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June 2026 President's Update


Spring raced right on by in my garden, along with nearly half of the year! The seeds of change are now planted there and with the League of Women Voters of Oregon (LWVOR).


Our Council business meeting, held in Salem this year, was attended by delegates from every local League with only one of our smaller Units not represented. Council is where we conduct League business that our bylaws require decisions by a majority of representatives of our entire LWVOR membership. We had a quorum and the requisite votes to pass a remarkable budget, select new board members and officers, and to review and refresh our Strategic Plan goals and objectives. We were motivated by an academic review of the dire nature of these political times and had our hopes rekindled by hearing the aspirations of our youth.


The 2026 -2027 budget draws on our reserves like at no other time in this leagues history. If reserves are held for a rainy day, currently it's pouring. The membership spoke and we have united and risen to the challenges arrayed against democracy.


We reviewed the eight LWVOR 2025 - 2030 Strategic Plan objectives to get a sense of our progress since September of last year and what the outcomes of our work are shaping up to be. We addressed branding, voter service, youth advocacy, Oregon Mock Student Elections, fiduciary responsibility, strategic alliances and yes, civil discourse and burnout. Our working groups are identifying how we address those needs within the framework of our Leagues positions and principles and grow them into the fabric of our everyday work with our new budget and Board.


Dr. William Smaldone, a PhD in history at Willamette University is a double Fulbright

scholar and world expert in German and European history. He provided a detailed

comparative analysis between the societal, cultural, political, economic, technical and

industrial aspects of 1939 Germany and 2026 Washington DC. Chilling to say the least,

but motivating just the same.


Evan Tucker, a league member from Lane County and member of the LWVOR Board, gave a rousing presentation about his experience as an early member of LWVOR’s Youth Council and why that engagement matters for youth. Georgia Livny of Portland spoke of her life’s goal of becoming a public health physician. It is outstanding and uplifting to hear such a clear, compassionate and informed voice of reason and care come from one as young as 17 years old. She spoke of how her tenure with the Youth Council shaped and informed her academic and social pursuits. Georgia is most definitely one of us and some of you have rubbed off on her. In our youth I see the promise of the future, here and now.


Our devoted Action Committee, headed by Jean Pierce, produced an outstanding video that summarizes the myriad issues members advocate from our held positions in the Oregon legislature and with the public at large. This is a great introduction to the people and their dedication to the Action Committees work. Please show it to your leagues or the general public as a recruitment tool for league or Action Committee membership. Action is always looking for both experts and generalists familiar with specific natural resource, societal, political, academic or cultural arenas of our work. Want to learn what it means to be a lobbyist, how to give legislative testimony or present research findings to decision makers? Then our Action Committee can provide you that training and use your enthusiasm and help.


The largest LWVOR budget in history was passed for 2026 -2027. Starting in July, LWVOR is authorized to invest $393,000 in fiscal year 2026-27 from revenues and over $160,000 of our three quarters of a million in savings. With that budget, we will retain our one permanent full-time staff and have four contract employees for a total of 3 full time equivalents. A doubling of historical staff resources! It’s essentially a lot more help to address the ongoing achievement of LWVOR strategic objectives and to support the work of our local leagues and units.


Abigail Hertzler will continue as our expert Administrative Director and Lindsay LaPlante will continue on as ½ time contractor focusing specifically on Membership and VOTE411. Our newest contractor, Andrea Capere, will help implement our Communications and Marketing portfolio objectives under the guidance of first Vice President and Communications Chair, Barbara Klein.


Over the summer our Human Resources Committee, headed by Barbara Keirnes-Young, will add two more half - time specialists. A new Development Coordinator will address fiduciary responsibility and help share best practices for fundraising with our fifteen local leagues while developing relationships with the philanthropic communities aligned with our mission. A new Youth Outreach Coordinator will help us grow our reach into the ranks of youth motivated to shape their own and societies collective futures. Together, these new staff will sustain our growth in membership, maintain our fiduciary responsibility, and help us develop the strategic alliances called for now to defend democracy and empower voters.


To cap off the Council weekend, the membership elected and appointed six Board members. Our very dedicated Nominations Committee, led by Annie Goldner of the Deschutes League, brought us a slate of excellent candidates. Three Board members terms were renewed and three brand new Board Members joined us. I, Mark Kendall was elected President of the League after having served six months as Interim. Jean Pierce, our 2nd Vice President, was re-elected to another two-year term to continue her leadership of our Action Committee. After having served as a Youth Council member of the Board, Evan Tucker was selected to serve another two years on the Board. Justin Ludwig of Lane County League was Board appointed in April. Jodi Gill of the Corvallis League was elected and Lin Mallardi from the Deschutes League was elected to the position of Treasurer to follow in the footsteps of our dedicated outgoing treasurer, Kermit Yensen. Take a look at the Council Workbook for details of these new members qualifications. We are in good hands.

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Is it Council or Convention this year you ask? Well, it depends on whether you’re talking LWVUS or LWVOR. The LWVUS Convention is coming right up in Columbus, Ohio, June 25 -28th . If any Oregon local Leagues or Units will not have delegates representing them at the national LWVUS Convention, please let the LWVOR office know if you haven't already. We may have colleagues in attendance as observers that can carry your proxy. We want our voices heard!


There are a number of workshops required of delegates in advance of the LWVUS Convention. Registration is now closed for in person LWVUS Convention Attendance. However, you can register for these pre-convention educational workshops regardless of your Convention registration status. You need to register and can attend them in real-time on ZOOM in person or view them at a later time but only if you registered for them in advance.


Do register and participate, these are designed to improve your participation and

effectiveness engaging your colleagues from across the nation, and they’re required of

delegates. These are excellent workshops if you plan to attend Convention virtually as

an observer or even in future years. Those workshops include:


Monday, June 1 at 2pm PT


Wednesday, June 3 at 2pm PT


Monday, June 8 at 12pm PT


Tuesday, June 9 at 3pm PT 


Wednesday, June 10 at 1pm PT


Monday, June 15 at 12pm PT


Tuesday, June 16 at 2pm PT


Ongoing league governance requires planning, attention to detail and process, time-

commitment, and effective organization. Our local, state and national leagues Council and Convention events are our vehicles to just and effective governance.


Thank you for all your dedicated service.


In League,


Mark Kendall

LWVOR President




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