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May 17, 2024 League of Women Voters of Oregon Contact: mockelection@lwvor.org OSME RESULTS are IN! Students across Oregon voted in the LWVOR 2024 Primary Oregon Student Mock Election (OSME), for a realistic voting experience endorsed by Oregon’s Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade and Department of Education. The League of Women Voters of Oregon created 12 different mock ballots for each local jurisdiction with student registrations. Student ballots mirrored Oregon statewide Primary election ballots, with the same three voting options. Students first decided to vote as a Republican, Democratic, or non affiliated voter. Then they could vote for US President (partisan), Oregon Attorney General (partisan), and Oregon Supreme Court Position 1 (nonpartisan) on their chosen ballot. Each of the 12 ballots included a fourth nonpartisan local ballot measure or candidate race. LWVOR invited every Oregon public school district and private/charter/homeschool educator to OSME! Registered educators received ballots, instructions, and lesson plans with linked resources to prepare their students for an informed voting experience.  OSME registered over 4600 students from an impressive 26 schools and 14 counties all around Oregon:  Baker, Clackamas, Coos, Deschutes, Douglas, Hood River, Klamath, Lane, Linn, Malheur, Marion, Multnomah, and Yamhill. “The election went well and sparked some interesting discussions. Kids are excited to see how our results compare to other high schoolers and the statewide primary races.” Roseburg educator “We did a ranked choice voting activity today and then had them do their LWV ballots. This worked great for our elections unit.” Deschutes County educator Here are the 2024 Oregon Student Mock Election (OSME) RESULTS: Republican: Donald Trump won US President (uncontested). Michael Cross won Oregon Attorney General with 59% of the student vote. Democratic: Marianne Williamson won US President with 51% of the student vote. Joe Biden, running for US President, received 49% of the student vote. Dan Rayfield won Oregon Attorney General with 51% of the student vote. Nonpartisan: Stephen K Bushong won Oregon Supreme Court Position 1 with 90% of the student vote. Here are some examples of student local ballot race RESULTS: 75% of Eugene students voted YES on Ballot Measure 20-349 to amend Eugene’s city charter to use the STAR Voting Method. 50% of Douglas County students voted for John W Hanlin for County Sheriff in a 3-way race. 85% of Tri-County area students (Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington) voted yes on Ballot Measure 26-244, to support issuing Zoo bonds. Free and open LWVOR.org mock election resources are available to educators YEAR-ROUND, including our award-winning Civics Education curriculum.

See the May All-Members newsletter here.

See the April All-Members newsletter here.

Shirley was born in 1933 near Puget Sound in the very small town of La Conner, Washington, 60 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, Canada and lived in the same house (divided) with her father’s parents.  That was her father’s reward for running the commercial chicken ranch east of La Conner.  She had a sister, two years younger.  Shirley loved school and after six years of good teachers moved with her family to a new house where another sister and her brother were born, and she entered a much larger school in the town of Mount Vernon, the county seat. She continued to enjoy school (most days) and graduated as Valedictorian in a class of 115 students. Shirley had discovered journalism in high school and attended Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon for a well-thought-of journalism professor, and she wanted to learn from the best.  Shirley met Milt in that class, discovering many things in common, though his second year he changed his major to theology and wanted to change schools to study with a professor he had met over the summer.  Milt’s goal was to become a Methodist minister. By early summer of 1953, they had confided their intentions to both sets of parents and bought three rings, announcing their official engagement before transferring to the College (now University) of Puget Sound in Tacoma as upper class students (juniors).  Milt was seriously pursuing training for the ministry so Shirley changed her major to Religious Education, not the best choice because she should have stayed with journalism, as writing was her favorite thing to do.  They were married in Mount Vernon, Washington in August of 1954 and graduated from CPS the following spring.  After three years at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California,  they spent various amounts of time in different towns in Oregon where Milt was the Methodist Minister and she was known as the “Minister’s Wife”. In June 1967, they moved to Medford with their three young sons, where Milt was one of three ministers of the Methodist Church, and Shirley joined the two organizations she was active in for many years.  One was the Storytelling Guild (a service of the Jackson County Public Library) and the local League of Women Voters where she served on the Board.   She loved both organizations, and worked hard in both.  In 1969, they adopted an African-American girl who was just turning five. In 1970, the Medford League President asked Shirley if she would go to the National LWV Convention in her stead, and Milt told her she should go and he would manage their four small children.  She went, actually said a few words on the convention floor about a proposed study, and - except for the Kent State College shooting by federal troops - had a good time.  Also in 1970, Milt’s church job ended and they decided to stay in Medford to let their children finish school in one place, so he worked for various social service organizations and for a time, at the County, always involved in helping people.  He mentored Vista volunteers for several years. Shirley was hired as a classroom aide in a second grade class, an idea she had always resisted, but watching and assisting the veteran second grade teacher interacting with the students changed her mind. The following summer and the next year she attended Southern Oregon College in Ashland to earn enough credits for her Oregon Teaching Certificate. She was hired as an aide in a North Medford elementary school.  When their children were growing up, they all camped in national or state parks, and in 1976 for the country’s 200th birthday and the oldest son’s high school graduation, they traveled cross-country with their tent trailer to visit Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., a memorable trip that was the last they made with the whole family. In the fall of 1976 Shirley was hired as an elementary teacher and continued for eighteen years.  Wanting to keep her League involvement, Shirley started an evening unit in the Nelson living room.  Two friends who were also teachers lived nearby and walked to the meetings.  Topics were announced in the newspaper and sometimes several people, including some men, came to discuss important issues involving the community.  Milt was sitting in the family room on the other side of a closed door, watching television.  He realized he was missing something and started to attend the meetings.  Milt probably joined the League of Women Voters in 1979 or 1980 because both he and Shirley gathered signatures for the ballot measure petition to make Oregon the first state in the union to Vote by Mail in all elections. One of the first issues they studied together was air quality.  The Rogue Valley has historically grown wonderful fruit crops, and to avoid freezing during the winter, the pear orchards were heated by large metal pot chimneys burning oil that created smog at night. In 1979, for their 25th wedding anniversary, Shirley and Milt went overseas for the first time, where they visited England.  That led to a year as an Exchange Teacher there from 1983-84, and then another year in Australia from 1991-92.  Of course, they explored much of each country, plus traveling to neighboring countries as much as possible during school breaks. When Shirley retired at 61 and Milt at 62, they sold their Medford house (the children were grown and gone) and moved to the coastal town of Port Orford.  They had a new custom-built house overlooking the ocean waiting for them. They became active in LWV of Curry County during their nineteen-year residence, each taking a turn at a two-year presidency and other positions on the board. Shirley was Voter Service Chair for Curry County for several years, arranging candidate forums during major elections, usually held three nights in a row in Port Orford, Gold Beach and Brookings.  Serious candidates participated in all three.  Shirley arranged the meetings and often acted as the Moderator.  Milt often served as Time Keeper.  Each of those towns had monthly unit meetings, and LWV Curry County Board would meet with the units from time to time, alternately.  Shirley led some studies for League members, and both Nelsons usually attended state League conventions and councils.  Shirley served a term on the League of Women Voters of Oregon Board during that time. They had a busy “Retirement 1” as they also volunteered in historic preservation and interpretation at Cape Bianco Lighthouse, the historic 1898 pioneer Victorian Hughes House and the Coast Guard Life-saving Station.  They traveled, visiting or at least driving through all 50 states and most of the Canadian provinces.  They also visited Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, some Caribbean islands, Ecuador, about 25 European countries and the British Isles.  In the Port Orford years, Shirley published several small books, mostly historical. They made some great friends through the League of Women Voters, though losing some along the way at this advanced age.  They enjoy living in an independent senior apartment building “This is Retirement 2” in Florence, and some years Shirley conducts ballot measure forums, LWV-style, in the building or elsewhere in the community.  Shirley and Milt both attended the League’s 100th birthday celebration in Salem right before the doors slammed shut in March 2020 due to COVID-19. Shirley’s message for members newer to the League:  YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!  If you care about this country, doing nothing is a mistake.  Attend rallies for people you trust running for office, check things out on Vote411, help get out the vote, and keep studying League issues.  Call it bias, but Shirley believes NOBODY conducts candidate forums as well as the League of Women Voters. A lot happens in 90 years! The pictures above were taken close to the 100th anniversary of League of Women Voters during the COVID pandemic.  Shirley is standing on the back balcony of Florence’s history museum, one of several speakers looking down at a good-sized crowd of people standing in the parking lot below.

