THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ARAPAHOE AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES THE VOTER. November 2018 Issue

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1 THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ARAPAHOE AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES THE VOTER November 2018 Issue IN THIS ISSUE: HOT TOPICS WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! LEGISLATIVE ACTION COMMITTEE TRAINING LWVADC HOLIDAY PARTY EXCELLING AT EQUITY AND ALLYSHIP - GREAT DECISIONS LWVADC VOTER SERVICES UPDATE HELP WANTED MANAGEMENT TEAM OPEN POSITIONS ONGOING INITIATIVES EVENT SUMMARY: November 8, 9:30 AM- Thursday AM Unit Meeting November 8, 4:30 PM- Heather Gardens Unit Meeting November 9, 9:30 AM - Great Decisions Meeting November 12, 5:00 PM- Evening Unit Meeting November 14- Program Committee Meeting November 14- Water Committee Meeting November 26- Management Team Meeting

2 November 29, 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM - Legislative Action Committee (LAC) Training December 3 - Holiday Party HOT TOPICS AND ELECTION RESULTS November Unit Meetings Come discuss all the hot topics with fellow League members. Thursday AM Unit Meeting Thursday, Nov. 9:30 AM Southglenn Library 6972 S Vine St Centennial, CO Heather Gardens Unit Meeting Thursday, Nov. 4:30 PM Heather Gardens, Rendezvous Restaurant Meeting Room 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way Aurora, CO Evening Unit Meeting Monday, Nov. 5:00 PM Las Brisas Mexican Restaurant Clinton Shoppette 6787 S. Clinton St. Englewood, CO Las Brisas is southeast of I-25 and Arapahoe Rd. Go south on Clinton St from Arapahoe Rd. It's next door to Target. There will be a 20% gratuity and individual checks. map Questions? Contact Maggi Markey: maggimarkey@gmail.com

3 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! Please welcome our newest members - Anita Chandler Castle Rock Antchandler85@gmail.com Michelle Rene Kelly Parker Mrrkelly@me.com Kellie Prall Littleton Prallkellie@gmail.com Emilia Emi Pavia Highlands Ranch Emipavia12@ail.com Know someone who's interested in joining? Invite them to an event or contact Jo Feder for more info, joluvs10s@gmail.com. LEGISLATIVE ACTION COMMITTEE TRAINING Interested in learning how the League lobbies our General Assembly? Want to be a member of the team that influences legislation? The LWVCO Legislative Action Committee (LAC) will host an Orientation / Training session on Thursday, November 29th from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm at the Scottish Rite Temple, 1370 Grant St in Denver and you are invited to attend.

4 The morning orientation session will provide an overview of how the LAC works and what areas of legislation we follow and the role/commitment of the members of the committee. During lunch, any questions on the work of the LAC will be answered. The afternoon training session will be for committee members (new and old) and will focus on finding new bills, writing Legislative letter articles, how to lobby and testify, etc. Once a member has been trained, they may call into our meetings remotely, listen to hearings, and testify remotely as well, so all of our members can surely participate. So please come and plan on staying for the morning and lunch if you are interested in learning more about what the LAC does. If you decide to become a member of the team, plan on staying for the afternoon training session. Please respond (only) if you ARE PLANNING to attend by Monday, Nov. 26th via to LAC@lwvcolorado.org. Also, feel free to contact me with any questions, etc. Thanks, Deb Gard LWVCO Legislative Chair direct dgard@comcast.net LWVADC HOLIDAY PARTY Monday, December 3rd

5 Let's celebrate the holidays and all our hard work this year. More details coming soon. EXCELLING AT EQUITY AND ALLYSHIP - Diversity - Equity - Inclusion Presentation From Make Democracy Work! Day 2018

