By Becky Gladstone, LWVOR President
Dear members,
We are pleased to welcome a new VOTER editor and we will be asking you about a fresh look at communications.
I recommend preparing in advance by enjoying the 14th Amendment video with our Garrett Epps, the Fall workshop Keynote speaker. Professor Epps has a dry sense of humor; check out his aside about US Constitution authors referring to “Congreff” in his talk, The 14th Amendment: The Framing of America’s Second Constitution, from Duke University’s School of Law, Program in Public Law. Please read the President’s letter for monthly updates, set to arrive on the first of the month, for recommendations like this every month! These are in our LWVOR Newsroom pages, https://www.lwvor.org/newsroom.
For those who worked on National Voter Registration Day, Sept 28th, Thank You! October 4-8 is Voter Education Week, https://votereducationweek.org/!
A huge thank you to our board, our members, and our hard-working staff for the accomplishments you can read about in this newsletter! Here’s an overview. Oregon’s virtual redistricting process felt compressed, now awaiting possible legal recourse and Independent Redistricting Commissions, in one form or another, on November 2022 ballots.
The federal census, complicated by COVID and partisan tensions, is complete. Now we can dig into the data! Our Pesticides consensus should be fully collected by November for analysis. Election Systems and Child Care studies are on schedule. We are working with LWVUS to chart a successful path to concurrence for Privacy and Cybersecurity.
Our Action Team continues to grow with strong successes in 2021, both challenged and helped by virtual access. It is fitting that our reporting on fire and water issues reflects the contentious 2021 legislative session. “May you live in interesting times!” is apparently not ancient nor Chinese in origin, but is traceable to a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Sir Austen Chamberlain, in 1939. Here’s to maintaining our energy and perspective, in good health and good humor. Please take care of yourselves and each other.
Becky Gladstone, LWVOR President