For immediate release March 6, 2024 Contacts: Dan Meek     503-293-9099  dan@honest-elections.com Jason Kafoury      202-465-2764  jason@honest-elections.com Kate Titus      202-480-1132  ktitus@commoncause.org Becky Gladstone     541-510-9387  b.gladstone@lwvor.org James Ofsink  503-208-4082  james@portlandforward.org On HB 4024 Campaign Limits Pending at Oregon Legislature Good Government Groups have reached a conceptual agreement with the Legislature and large political spenders to enact historic campaign finance reform. We now wait for a faithful campaign finance reform bill to pass both chambers and be signed by Governor Kotek. The Oregon Legislature has never in its history passed campaign contribution limits (although it has repealed voter-enacted limits several times). The tireless efforts of democracy-focused groups over the last 27 years–working with local and national experts to develop good public policy and collecting over 100,000 signatures on Initiative Petition 9 (2024) from Oregon voters–have created the conditions for the compromise we are reaching today. Statements “Oregon’s largest campaign spenders tried to push a last-minute deal through the Legislature to avoid the stronger limits and disclosure requirements in our Initiative Petition 9. Thanks to years of grassroots work and intense negotiation by Honest Elections Oregon, Common Cause Oregon and other good government groups, we managed to get dozens of fixes to the bill so that it represents an important step toward comprehensive campaign finance reform in Oregon.” - Dan Meek, Honest Elections Oregon “This is not a perfect policy. We think the limits are still too high and the transparency pieces still need a lot of work. But this is a giant leap forward for Oregon’s democracy. We worked hard to create a system that would give everyday Oregonians a chance to have their voices heard against millionaires and billionaires. In the last election cycle Phil Knight donated over five million directly to candidates, he will now be able to donate $3,300 just like everyone else.” - Jason Kafoury, Honest Elections Oregon “We don’t have to sell our democracy to the highest bidder or kowtow to the biggest spenders! When we organize, we build power. Grassroots communities have come together, through groups like Common Cause and Honest Elections Oregon, passing model reforms in Portland – limits, transparency, and public financing – and a 2020 ballot measure to allow state-wide reform. When we stand together, we can take back our democracy.” - Kate Titus, Common Cause Oregon “Oregon is fortunate to have so many activists and organizers working for our publicly supported true campaign finance reform. Opponents, to compete with our popular IP 9, raised a fake “campaign finance reform” measure to defend their power structures on November ballots. We expect unions and businesses would spend tens of millions to persuade Oregon voters to reject IP 9. The League supports transparency and efficiency in government, so we in good faith will support a legislative compromise, for substantive reform, during these last hectic days of session. Oregon deserves better so work must continue. From the League’s national perspective, we will soon be able to say that Oregon is off the list and the United States is down to only 4 states with no political campaign contribution limits.”. - Rebecca Gladstone, League of Women Voters of Oregon “This is just the beginning of a long journey to improve Oregon’s wild west campaign finance system. We look forward to continued efforts over the coming years to fight for lower limits, improved transparency, and public funding.” - James Ofsink, Portland Forward

See the February All-Members newsletter here.

Statements from the League of Women Voters of Oregon From Lisa Bentson, LWVOR Co-President All of us here at the State League share in the grief felt nationwide by the recent and surprise passing of LWVUS President Dr. Turner earlier this week. We just attended a special meeting of League Leaders where over 50 people paid tribute to Dr. Turner. Included in the tributes were League Leaders, LWVUS Staff, and their new Leadership. I was touched by the number of red hearts displayed on many Zoom attendee boxes. I did not have the pleasure to meet Dr. Turner, but nonetheless was inspired and impressed with the words, stories, and experiences that were shared. She leaves behind two children and a new husband whom she only recently married. LWVUS is communicating closely with the family on personal as well as professional aspects of her passing. Please see the important links below. A few are time sensitive such as the virtual funeral information scheduled for this Sunday. Also, please note the email at communications@lwv.org where you can send/share your own photos and stories of Dr. Turner. As we collect comments we will update our blog and forward to LWVUS so they can know we are grieving together with them but also carrying on her legacy. Respectfully submitted by Lisa Bentson, Co-President From Rebecca Gladstone, LWVOR Co-President With deep affection, profound sadness, and devotion to our shared mission, here's to you, Dr. Turner. We'll Keep on Keeping On, for you. A few times in our lives we are graced to meet rare beacons- brilliant, poised, pushing to do more, yet circumspect and listening, warm and fun-loving, inspiring and motivating. You have touched us, knowing that across League expanses, your love for what we share will … Make Democracy Work. Let’s treasure memories; we all have our own. We faced COVID-19 and stayed together virtually. Dr. T & Virginia waved for all of us, from the LWV Rose Parade float. We adjourned the LWV Convention to march, together, over to the Denver state house the day the Dobbs decision broke. This is a heartbreaking loss for the League, across the country. From Oregon, condolences all around, especially to those working most closely with Dr. T, the national board and staff, the front lines folks in the marches, elections, and courthouses. To Dr. T’s family- please know that President Turner has influenced history. On behalf of the Board, our Advocates and Voter Service volunteers, our Youth Council, and Oregon members: Thank you. Becky Gladstone, LWVOR Co-President From Celine Ioffe, LWVOR Youth Council President Meeting Dr. Turner during the National Council in 2023 was incredibly inspiring and I was devastated to hear of her passing. Her kindness and genuine care for humanity shone through in every interaction she had, and my experience with her was no different. Speaking with Dr. Turner about the future of the League as well as our shared passion for reproductive justice was not only meaningful but cemented me in the work I was doing. I am sending my condolences to her family and am grateful to have been inspired by Dr. Turner. Thank you, Celine Important Links and Resources Regarding Services All League members are invited to view the LWVUS Livestream of Dr. Turner's funeral services this Sunday beginning at 11 am CT. LWVUS Contact Information Send photos and comments: communications@lwv.org Send donations: https://www.lwv.org/givetribute See inspiring quotes collected by LWVUS: https://www.lwv.org/blog/inspiration-late-lwv-president-dr-deborah-ann-turner Read Dr. Turner's obituary: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/obituaries/piow0707800 In closing, we share this moving video of Dr. Turner singing a song she and others sang on the Selma March. She was there as a little girl.

See the latest Voter Newsletter - Winter 2024.

By Aram Peterson, Solution Architect / Advisor Aram presented an OLIS tutorial at Legislative Process Day on Nov. 7, 2023 and offered an extensive Q&A afterward. He followed up after the event with the extended explanation below. Dive into OLIS with an expert! Access OLIS (Oregon Legislative Information Solutions) here. The question was, “Where can I see what bills the governor has signed?” My first answer was the Senate Journals, and House Journals listed on the Secretary of the Senate’s site, or the Chief Clerk’s site, (links located under the Senate or House menu on the main public website).  That answer was correct, but as I mentioned these may not be published until sometime after session.  They have a section in those documents for “House Measures Signed by Governor” or “Senate Measures Signed by Governor”. However, there is a daily “Joint Status Report” publication that is automatically re-generated daily during session that also lists all Measures signed by the governor. To get to this publication, click on the More menu, then expand the Reports/Documents section, and look for the “Daily and Cumulative Session Publications”. In the page that loads, the top should be a section for Cumulative Session publications, and the one you’ll want is the “Joint Status Report”.  In some cases, if this publication gets too big, there may be a separate one for the House & Senate, but in any case, you’re looking for the Status Report.  (This publication is only available in a “Regular” session, during an interim it’s not generated.)  Click to open the PDF. Inside the PDF, the page number is going to be different each time, but just search in the PDF for the key phrase “SENATE MEASURES SIGNED BY GOVERNOR”, or “HOUSE MEASURES SIGNED BY GOVERNOR”.  There will be a table with all the measures signed up until that point. I believe it will also list in another nearby section any bills vetoed or line item vetoed (if there are any). You can find this same publication for prior sessions.  It’s generally refreshed daily until a couple months after session and all signings are input.  So, to get it for a prior session use the Session Menu to choose the session you want, and then follow the instructions above, More Menu, expand reports, etc. There are a variety of other sources of information on the More menu, and I would encourage anyone to just browse around. An additional page to highlight is the “New and Updated Measure List”.  This page will list all measures that have had any new versions published during the day.  In other words, all newly Introduced bills, and any bills amended, or engrossed will appear on this list.  Because the push of the new bill text content is generally done around 6 PM, during normal business hours you’ll want to generally click the arrow to go back to the prior day. This page won’t show much except during session, but during session it’s a great page to check daily for anything new.  You can click the link to open the PDF of whatever is “new” right from the list. Another item under the More menu that you may find interesting is “Floor Letters”.  These are the letters that members have requested their Desks office to leave on the floor desk for their fellow members.  The submitted date should be the day it was left on the desk. This page lists all floor letters submitted by any members for that session.  Floor letters are also shown on the Bill Overview page (if they are related to a specific bill), but this page on the More menu will list all of them, regardless of if they are bill related or not. I wanted to mention one additional thing regarding the e-subscribe.  There is a link on the Bill Overview page for each bill to subscribe, BUT as I indicated that is only active during session.  There is also an e-subscribe link in the lower left corner in OLIS, that should be listed no matter which page you’re on.  This will take you to the page on the public website, where you can sign up at any time. We didn’t manage to get to the Committees menu, but it works similar to the other things we covered.  You can expand the Type sections (Senate/House/Joint, etc.) and click on the committee you want to view.  And then browse through all the info related to that committee.  On the right side is a list of all meetings scheduled for that committee, you can click the meeting date, and then will see all the details about that meeting.  For session committees (only session committees can hear actual measures) you can expand the date, (little blue arrow to the left of the date) and it will show all the measures scheduled for that meeting, click on the measure for more detailed info.  The little play icon will play the recorded video for that meeting.  If you don’t see the blue arrow, that means there were no actual measures on the agenda.