6 At the recent Make Democracy Work! Day, Regan Byrd presented on Allyship with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Implicit Bias was one topic discussed. Implicit Bias Also known as implicit social cognition, implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual s awareness or intentional control. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection. The implicit associations we harbor in our subconscious cause us to have feelings and attitudes about other people based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age, and appearance. These associations develop over the course of a lifetime beginning at a very early age through exposure to direct and indirect messages. In addition to early life experiences, the media and news programming are often-cited origins of implicit associations. A Few Key Characteristics of Implicit Biases Implicit biases are pervasive. Everyone possesses them, even people with avowed commitments to impartiality such as judges. Implicit and explicit biases are related but distinct mental constructs. They are not mutually exclusive and may even reinforce each other. The implicit associations we hold do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect stances we would explicitly endorse. We generally tend to hold implicit biases that favor our own ingroup, though research has shown that we can still hold implicit biases against our ingroup. Implicit biases are malleable. Our brains are incredibly complex, and the implicit associations that we have formed can be gradually unlearned through a variety of debiasing techniques. Test your bias - Project Implicit, a collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition, have created several implicit

7 bias tests: Great Decisions Friday, November 9, :30-11:30 AM Southglenn Library 6972 South Vine Street Centennial CO Local Leagues persented some of the items they've created to empower voters at MDW day. GREAT DECISIONS We will be discussing "hot topics" following the midterm election. The Great Decisions discussion meeting is open to League members and to the public.

8 For information contact: Vicki Harimon OR Monique Hea LWVADC VOTER SERVICES UPDATE October was an unusually productive period for Voter Service Activities for LWVADC members in various roles. To kick off the month, Ballot Issue Presenters Sonya Pennock and Eileen Bond explained the pros and cons of the issues to 135 residents of Heather Gardens Retirement Community. They were assisted by six members of the East Arapahoe Unit. On October 17, from 6:00-8:30 p.m., at the Koelbel Library, a committee from LWVADC, Sonya Pennock, Deb Armbruster, Marlu Burkamp, and Vicki Harimon, invited supporters and opponents of all the 13 state-wide ballot issues to participate in a Ballot Issue forum. Not all were able to supply speakers. Some simply hadn t planned on outreach other than the newspapers, Facebook, websites, etc. Nonetheless, we secured speakers in support of Amendments V, X,Y,Z,A,73,74,75 and Propositions 109,110,111,& 112. We were able to get opponents for X, 73,74,109,110, & 112. Where there was no opposition speaker we had League members provide the opposition arguments from the ballot issues pamphlet. Because there were so many ballot issues, we divided the evening into three segments, each segment featuring a panel of 4 or 5 ballot issues. The moderator introduced the ballot issue and proponents and opponents next provided their opening arguments. There followed a 15 minute Q & A period focused on the ballot issues on that panel. We also provided tables in the back for each campaign s materials and supplied a table for representatives of Douglas County and Littleton School Districts who

9 were available to answer questions about their bond issues. Leaguers helped set up and take down the meeting room, pass out and collect cards and pencils, sort cards, and greet attendees. We counted between 120 and 130 attendees. During October, also in West Arapahoe, Agents Marilyn Ayers and Marlu Burkamp served 3 schools. Marilyn and Keith Ayers distributed information to students at Eagle Academy in Douglas County; Marilyn, Keith, Marlu and Jill Smith registered 62 students at Sheridan High School, and provided the Littleton High School voter registration program with a host of voter information materials, publications and vote stickers and pins.for the students. Jo Feder, Marilyn and Marlu conducted two voter registration evenings at Wind Crest, a retirement community in Douglas County. Additionally, Marlu and Paula Moore delivered ballot issue pamphlets to as many as 200 people attending the DU School of Graduate Social Work "Beer and Ballots" event at the Great Divide Brewery event October 15. At the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Center, on Oct. 11, 23 applications were collected. After the Oct.15 deadline for submitting paper registrations to County Clerks passed, electors were still eligible to register online. On Oct. 17, 24, and 27 Circulators handed out folders titled Your Vote,Your Voice to the newly naturalized citizens containing the key website address govotecolorado.com and other important information. On October 18, Agent Paula Moore, assisted by Charlotte Faris and Amy Sherwood, successfully managed a VRD at the Aurora Center for Active Adults. Many voters registrations and addresses were verified. One gentleman changed his party affiliation, courtesy of Paula. A shout out goes to all the LWVADC members who labored faithfully and cheerfully to make these events successful. In addition to those already mentioned, workers include Steph Salas, Terry & Phil Stalker, and Chas. Martinez, most of whom served more than once at USCIS. State Vice-President for Voter Services Gerry Cummins unfailingly provided her presence and the vital necessary forms and other materials. Contact Gladys Hodges for more information - hgladys5066@yahoo.com

