the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home program or the state’s address confidentiality program for public officials. This bill will help protect those who work in the trenches to protect the voice of voters and the integrity of elections.
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SB 2030 (Arambula)This bill would establish a citizens redistricting commission for Fresno County, create redistricting criteria, and a process for adopting a redistricting plan. The LWVC supported similar past legislation for both San Diego and Los Angeles counties. For oral (phoned in) testimony by Deputy Director Dora Rose go to app. minute 30 on this video.
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To read more about bills being followed by the LWVC go to the Bill Status Report page on lwvc.org. Click on Legislation & Bills.
Funding for voter education and outreach: The LWVC is working in a key role with collaboration partners to secure funding in the state budget for voter education and outreach. Despite recent legislative changes designed to remove impediments to voting in California, and a historically high voter turnout in the November 2020 election, disparities in participation among youth and voters of color persisted, and in some cases grew, compared to our older, non-Hispanic white population. Dora Rose, our LWVC Deputy Director, has been working with Assemblymember Mike Fong (AD 49) from Los Angeles County, to champion the budget ask.
The goals of California’s election reforms, to achieve a more representative democracy, cannot be realized unless there is widespread public awareness of new opportunities to participate in democracy. Funding is necessary to inform people about the full range of their voting options, maximize turnout, ensure that all eligible ballots will be counted, combat the suppressive impact of election mis- and disinformation, and ultimately, to build a more representative electorate.
Reform of California Recall Process: Following the recent unsuccessful recall election for Governor Newsom, calls for change and identification of problems with our current process and the need for improvements became audible. The Assembly and Senate committees that deal with elections held a series of hearings seeking information from academics, polling, and good government groups. The LWVC submitted written testimony to it. In addition the Secretary of State formed a bipartisan panel chaired by former Governor Brown and former Supreme Court Justice George to advise her. The panel invited the LWVC to offer testimony. The testimony submitted is here. It offers a number of considerations and possible solutions and emphasizes that the replacement of a state wide official should be done in a regularly scheduled election that will have higher voter turnout than a special election does.
Ultimately the LWVC and Common Cause joined in a letter supporting SCA 6 (Newman). This bill would establish the Lieutenant Governor’s service as governor until the next regularly scheduled election, a solution that is acceptable because it gives voters an opportunity to focus on the candidates running and a copy of the letter may be found here.
Voter Service/Engagement
The Easy Voter Guide is now available online at easyvoterguide.org. This 4-page guide is filled with important information about how to register, handle a voter by mail ballot, and the statewide offices that appear on the ballot. Please share this with any groups or potential voters you come into contact with. In addition, work on Voter's Edge is in full swing. The LWVC is working with counties to obtain the information needed to make the ballot look up section work properly. The next step will be to obtain candidate information. You can begin promoting Voter's Edge after April 5, when content will become available, but candidate content is populated on a rolling basis. Both these products are vital to countering mis- and dis-information.
A voter toolkit, similar to the one created for the recall election in September is in the works and will be available the second week of April.
The source for guidance and advice on candidate forums and items for out reach to the general public is the MyLO Members Only Site. Look to the Elections Section for guidance on handling candidate forum issues, including the candidate participation policy when trying to determine how to cull a long list of candidates for forums, guidelines for cosponsorships, civil discourse in forums, and a video created by local Leagues that found success with virtual candidate forums. You will also find the Voter Fraud Mythbusters document that was produced for 2020 but is just as valid and factual now as it was then. There is also an Election Protection FAQ also from 2020 but still valid for you to consult.
In addition look at the Outreach Tools to find the toolkit for new Voter’s Choice Act counties. This provides important and concise information for those Leagues in counties that will be using this elections model for the first time. This section also includes the Voting in California Jails: A Community Toolkit.
The Voter Service Google Group is available for voter service directors and others who have questions to access the collective wisdom of our League members. Contact cmoongoldberg [at] lwvc.org (Carol Moon Goldberg) to ask to be included in the group.
March 2022 Post Board Summary
LWVC/LWVCEF Boards of Directors Meetings
March 19, 2022 – Electronic Meetings
IMPORTANT DATES TO CALENDAR:
- June 7, 2022 – Statewide Direct Primary Election
- June 23-26, 2022- LWVUS Convention information here
LWVC MEETING SUMMARY
The LWVC Board of Directors met virtually and acted as follows.
GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Ratification of LWVC Special Meeting Actions
- December 31, 2021 Executive Committee - Meeting held relating to personnel matters
- January 5, 2022 Special Board – Meeting held relating to personnel matters, and to appoint Kandrea Mosley Gandhi (LWV Berkeley/Albany/Emeryville) to the LWVC Nominating Committee vacancy
- March 3, 2022 Executive Committee – Meeting held to discuss funding sources for academic paper on second Citizens Redistricting Commission.
PROGRAM AND ADVOCACY
Adopted Legislative Priorities for 2022
1. Making Democracy Work
- Voting Rights
- Voter Protection and Service
- Election Reform with a focus on expanding the electorate and making it more representative
- Money in Politics
- Redistricting (assessment and reform planning).
2. Housing (implementation and community education focused)
- Housing Supply – availability, affordability, and production
- Homelessness.
3. Climate Change with a focus on water
4. Criminal Justice
- Racial Justice Act for All (co-sponsor).
Other Legislative Issues – as time and resources permit
- Support requests from local Leagues and ILOs for advocacy on bills of specific interest to their jurisdictions.
- Act as appropriate on other core issues like the Initiative and Referendum Process and Open Government.
- Consider Program Director recommendations for action on the highest priority bills in their program areas.
LWVC Board Committees and Task Forces
- Appointed Maya Paley (LWVC Board) as Co-Chair of the LWVC Development Committee
- Approved Committee Charters for: Audit, Convention, Development, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, Executive, Finance, Governance, Legislation, Nominating, and the MyLO Task Force.
FINANCE
- Received and filed the LWVC Treasurer’s Reports for the period ending January 31, 2022.
LWVCEF MEETING SUMMARY
The LWVCEF Board of Directors acted as follows.
GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
LWVCEF Board Committees and Task Forces
- Appointed Maya Paley (LWVCEF Board) as Co-Chair of the LWVC Development Committee
- Approved Committee Charters for: Audit, Development, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, Executive, Finance, Governance, and the MyLO Task Force.
FINANCE
- Received and filed the LWVCEF Treasurer’s Reports for the period ending January 31, 2022.
Caroline de Llamas
LWVC/EF Secretary
cdellamas [at] lwvc.org