See the January All-Members newsletter here.

League observers at the COP24 conference in 2018. The annual UN Climate Conference, COP28, was held from 30 November until 12 December 2023 at Expo City, Dubai. League representatives attended again this year (in-person and virtually) as observers for the League of Women Voters of the U.S. See daily reports below. 12/13: COP28 Day 14 Observations from Robin Tokmakian, Virtually Many of you have awakened to the news that - yes - COP28 finally did adopt, by consensus, a text on what is known as the Global Stocktake and how to be more ambitious on the way forward into the future. As is the case with multilateral negotiations, no one was completely happy with the text but as in the LWV, they could live with it. Samoa, speaking for the small islands, suggested they might not have agreed with the text if they had been in the room - this is a little disconcerting. Antigua and Barbados, while agreeing to the text, emphasized that financing is easy to obtain for fossil fuel projects, including LNG-type systems, but financing for renewables is quite difficult. We need to do better. The African Group emphasized the need to approve the Global Goal for Adaptation in the coming COP in 2024. They emphasized the need for adaptation funding, rather than mitigation funding which is long overdue. The text of the final GST agreement can be found here  Look for Agenda item 4, right side has a download link - you need to check the box for English for it to download. Below are extracts relating to more ambitious actions to address emissions. 28. Further recognizes the need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5 °C pathways and calls on Parties to contribute to the following global efforts, in a nationally determined manner, taking into account the Paris Agreement and their different national circumstances, pathways and approaches: (a) Tripling renewable energy capacity globally and doubling the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030; (b) Accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power; (c) Accelerating efforts globally towards net zero emission energy systems, utilizing zero- and low-carbon fuels well before or by around mid-century; (d) Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science; (e) Accelerating zero- and low-emission technologies, including, inter alia, renewables, nuclear, abatement and removal technologies such as carbon capture and utilization and storage, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors, and low-carbon hydrogen production; (f) Accelerating and substantially reducing non-carbon-dioxide emissions globally, including in particular methane emissions by 2030; (g) Accelerating the reduction of emissions from road transport on a range of pathways, including through the development of infrastructure and rapid deployment of zero-and low-emission vehicles; (h) Phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or just transitions, as soon as possible; 29. Recognizes that transitional fuels can play a role in facilitating the energy transition while ensuring energy security; The COP under the Paris Agreement, also did not approve the text to fully operationalize the carbon market (Article 6). Several groups worried that the market did not have strong enough constraints and references to human rights — including the EU, Mexico, and the Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (IALAC). 12/11 and 12/12: COP28 Day 12 & 13 Observations from Robin Tokmakian, Virtually Things have not gone to plan and COP28 is still going on, although not in public and only in backrooms. Most of my on-the-ground sources have left and only a few observers are left to encourage Parties to do the right thing. Saudi Arabia does not want the words “Fossil Fuels” to be anywhere in the outcome text. The African Countries seem to think that phasing out fossil fuels will leave their countries in a developing state and will never be up to the Sustainable Development Goals the UN has set for the world. The EU thinks that the Carbon Market Rules will allow too much wiggle room. The US is somewhere in the middle, with John Kerry desperately not wanting the negotiations on the closing language to collapse. And the small island states just want to have their countries not get drowned. It is heartbreaking to hear the representatives speak about these small vulnerable countries. Another petrol state will host COP29 in 2024 - Azerbaijan. And in 2025, Belem, Brazil at the mouth of the Amazon will be the host. I want to be optimistic, but it is extremely hard.  If and when something else comes out of COP28, I will update you all. 12/9 and 12/10: COP28 Day 10 & 11 Observations from Robin Tokmakian, Virtually Negotiations on the global stocktake, Article 6 (markets), and adaptation funding have crawled to a stop (almost). The UAE COP presidency held a “Majlis” on Day 11 to try to find a compromise on various topics. The heads of delegations (John Kerry for the US) sat in a circle (on chairs) and shared their views. While many countries said they were looking for compromises and willing to work with others - several countries took hard positions … such as “no language on phasing out fossil fuels”, vs. “must phase out fossil fuels”. Oil-rich countries on one side, and Pacific Island countries on the other. The word “balance” is a favorite for many countries. And financing is always at the center of all the negotiations. I listened to a talk about the global ocean observation system. Collecting these measurements taken from buoys floating around the ocean, satellite systems, and ships cost 100s of millions of dollars and needs new funding every 5 to 10 years. As an oceanographer who has used and collected such data, I know the value of these data. But even the presenters in these talks mentioned that they needed more money to keep taking the measurements to produce a long time series. As I listened, I pondered whether the dollars spent on collecting data could be spent to fund mitigation efforts in developing countries.  Is there an end point where we’ve collected enough data to understand the earth’s warming signal? Also, listening to various voices around COP, there is a definite cry for funding adaptation efforts even at the risk of having less funds to address mitigation. This is worrisome, but it is a developed world concern, rather than from the developing world. 12/7: COP28 Day 8 Observations from Robin Tokmakian, Virtually Baku looks like the place for COP29 in 2024. Troubling again, both on a personal level and an environmental level. Bolivia is quite upset about negotiations on what is referred to as Article 6 - the market mechanisms/non-market mechanisms for reducing global emissions. Bolivia and its “Like Minded Developing Countries or LMDCs” favors non-market mechanisms, rather than market mechanisms to reduce emissions. Such things include putting a price on carbon, and deforestation efforts. The LMDCs insisted that if they didn’t get the text they favored into one of the sections of Article 6, they would not support any of Article 6. Most of the language in article 6 was agreed to in previous COPs and it is almost operational. But there are lots of hangups of specific language related to a standard way to submit, electronically, the information about a credit. Until the parties agree to this, the mechanism at the heart of COP, can’t be activated. Elsewhere, negotiations on the Global Stocktake decision language were taken up at the ministerial level (or political level). The divergent views still exist and the process forward seems unclear to me. Why is this important? The decision, if agreed to, would make a statement on how well the world is doing in addressing climate and how we can be more ambitious, including with funding, to address adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage.  This includes how to leverage financing to do the job. 12/5: COP28 Day 6 Observations from Kim Cameron, In Dubai Energy, Industry, and Just Transition are the theme of the day. In honor of the day, I went to a talk entitled: Accelerating the elimination of methane emissions and the decarbonization of oil and gas. What did I learn? Well - number 1. Methane is hard to detect, but the collective “we” are getting better at detecting the sources. And, now, thanks to Climate TRACE, we should have no problem detecting the sources (yes!!!!). However, developing countries need technological support to eliminate methane emissions. Goal: Zero methane emissions by 2030. 50 national oil companies (NOCs) and independent oil companies (IOCs), representing more than 40% of global oil production have signed the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC): ambitious and actionable targets that support the aims of the Paris Agreement. The Near Zero Methane Action Agenda aims to support the O&G industry in achieving near-zero methane emissions by 2030 by unlocking financing mechanisms and technical solutions. Just to put this in perspective: 28,000 wells in the US need to be addressed (honestly, this does not seem like an astronomical number to deal with, but I’m sure I am underestimating the amount of work required to fix these wells). We need to eliminate valves that allow methane to leak, capture methane from the stack and redirect it into storage in the ground, and electrify compressors (there is a supply chain issue here) which requires strengthening the grid. Money is flowing into this sector, so maybe we can get this done. Can we get this done - yes. Will companies decide this is where they should invest their money? That is a different question. The answer to that question lies in the next question - will it save them money (or better yet, make them money)? Because that seems to be the true driver of change. After that fairly depressing (but supposed to be uplifting talk) I went to one of the Global Climate Action talks: Taking Stock of Climate Action: Energy and Industry: Accelerating Systems Transformations. Here we heard from Nicola Davidson, VP of Sustainability for ArcelorMittal (a global steel and mining company with 160K employees, all of whom are working hard to decarbonize steel), Concepcion Boo Arias, director of global partnerships and ESG, public and regulatory affairs at Maersk (Maersk moves cargo around the world by air, land, and sea). Some major points of interest: Maersk needs to make sure that the ships they use are made of the highest quality of steel (which is conveniently also better for the environment). They have a program to take ships out of commission after some time (25 years I believe) and recycle them. Many vessels are coming up for recycling over the next few years and their goal is to recycle those sustainably and replace them with more efficient systems. A great message, but no real change to their system (one would not know that the world is on the edge of a catastrophe). Steel standards are an issue. There are different ways to make steel and standards have been lacking. Steel standards were announced at COP a couple of days ago: https://www.responsiblesteel.org/news/steel-standard-principles-launch-at-cop28/ This is a major step forward to defining what is low carbon steel, near zero carbon steel, etc. Why do we care? Well, 5% of carbon emissions come from steel! Standards allow a life cycle analysis to be accurate and promote a circular economy. Before I end today’s blog, I do want to touch on a couple of other talks I went to. Electrifying Cooking: a just journey towards net-zero. 2.3 billion people across Africa and Asia use biomass for cooking. This is a problem: it takes time (an average of 4 hours) to