10 Phil and Terry Stalker at National Register to Vote Day at ACC in September.

11 Paula Moore delivered ballot issue pamphlets to as many as 200 people attending the DU School of Graduate Social Work "Beer and Ballots" event at the Great Divide Brewery event on October 15.

12 Crowd of over 120 attendees at the October 17 Ballot Issues Forum HELP WANTED

13 VOTER SERVICE No Experience Necessary! Anyone Is Welcome! Want to help educate citizens so they can make informed choices and get involved in our democracy? Our Voter Service Committee needs many helping hands. Voter Service is a major League contribution, organizing candidate forums, providing nonpartisan information on registration, candidates, ballot measures, voting rights and effective ways to influence public policy and many other critical duties. MANAGEMENT TEAM OPEN POSITIONS The League has several openings for Management Team positions for We'd love to tap into your talents, passion, and knowledge to help the League grow and stay vital. One of the most important positions in this election year is Voter Services. Another is the member-at-large/voter registration drives. Several other positions may open up soon. A one-year position is as the 2019 nominating committee chair. If you would like to join Management Team, or you'd like more information, please Kris Chipps (kwchipps66@gmail.com) or Jo Feder (joluvs10s@gmail.com). If you know someone who'd be a great addition, tell us so that we can chat with him/her. ONGOING INITIATIVES King Soopers Cards, Observers Corp, Equipment Log, Chapter Contact Info

14 KING SOOPERS CARDS - WE EARNED $1,600! Cards will be available at Meetings. Don't buy them at the store directly, our League won't get the credit for those cards. We have earned $1,600 over the last fiscal year, which makes many of our activities possible. Ann will have cards available at the annual meeting, or you can contact her directly (ph: ). With a very busy voter service schedule coming up in the fall before crucial elections, we can put these profits to good use. Contact Ann Roux for more information - landaroux@comcast.net Phone: OBSERVERS CORP If you are curious, and want to participate and learn at the local level consider participating in the Observers Corp. As an observer, you will attend governmental meetings, note what happens at the meeting, and report back to the League. By attending these meetings, you and the League, will learn what our government is doing, learn about issues facing our Counties, and if warranted, take action through the League. Simple Observer forms, as well as "how to" information to participate will be made available no speaking required. Contact Jo Feder for more information - joluvs10@gmail.com Phone:

15 EQUIPMENT LOG We've created a shared online equipment log in order to better track the location of our equipment and supplies. If you are in possession of any League items, please go here and update the log. Contact Lena Brown for more information - lenabrown20068@gmail.com FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS An up-to-date calendar of all monthly meetings and events can be found here. HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER Join the League to help make your community a strong, safe, and vibrant place to live. Help shape the important issues that affect you and your family. Memberships dues - $60 per individual $85 for house-holds No charge for students Contact Jo Feder for more information - joluvs10@gmail.com Phone: Mission Statement: Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. Vision Statement: LEAGUE INFO & MISSION, VISION & VALUE STATEMENTS To learn more about how to contact our League and management members, click here. We envision a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate. Value Statement: We believe in the power of women to create a more perfect democracy.