find wood and cook the meals, women’s health is affected by the air pollution associated with cooking over an open fire in an enclosed space and finally, lost productivity for women. The lack of progress is estimated to cost $2.4 trillion each year according to the World Bank. So, the Global Electric Cooking Coalition was launched today to convert Africa and Asia’s kitchen to a new type of fuel. A few things to unpack here. One is the fuel transition: pellet biomass, liquid natural gas, and coal primarily. What happened to solar and wind? Good question, and I don’t know the answer, but I do know that this initiative is supported by the UAE who are financing $4.5 billion to unlock Africa’s clean energy initiative (which they plan to do with LNG). Second, the reason: this transition is not taking place because it is the right way to empower women - it is taking place because the private sector has finally been convinced that this is an economic problem. Four hours of cooking could become four hours of low-paying work for women outside the home. Will this empower women? The jury is out. Third, I’ve talked to several people who are involved in the initiatives to convert cooking and it’s not working - women don’t want to stop cooking over a flame. The food tastes different, the recipes are different, and using a pressure cooker is just not the same as letting a stew cook over an open fire for hours. No surprise here - we have the same issues in the US. No one wants to give up their gas stoves even if they are told that gas in the house is a serious hazard to their health. A final sad note: almost no one was in the large auditorium where this session was taking place. Lots more happened today, but this is all I have time for. 12/4: COP28 Day 5 Observations from Susana Hancock, In Dubai OK, wow! Day 5 and still alive (I think? not sure when I last slept!!). I didn't update yesterday because I didn't finish until 3:30 am, BUT I did manage a social media deluge. I've been posting a fair bit on Instagram throughout the day each day anyway in addition to my little daily minute wrap-ups I've been sharing here. One post, my boss told me to put on LinkedIn and it blew up--several thousand notifications by the time I had breakfast. Yooowwwwww. My Instagram is instagram.com/susanahancock_ if you want the inside look throughout! Here's a little ditty I made yesterday wrapping up the first four days with what's ahead of us.... https://www.instagram.com/p/C0buKjtrYF8/ Let's just say A LOT!!! I've been arriving early to the venue--not just because it avoids the epic queue to get through security in the morning but also because that's when we are starting science coordination for the negotiations. I'm currently working on a cryosphere-wide project (poles, glaciated regions, and now also including mountainous parts of Earth), which successfully got the cryosphere into the final text at COP27 in Sharm last year, and we're getting more countries to sign on this year. Initial indication from UN Secretary General António Guterres is that we have permission to cause "good trouble" on Friday during negotiations. Still finalizing permissions, but stay tuned!! Yesterday after my morning dose of science and before the afternoon/evening fill, I spent briefly with Candice in a session on global health. And then I ran to Al Gore's presentation on Climate TRACE. This was awesome, though as an avid consumer of TRACE, I'm biased. TRACE uses remote sensing, satellite data, etc. to secure real-time emissions, thereby preventing companies from underreporting or selling emissions to get away with not cutting. I started working with TRACE nearly two years ago, around the time it launched, just ahead of COP26 and have since launched the first two public-facing apps in the world using the data. I'm happy to talk about this data set if anyone is keen, it really is an incredible resource! Today's highlights included more science and negotiations and then an incredible catch up with Dr Svitlana Krakovska, who seems to hold the Ukrainian science and climate world together. She is also a polar scientist, but moreover, she's an incredible human being, and I love my chances to visit with her at every and any opportunity. We had very emotional discussions on the impacts of science on war and vice versa. This was both at the structural level and also at the very personal. The Ukrainian pavilion is back this year for the second year running and the exhibits are powerful. My other big highlight for the day was speaking with the Climate Vulnerable Forum and the Lancet. The CVF is one of my partners for my big public health grant starting in January. We had some terrific talks about using the European tribunal system as well as the Universal Periodic Review--a process through which all UN member states can interrogate the others regarding human rights. Additionally, coalitions of nation states have already expressed interest in joining my project, even though it doesn't kick off until later in the winter. Luckily, the climate crisis is a human rights issue so the door is open! 12/3: COP28 Day 4 Observations from Robin Tokmakian, Virtually Here’s the link to many of the webcasts of the side events. Many events have been recorded and available for the general public outside of registered participants to view. Click away! I virtually attended an update session on the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4. This is the carbon trading mechanism article. Operationalizing the market is still some ways off, maybe by 2025. From what was said, it should be much better/fairer than the Kyoto Carbon market, which by almost everyone’s views, was a failure. One side event today was called “Human Rights at 75." Given that LWVUS Advocacy chair at the time, Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the drafting committee, it is good to know that the declaration has stood the test of time. The Global StockTake Negotiations on a decision text has a long way to go. As they say in diplomatic speak “there are many rich views” discussed (controversial/differing views? ). The differences today were in the area of international cooperation, guidance into the future, and loss and damage. Many countries want to include language related to human rights, but some countries, such as Iran, push back on including such language. The US suggested some language related to sea level rise and how a country’s status and maritime economic zone should not change, even if part of it disappears - interesting. Some countries made the point that the language would need to be consistent with the UN’s Law of the Sea language. There are so many overlaps with many other international agreements that it must be hard for the diplomats to keep things consistent. Although I’m only a virtual participant this year, I did receive a note from the UNFCCC saying that they had to prohibit observer actions between 1:30pm and 3pm because it was too hot and they were worried about people’s safety. Don’t know if something happened to make this new rule or not. Observations from Candice Owley, In Dubai Today was the first-ever Health Day at COP. The effort was led in large part by WHO to let the world know that the climate crisis is the greatest health threat in the world. The healthcare workers on the front line were the first to sound the alarm about the deadly effect of climate change. Throughout the day there were many health-connected events and the day ended with the first-ever convening of over 100 global health ministers. To bring attention to the health crisis, the COP issued a Declaration on climate and health. The declaration signed by 123 countries expressed grave concern about the negative impacts of climate change on health and stressed the urgent need to strengthen health systems given lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic which strained all health systems and widened inequities. The declaration concluded with the commitment to convene regularly and to review progress at future COP meetings and other WHO and global meetings. Today was the first-ever Health Day at COP. The effort was led in large part by WHO to let the world know that the climate crisis is the greatest health threat in the world. The messages of yesterday were reiterated: climate change is killing us, urgent action is needed, health is the human face of the climate crisis, and healthcare leaders and providers have an ethical responsibility and public trust to be the ones that make this crisis real to policymakers and the general public. This urgent call to action included the role of civil society to also take the lead in educating the public about the clear and present danger of climate change. One speaker suggested we measure progress on the climate crisis not only by emissions reduced but by how many lives were saved or lost by our actions each year. It would be a powerful way to put people at the center of the discussions. I can’t help but reflect that while today we celebrate the fact that finally COP put health front and center at this year's meeting the reason is that we failed to understand how fast climate change would become life-threatening. In many ways today is a sign of our failure to act. We’ve allowed the situation to get so bad that we can no longer turn away or bury our heads in the sand as we could for the last 27 COPs. My other reflection is that I believe the League can play a role in this crisis by educating our members and our communities about the life-threatening effects of climate change. Lives are being lost every day and we all have a part to play in this fight for the future of mankind and of the planet. 12/2: COP28 Day 3 Observations from Robin Tokmakian, Virtually Another day of negotiations and side events. It started with various High-Level panels on health initiatives. Finally, COP28 is centering day 4 as “Health Day”. And —money, money, money … There were negotiators asking for text to be added to various documents requesting money be set aside for technology and capacity training, and ministers gave statements committing money to various things, such as health issues. While dollar commitments were made, money flowing into various funds is not guaranteed. This especially is the case with the US’s commitments and the fact that Congress has to approve the funds (not likely this year or in 2024). The reality is how far the US, as one of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, can go to reach its NDC if we don’t have a Congress and Executive branch to make it happen. Observations from Candice Owley, In Dubai Today began again with a lot of confusion and delays as a result of restrictions related to so many heads of state attending but the good news is they will all be gone by tomorrow and then negotiators will get down to business. Still, I think it is important to say that the presence of so many county leaders sends a message to the world that the climate crisis is real and we must take action now. Once again I spent most of my time on health. I was fortunate to receive one of the very few tickets to a high-level leader’s session on Putting Health at the Center of the Climate agenda. The session began with the COP 28 President, Sultan al-Jaber, stating that we do not need any more evidence, that climate change is real and it is deadly. He said we know that at least 7 million people a year die from air pollution alone. He announced that tomorrow at least 123 national Health Ministers will be at COP to announce the endorsement of a declaration on health. He again stressed that this is the first COP to put Health at the center of the program. He also said that we need to develop tangible results and not just words on a paper. That the health agenda is the most powerful way to make climate change real and that Climate change is the single biggest health threat to humanity. The President was followed by Dr. Tedras the head of the World Health Organization. Dr. Tedras said that health care can be a game changer in the fight for action on the climate crisis. He also called out fossil fuel production as environmental vandalism. Speaking truth to power. He reminded us that Health is the human face of climate change. Their remarks were followed by a panel which included the head of Doctors Without Borders. Members of the panel shared many disturbing facts such as the major increase in malaria and other mosquito-born diseases and the emergence of new pathogens. It was enough to scare the pants off of anyone. Tomorrow will be the meeting of the Health Ministers and the pledge of support for the new health declaration plus an announcement about significant funds debated the health issues. I was fortunate to also meet a group of nurses from the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment who asked after Connie and were sorry to hear she wasn’t present in person this year. In closing, I also learned where to get bandaids and replacements for lost metro cards and was glad I brought COVID test kits with me as there was an outbreak in the human rights work group. Observations from Susana Hancock, In Dubai Hello all from Day 3! I gotta say: the air quality here is getting to me. It was 156 this morning when I woke up, and quickly I lost decent sight of the world's largest gas power generator out my window--just one short metro hop down the line but it poked through the smog. I've had migraines that develop when I'm outside for too long. I've taken to wearing a mask and am doing what I can with saline washes, which I do think helps a bit. This morning I started off on sessions about carbon absorption with the Prince of Monaco Foundation. This was great for me, because I saw Prince Albert II of Monaco over coffee and the head of his foundation. I've been working with Prince Albert and his team to develop his Polar Initiative, which he is now planning to steer toward geopolitics and science diplomacy. I followed this with a quick hello to John Kerry, who seems significantly better than earlier this month when he and I were amongst four Americans President Emmanuel Macron brought to France for pre-COP negotiations with the One Paris Summit. I was able to then catch the second half of Mini's session on the intersection of the climate crisis and public health where I met up with Kim. Unspoken in her session, this panel highlighted a gross frustration of mine--the dominance of the male patriarchy in climate discussions. Why is it that women are left to deal with "women's problems" when really, the education of girls, eg, is a societal problem? Why is it girls' job to fight for their own education? Where are the men speaking up? I tried to accompany Kim to the French Pavilion but after taking my seat, I got called to the UNFCCC's Global Innovation Hub for a talk with Future Earth and the Club of Rome. This session was both phenomenal and terrifying. We looked at the stats of the conference, and as an expert for the IPCC's last assessment report, the results were scary. Did you know that only half of one percent of attendees here are scientists?? Did you know that the leaders of this conference are not even using the most recent (2021--some of which is already outdated) IPCC research??? After a brief moment of recovery (in the form of coffee--given to me from a single use Keurig--I made my way to the Cryosphere Pavilion for a talk relating to some of my NGO's work on modeling sea level rise from Greenland and Antarctica and the implications for small island states (physics isn't their friend...). Here's a little mental math for you - that global loss and damages fund? The amount pledged thus far totals 0.006% of what some of the same donors spent on fossil fuel subsidies last year! Here's a little mental math for you - that global loss and damages fund? The amount pledged thus far totals 0.006% of what some of the same donors spent on fossil fuel subsidies last year! I'm not sure why no one else has done that math, but that spurred me to write an article that should be appearing in the US news in the next day or so. In better news, Colombia became the tenth country to sign onto the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative today!! What's exciting is that Colombia is the first non-small island state. I testified last August to get Portland, Maine to sign on, after giving a talk at COP27 with the founder of the Fossil Fuel Treaty, so this is a baby I follow. Tomorrow, I head very early to take part in a small science negotiation for the draft text of the COP outcomes, and then it's likely a relatively relaxed day to explore and learn new things! Here's a little tour through Michael Pinsky's Pollution Pod art installation. Pretty powerful and reinforces my privilege to live in a safe-air area!! 12/1: COP28 Day 2 Observations from Candice Owley, In Dubai It has been an interesting, exhausting, and often confusing experience for me as a first-timer at COP. As an observer, I am not able to participate in any negotiations so I decided to find ways I could have influence and also increase my knowledge of the issues. I decided to focus on labor and human rights and on the critical issue of the impact of climate change on heath. Each day I attend a briefing by the Trade Union group and also one by there Human rights Working Group. Both of these daily briefings have been extremely helpful. At the meeting I learned of the importance of urging our US representatives to push for inclusion of both labor and human rights during all stages of the negotiations. We were told that that many countries do not want to even acknowledge the impact on workers and the human rights issues that are linked to climate change. There was much reporting about the adoption on Day 1 of an agreement to fund the damages from climate change. The activists groups (labor, women, youth, etc) while supportive of the action they all reported there were disappointed because there were many flaws with the language but efforts now need to turn to influencing who has power to make decisions about the funds including how it is distributed and who is at the table for the next stage - implementation. So more work to be done. Also much criticism of the promise of a very low financial contribution from the US compared to other big counties. The other major focus of my time has been on health. For the first time in COP history there will be a Health Day. On that day the largest number of Ministries of Health from around the world will be here to call attention to the critical link between climate change and health problems. I will report more on this issue after Health Day which is December 3rd. Speaking of health, there was a great presentation centered on the recently adopted UN declaration affirming the human right to a health which links this right to climate change. What is clear is that the right to a healthy environment is a basic and fundamental human right. All over the world activists are using this concept and bring and winning law suits to stop policies that would be damaging or have been damaging to peoples health. I’m looking forward to the even greater focus on health in the next few days. Observations from Susana Hancock, In Dubai Yesterday's historic passing of Loss and Damage continues to ruminate in my head. YES, it was incredible to get passed--but it honestly weighs on me heavily and uneasily. I'm really worried that L&D is being framed as the success of this COP. Why is that concerning? First, the current pledges are woefully insufficient, and I'm honestly sick of pledges--they are never paid!! As of last year, the US had paid 5% of its pledges to climate funding and yet was still signing for more. Second, though, is that the focus on L&D has been on adaptation rather than mitigation. Now, we need adaptation, but we also need mitigation. This ties into my bigger concern that the closing documents are going to leave out the phaseout of fossil fuels, stating rather that we need to bring in interventions (carbon capture, eg), enabling us de facto to continue to develop the fossil fuel industry. By passing L&D, the conference can argue that we've already had a major win--even though it's a scratch at the surface for what needs to happen for L&D--especially as fossil fuels continue to flourish. By passing Loss and Damage, the conference can argue that we've already had a major win--even though it's a scratch at the surface for what needs to happen for L&D--especially as fossil fuels continue to flourish. Today was the first day of the Global Leaders' Summit, so we got to hear from everyone from PM Narendra Modi to King Charles. This continues tomorrow after which pressure will escalate for some walking behind the talking. In the morning, I attended a session on the intersection of the climate crisis and public health, especially concerning vector-borne diseases, and then had several conversations on this topic. I've just received a multimillion dollar grant to link polar-driven planetary tipping points to global health, so this has been an area developing for me quite a bit. I also spent a fair amount of time at the Ocean Pavilion, where I networked, discussed collaborations and attended sessions on Arctic pollution and plastics. I'm working on trying to develop a democracy project for COP29, so I began some inroads today, which will continue over the coming days. The air pollution is getting to me a bit. I'm not the only one-- people have been getting nose bleeds and walking around with towels in their nostrils! 11/30: COP28 Day 1 Observations from Robin Tokmakian, Virtually After a slow start — starting at midday rather than at 9 AM, COP28 Day 1 ended on a somewhat positive note. The parties agreed to initiate a Loss and Damage fund, temporarily hosted by the World Bank but run by an independent board (membership to be determined). This is the first year the parties have agreed to something on day 1 of a COP. From what I understand, the US negotiator who was part of the Loss and Damage transition committee was instrumental in formulating a compromise. But before all of this happened, a small sideshow. Let me explain. At the start of each COP, the agenda contains some items which I would call business items, such as voting on the next COP chair, setting up rules, etc. One of the items is to approve the list of NGOs that have applied to be observers in the past year. This year the list included 600 or so organizations from around the world, bringing the total to somewhere in the 1000s. Among the organizations were George Soros’ OpenSociety and a US-based organization, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). After the item was approved, Russia asked for the floor and complained that these 2 organizations were fronts for US state-funded political activity (not true) and admitted such organizations only politicized the process - and such organizations shouldn’t be allowed to participate in the future. A few minutes later, the US Delegate, John Kerry, asked for the floor and, sounding somewhat annoyed, stated that civil society organizations should not be prohibited from participating. Somewhere, both these statements will be a part of the official COP28 record. Also admitted as an approved NGO was the American Petroleum Institute — a surprise, because I would have assumed they'd have asked to participate years ago!

See the December All-Members Newsletter here.

See the November All-Members Newsletter here.

Dear Friend, Welcome to our Fall Voter Newsletter! Read on to learn about our youth-led efforts to empower the next generation of voters through a series of dynamic youth voter service events, plus opportunities to get involved in impactful initiatives that will shape the future of our communities in Oregon. LWVOR Advocacy Fund Promotes Both IP 14 and IP 9 By Norman Turrill, President, LWV of Oregon Advocacy Fund The LWVOR has endorsed both Initiative Petition 14 (IP 14) and Initiative Petition 9 (IP 9). IP 14 would end gerrymandering in Oregon by creating an independent redistricting. You can learn more about IP 14 by going to the People Not Politicians (PNP) website. IP 9 would end big money dominating candidate campaigns in Oregon by setting strict contribution limits and revealing dark money sponsors of campaign advertising. You can learn more about IP 9 by going to the Honest Elections website. To qualify for the 2024 general election ballot, IP 14 must collect some 160,000 valid voter signatures by July 5, 2024, less than a year from now. IP 9, because it is a statutory measure, must collect some 120,000 signatures by the same deadline. This signature gathering phase is well underway. These petitions will accomplish their goals next year with your help, provided that they have more petition circulators and more money. The LWVOR Advocacy Fund is now organizing county coordinators who will identify volunteer petitioners and send them to events like street fairs and markets where many people gather. Please volunteer at a link below if you would like to help. Also, you may now download and print your own IP 14 petitions by carefully following the instructions here. If you will be petitioning in public, then you must also print and carry a complete copy of the IP 14 text. You know the drill to have an initiative succeed in Oregon: • volunteers and more volunteers • gathering of qualifying signatures by circulators • signature validators (at home and online!) • donors! PNP is a broad coalition of organizations covering the whole political spectrum. The coalition organizations comprise together some 400,000 members. If each of these members just downloads, prints, signs and returns a petition with their family and friends, then IP 14 would have more than enough signatures to qualify for the 2024 ballot! Do that today! Recall Study Team Opportunity by Annie Goldner, LWVOR Issue Positions Director LWVOR 2023 Convention delegates voted to undertake a study on recall elections. LWV of Lane County proposed the two-year project, and now works with LWVOR support and resources. Why do we want to study recall elections? A recall election enables voters to remove an elected official from office through a referendum before the official's term of office has ended. LWV Oregon supports the recall process as provided in the Oregon Constitution. However, the studies leading to our position on Initiative, Referendum, and Recall (Adopted 1988; Revised 1996; Educational Update 2001) did not specifically examine the recall process itself. This means we are not able to weigh in on whether or not the process is working as it should. The state-mandated timeline for recall elections has implications for voter education and turnout, which directly ties into the League’s goal of protecting and expanding voting rights to ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. How will we work on this issue? There will be small tasks and larger ones, including: Research relevant League positions and actions in Oregon and across the country Research the history of recall in Oregon. Survey articles and research by legal and policy organizations focused on democratic processes. Interview election officials and topic experts. Discuss and learn with League colleagues. Synthesize, write, and edit results. Becoming part of a study committee is a great way to learn about an issue, gain a better understanding of League process, and make a positive difference. We hope you will consider joining the folks below in this effort and they will help you find a right-sized task. Contact Keli Osborn to join the team. Alice LaViolette, LWV Marion/Polk, aklaviolette@comcast.net Rhonda Livesay, LWV Lane County, technologydir@lwvlc.org Linda Lynch, LWV Lane County, lindalynch28@gmail.com Keli Osborn, LWV Lane County, kelimosborn@gmail.com Youth Council Spotlight: Chris Walker By Chris Walker, League of Women Voters of Oregon Youth Council Vice President and Off-Board Liaison I’ve just finished my internship in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it is a wonderful opportunity for civic-minded youth. My experience with the League of Women Voters of Oregon Youth Council helped prepare me for the role by inspiring me to think critically about why people, especially young people, vote or care about politics. Also, it has made me care even more about Oregon voters, who I was delighted to hear from while interning. My tasks included: Answering constituent calls, hearing the important beliefs, opinions, and questions of the district's constituents. Attending briefings and writing up memos that are used by members of the office for forming policy. Performing outreach for bills and letters— calling up other offices and sending emails to do so. Guiding tours for people living in the congressperson's district who were visiting. I showed the capital building, one of the beautiful centers of American democracy. Becoming familiar with Microsoft Office - which really, I had not used very often before my internship. Learning all I could (everyday, full time). Thank you for your support of the Youth Council! OSME Update for October 2023 We are excited to share that the League of Women Voters of Oregon (LWVOR) will be hosting Oregon Student Mock Election (OSME) for both the May Primary and November General Elections in 2024. The League is partnering with educators across the state to provide nonpartisan information and materials, giving students a greater understanding of participation in the Oregon electoral process, now and in the future. OSME helps students recognize the real world relevance of civics education. Are you interested in helping us contact educators in your area? Can you help us find civic education volunteers in your area? Email mockelection@lwvor.org. Since spring school schedules always fill up quickly, we ask that you mark your calendars with these important dates and deadlines for the upcoming May 2024 OSME: Monday, April 8 – OSME registration begins Tuesday, April 30 – Last day to register to vote in the Oregon Primary Election Tuesday, May 5-10 – Student Mock Election Week Friday, May 17 – OSME results released to the public Tuesday, May 21 – Oregon Primary Election Day Please share them with potential participating educators along with the following information: On the LWVOR.org website, educators can access the free, year-round, and award-winning Civics Education Curriculum. In addition, we will provide the following two lesson plans, which are specifically relevant to the 2024 May Primary: Parties and Primaries – Introduce your students to each of the 10 recognized Oregon parties and help them understand the impact of a closed primary on minor-party voters. Ranked-Choice-Voting (RCV) – Introduce your students to the process of RCV. This is appropriate for students in either social studies or math classes (requires an understanding of using percentages). The lessons include several suggestions for classroom activities, many links to resources, and information about how to prepare students for the election. We are looking for LWV members across the state to put us in contact with classroom teachers and administrators, both public/private and middle/high schools, along with charter school and homeschool educators. We need a name and email address for a contact person in each school and they need to have ours. Please email mimi.alkire@gmail.com if you have contact information for schools in your area. If you are able to drop off materials to local schools, we will provide you with flyers to take to schools, along with information for how they can register their students for the mock election. October 7 Fall Workshop Youth Council Panel Presentation By Diana DeMaria, LWVOR Youth Outreach Director Email Diana DeMaria at youthoutreach@lwvor.org to be added to the local League contact listserv, request printable materials for your voter registration activities or newsletter articles, and be invited to drop in on youth outreach meetings when your schedule permits. Review this year’s Youth Council Panel slideshow here on our Fall Workshop resources page. Meet the Youth Council. Looking to book a LWVOR Youth Council Member at a meeting or event? Book a speaker here. LWVOR Events: Fall Workshop The League of Women Voters of Oregon held its first hybrid Fall Workshop event on the first Saturday in October. This Voter Service-oriented event was held to prepare League members for the upcoming election work in 2024. Workshop attendees heard from a wide array of speakers, including LWV Liaison Alexis Juday-Marshall (an Oregonian now living in California) and Luana Chaires, Digital Relational Organizing Manager from LWVUS who spoke of the benefits of Outreach Circle/League in Action as a tool to further member engagement and voter education efforts. The Membership and Leadership Development group (MLD) offered an overview of their work in using MLD coaches to make a difference in addressing membership goals while Peggy Bengry (former Voter Service chair and current Vote411 Ballot Measure chair) spoke to the exciting work involved with engaging in Voter Service activities. Molly Woon, Oregon Elections Director, served as the workshop’s keynote speaker and offered an engaging and informative perspective on the Oregon election office’s efforts to serve voters in Oregon. The Elections Director is responsible for the administration of the Oregon vote-by-mail system as well as overseeing state initiative, referendum, and candidate processes. Woon spoke to the current efforts of the election office’s efforts to improve transparency and greater education across the state. LWVOR’s Youth Council held a panel to conclude the event. They spoke to the challenges facing young voters today and the goals to create a young LWV member pipeline in local and state Leagues nationwide, connect League of Women Voters to existing youth civic engagement around the country, and create more opportunities for young LWV members to participate in League activities. For an overview of the program and a copy of the recording, as well as copies of the Youth Council slide show and other information, please visit our LWVOR Fall Workshop resource page. Upcoming Events Legislative Process Day 2023 Registration open, get your tickets today! Nov 07, 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301 Youth Voter Summit Registration opens soon Jan 19, 2024, 10:00 AM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301

LWVOR Action for Climate 2023 Proposed Rulemaking! Time-Sensitive Deadline: On or Before Oct 13, 2023, 4pm Date: October 9, 2023 To: All League Members From: LWVOR Co-Presidents Lisa Bentson & Rebecca Gladstone (Advocacy Chair) Claudia Keith, LWVOR Climate Emergency Portfolio Coordinator Arlene Sherrett, LWVOR Climate Emergency Portfolio ACTION: Contact DEQ RE: Climate 2023 Rulemaking REQUEST: We are asking local League members throughout Oregon to protect this critical piece of climate rulemaking by emailing DEQ at cpp.info@deq.oregon.gov. EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS to DEQ: Tell DEQ what matters to you! See our DEQ letter and tell DEQ what matters to You! We feel the Climate 2023 Rulemaking should: Ensure direct benefits for Oregon communities by only allowing biomethane (aka Renewable Natural Gas) compliance credits for production within Oregon, not from out-of-state. Restrict hydrogen for CPP compliance unless DEQ ensures it is green electrolytic hydrogen. Other hydrogen sources and types are far more polluting, with more risks for our energy system. Strengthen emissions reduction requirements for industries. BACKGROUND: DEQ is developing rules to implement the Climate Protection Program (CPP), passed with overwhelming community support after 18 months of work. These rules have been developed and won’t be reviewed again for another five years. The LWVOR Climate Emergency Team feels changes are still needed to close loopholes and guarantee robust emissions reductions. The CPP’s Community Climate Investment (CCI) program is designed to play a key role in generating community benefits and limiting greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. However, those benefits have been cut back by utilities’ input. This is our last opportunity to persuade DEQ to make changes before the proposed rules are presented to EQC for final approval in November!

All-Members Newsletter - October 2023 Happy October! As we embrace the crisp and colorful Fall season, we are excited for the upcoming local and statewide events that promise to bring us together once again, both in-person and virtually. First up is the LWVOR Fall Workshop on October 7 (details below!). We are renewing our commitment to empowering our communities through voter education activities that will ensure our voices are heard in the 2024 elections. Read on to discover some of the exciting events on the horizon. Upcoming Events Fall Workshop 2023 Register Now Oct 07, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM 155 High St, Eugene, OR 97401 Register for virtual tickets by October 6. In-person registration is now closed. Join us in Eugene and online on October 7, 2023 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. We are excited to bring you this voter education focused event, filled with great guest speakers, new tools for voter outreach in 2024, plans for upcoming Oregon Student Mock Elections, and more! Don't miss our keynote speaker, Molly Woon, Oregon Elections Director and a special workshop hosted by the LWVOR Youth Council on youth voter outreach. We hope you’re able to join us! More Upcoming LWVOR Events Legislative Process Day 2023 Registration open soon Nov 07, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301 Youth Voter Summit Registration open soon Jan 19, 2024, 10:00 AM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301 Local League Events ⭐Event Highlight: Tour the Oregon Supreme Court Building with the Marion/Polk League From LWV of Marion and Polk Counties: "Join us on Thursday, October 19, to tour the Oregon Supreme Court Building. We haven’t received confirmation of the time yet. The tour will last about 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours and will require standing, although there will be chairs available when we are in the courtroom. Paid parking is available along State St. If the weather is nice, we will also visit the Women’s Suffrage memorial in Willson Park, about ½ block from the Supreme Court Building. At our get-together at Willamette Mission State Park, 10 members signed up to go on the tour. We have space for 10 more. To attend, email LWVMPC@gmail.com. The 119-year-old building is one of the state’s oldest continuously operating government buildings. To preserve the three-story structure and its historic features, the building recently went through a seismic retrofit. It features terra cotta, marble, and mahogany, with classical detailing, a grand staircase, and stained-glass lighting in the courtroom. We will learn what changes have been made, see the Percent for Art installation and hear about the workings of Oregon’s appellate court system." ⭐Event Highlight: National Voter Registration Day (9/19) at Rose Haven Women’s Shelter By LWVPDX Voter Service Chair Chris Cobey LWVPDX celebrated National Voter Registration Day (September 19) at Rose Haven, a Portland women’s shelter, where we registered voters, distributed voter registration forms to women who wanted to register later, answered questions about voting and upcoming elections, and provided links to information on Portland’s new government and online voter registration. We averaged a new paper voter registration every 15 minutes -- a robust rate of public voter registration in a period of no imminent elections! As a result of this activity, we have learned of and received inquiries from Rose Haven's youth outreach group, have provided additional information to them, and look forward to including them in future LWVPDX-Rose Haven on-site voter registration events. More Upcoming Local League Events Local League events coming up in the next few weeks. Have events to add? Please send them to us at lwvor@lwvor.org: ⭐LWV of Coos County September Voter Registration Stations Tuesday, October 10, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm - Coos Bay Public Library ⭐LWV of Deschutes County DEIJ Discussion Group: Do the Work Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm ⭐LWV of Marion and Polk Counties Fall Membership Get-Together Thursday, October 12, 10 am - Tea & Talk - Taproot Old Mill Cafe Wednesday, October 18, 7 pm - Being Nonpartisan - Zoom Link here ⭐LWV of Lane County Annual Fall Luncheon Thursday, October 19, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm - The Shedd Institute, Eugene Oregon 97401 ⭐LWV of Portland Programs/Events – Free and Open to the Public October 11, 2023, via Zoom, panel discussion on progress in creating a Community Board for Police Accountability ⭐LWV of Umpqua Valley A Year of Education Events Tuesday, October 17 – Sarah McGregor, the Feeding Umpqua Program Manager at UCAN, will teach us about efforts to alleviate hunger in our communities and how we can help. Tuesday, November 14 – Thomas McGregor, Executive Director of Phoenix Charter School, will inspire us with “2031: Let’s Define the Future for East Roseburg”. Phoenix turns 50 in 2031. How can we help dream, develop, and actively create what the community wants Phoenix to be on its 50th birthday? Register for Member Section The new LWVOR website features an improved Member’s Section including an exclusive Member’s Forum, where League members can engage in discussions on a variety of topics: Voter Service, Communications, DEIJ, Membership, and more. We’re adding new topics all the time, so please feel free to explore what is there and suggest new topics if you see a need. 👉Register to Access LWVOR.org Member’s Section We welcome all current League members to join the forum and check it out! It is a great place to share ideas, links, resources, and anything you think your fellow League members will find useful. Please contact s.andrews@lwvor.org with any questions about getting started. Volunteers Needed LWVOR Board Opportunities Voter Services Chair Welcome our LWVOR Voter Service leads: Abigail Bok (Vote411), Marianne Germond (Voter’s Guides), and Peggy Bengry (State Ballot Measures). LWVOR is still looking for a Voter Service Chair to represent this work as a liaison to the LWVOR board. With the reduction of work off the shoulders of the VS Chair into these other lead positions, the VS Chair will be able to activate, coordinate, and manage the various efforts to closure across Voter Services each year. Read the full position description here. League Voter Services makes election information available to the public to encourage citizen participation in government. The Chair inspires Voter Service volunteers and dedicated professionals to produce clear, unbiased information for tens of thousands of Oregon voters. The VS Chair directly contributes to making democracy work. Please contact us at nominating@lwvor.org or lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in the VS Chair role. Advocacy Team Opportunities Natural Resources What is your passion related to Natural Resources? You can help. The 2023 legislative session is over, but 2024 is just around the corner. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring. If any area of natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com. Training will be offered. Dept of Environmental Quality Air Quality Programs Dept of Environmental Quality Land Quality Programs Dept of Environmental Quality Recycling and Waste Prevention Dept of Land Conservation and Development Coastal Programs Dept. of Agriculture Programs (any or all) Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Programs (any or all) Columbia River Gorge Commission Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries Oregon Marine Board Oregon Dept. of Parks and Recreation Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Climate Emergency Natural and Working lands, specifically Agriculture/ODA (Oregon Dept. of Agriculture) Transportation, I-5 Bridge and ODOT state agency Environment/Climate Related Lawsuits/Our Children’s Trust Public Health Climate Adaptation (OHA, Oregon Health Authority) Regional Solutions/Infrastructure (with NR team) State Procurement Practices (DAS: Dept. of Admin. Services) CE Portfolio State Agency and Commission Budgets Oregon Treasury: ESG investing/Fossil Fuel divestment Please contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in helping out in any of these areas. Social Policy Human rights Immigration, Refugee & Asylum Seekers/Migrants GLBTQ+ Basic Human Needs Please contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in helping out in any of these areas. DEIJ: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Toolkit for local Leagues LWVOR Youth Council DEIJ Chair Deenie Bulyalert and LWVOR Youth Council DEIJ mentor Elizabeth Kirby have produced a DEIJ Toolkit for League members! This Toolkit is a collection of resources and tools to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in your organization and community. You can find it linked in the Knowledge Base in the Member's Section of the website. Once you've clicked on the Toolkit link be sure to check out the READ ME document first to get a snapshot view of all of the enclosed folders. If you're looking for a good place to start, feel free to check out pronouns.org, where you can learn about personal pronouns and why they matter. Please reach out to Elizabeth at deij@lwvor.org if you have any questions! Youth Outreach Update LWVUS Mobilizing Young Voter Pilot Program Launch Nile Blass, LWVUS DMV Community Organizer, is thrilled to announce the Young Voter Pilot Program is officially launching. Over the coming weeks and months, you can anticipate a wide array of updates, resources, and supplementary materials designed to support our young voter outreach initiatives. We have a lineup of workshops, training sessions, and special speaker events in the pipeline, and we are committed to making these accessible both virtually and in person whenever possible. To keep you in the loop, LWVUS will feature these special programming updates in the monthly League Update, on LWV's event website, and across various LWV informational forums. Thank you once again for your commitment to this important cause. Email Nile at nblass@lwv.org to request your email be added to the listserv, and make sure to sign up for LWVUS League Updates at lwv.org! Membership Update Everyone is invited to drop in to the Membership and DEIJ Special Interest Group Wednesday, October 11⋅1:00 – 2:00pm Meets Monthly on second Wednesdays Join Zoom Meeting This month's meeting will begin with an interactive tour of the LWVOR website functionality by LWVOR Digital Director Sarah Andrews, including the members only side, and how to sign up for newsletters and Forums. The next topic is discussion with local League examples and ideas from around the state for new member orientation since the pandemic, a question submitted by LWV of Corvallis member Laura Evenson. Diana DeMaria is interim LWVOR Membership for Lisa Bentson, who has stepped up to co-President our state league while the nominating committee works on Board vacancies. Count on LWVOR Membership as a local League resource! Diana DeMaria (she/her--Why do pronouns matter?) call/text 503.319.8601 Interim Membership Chair membership@lwvor.org Recommended Reading From LWVOR Advocacy Chair, Becky Gladstone: This month's book is THE HANK SHOW, about Hank Asher, “the pioneering computer programmer known as the father of data fusion”. This new-release is timely, coming shortly after Oregon’s first in the nation Data Broker Registry signing, HB 2052 Enrolled (2023). Here's LWVOR testimony. The author, McKenzie Funk, is from Oregon. We cited his 2016 NYTs Magazine article, Should We See Everything a Cop Sees? in our Privacy & Cybersecurity study and alluded to in LWVOR public records advocacy. The official release date is October 3 and it can pre-ordered through Bookshop.org, for delivery to your favorite independent local bookstore -check for your favorite! The freely shared advance excerpt, The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases, was in the Sept 24 NYTs Magazine. From the author, McKenzie Funk: “Recently, I spent a half-decade writing a book. It’s called The Hank Show. As you can imagine, it’s about a guy named Hank—in this case the pioneering data broker and onetime cocaine smuggler Hank Asher. It’s sort of about him, at least. I always told myself it was really about what he left behind for us when he died in 2013: hidden tracking numbers that will stalk each of us for the entirety of our adult lives. Data and database systems that still course through the computers of the FBI, the IRS, the CIA, and ICE and through most American police departments, most Fortune 500 companies, and most of the world’s biggest banks. Digital dossiers that increasingly determine who among us gets loans, who gets insurance, who gets job offers, who gets arrested, who gets deported, who gets what healthcare, who gets ahead in life, and who’s left behind.”

All-Members Newsletter - September 19, 2023 Yesterday (September 19) was National Voter Registration Day! We don’t need to remind you to take 30 seconds to register to vote or check your registration status at oregonvotes.gov. But maybe some outreach tools would be helpful? Find all the content you need to spread the #NationalVoterRegistrationDay news in the NVRD Vote Ready Social Hub. Click through the tabs near the middle of the page for Voter Registration Reminder Graphics, #VoteReady Memes, Infographics, and more. Co-President’s Message Dear Members and Friends, Please pardon the scheduling hiccup as we resume with first-of-the-month news, adapting to sharing Co-Presidency. We will highlight more committee and local League news features. Please let us know what you appreciate reading and want to hear more about! Suggestions can be sent to lwvor@lwvor.org. Here’s to pulling together to accomplish so much more! Lisa Bentson and Rebecca Gladstone, LWVOR Co-Presidents Upcoming Events Fall Workshop 2023 Register Now Oct 07, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM 155 High St, Eugene, OR 97401 This 2024 Election Season League Voter Service Event is open to League members and the public for in-person or virtual hybrid participation. Invite your friends and family for a great lineup! On the agenda: League In Action/Outreach Circle Presentation (LWVUS is funding this expensive voter and community outreach tool, so FREE to us!) Download the app to your desktop computer and phone to start learning and using the call to action and other features for member communication. Keynote Speaker: Elections Director Molly Woon Oregon Student Mock Election (OSME) LWVOR Coordinator: Mimi Alkire on Spring 2024 Primary Election school involvement in local League community activities and Civics Learning Project collaboration. Email mockelection@lwvor.org if you can help update your local area school contacts to get ready for Spring 2024 OSME! Youth Council: Overview, DEIJ Resources and Social Media Strategies for local League Young Voter Outreach plus Social Media workshop schedule for later October. Meet the Youth Council. Looking to book a LWVOR Youth Council Member at a meeting or event? Book a speaker here. Plus special guest speakers and a boxed lunch. Promo available - bring your friends! We are offering a promotional ticket rate for League members and their non-League guests! Bring a friend who is not a current League member and your tickets will be $20 each. Please email lwvor@lwvor.org with the name and contact email of your non-League member. You need to email for the code prior to your ticket purchase, then use the registration code we email you when purchasing your tickets. Promo codes are limited to two tickets at $20 each with a member purchasing the tickets for both individuals. More Upcoming LWVOR Events Legislative Process Day 2023 Registration open soon Nov 07, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301 Youth Voter Summit Registration open soon Jan 19, 2024, 10:00 AM Hybrid Event 250 Winter St NE, Salem, OR 97301 Local League Events Local League events coming up in the next few weeks. Have events to add? Please send them to us at lwvor@lwvor.org: ⭐LWV of Coos County September Voter Registration Stations Wednesday, September 20 - Coos Bay Visitor Center, 50 Central Ave., Coos Bay Friday, September 22 - Bandon Farmer's Market, Farm & Sea, 250 1st St. SW, Bandon Saturday, September 23 - Myrtle Point Harvest Festival, Downtown Myrtle Point ⭐LWV of Deschutes County DEIJ Discussion Group: Do the Work Tuesday, September 26, 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM, Zoom ⭐LWV of Marion and Polk Counties Fall Membership Get-Together Saturday, September 23, 10 a.m. - noon - Willamette Mission State Park. Coffee, tea & finger food will be provided. Please RSVP to Amy Vandegrift, 503-364-0492, vandebloom@gmail.com ⭐LWV of Lane County Annual Fall Luncheon Thursday, October 19, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm - The Shedd Institute, Eugene Oregon 97401 ⭐LWV of Portland Programs/Events – Free and Open to the Public September 19, via Zoom, Portland is Changing! Charter Implementation Successes and Challenges October 11, 2023, via Zoom, panel discussion on progress in creating a Community Board for Police Accountability ⭐LWV of Umpqua Valley A Year of Education Events Tuesday, September 19 – Jared Cordon, Superintendent of Roseburg Public Schools, will speak about the state of our schools, a vision for the future, and how our community can support the best for our students. Tuesday, October 17 – Sarah McGregor, the Feeding Umpqua Program Manager at UCAN, will teach us about efforts to alleviate hunger in our communities and how we can help. Tuesday, November 14 – Thomas McGregor, Executive Director of Phoenix Charter School, will inspire us with “2031: Let’s Define the Future for East Roseburg”. Phoenix turns 50 in 2031. How can we help dream, develop, and actively create what the community wants Phoenix to be on its 50th birthday? Register for Member Section The new LWVOR website features an improved Member’s Section including an exclusive Member’s Forum, where League members can engage in discussions on a variety of topics: Voter Service, Communications, DEIJ, Membership, and more. We’re adding new topics all the time, so please feel free to explore what is there and suggest new topics if you see a need. 👉Register to Access LWVOR.org Member’s Section We welcome all current League members to join the forum and check it out! It is a great place to share ideas, links, resources, and anything you think your fellow League members will find useful. Please contact s.andrews@lwvor.org with any questions about getting started. Volunteers Needed LWVOR Board Opportunities Voter Services Chair Welcome our LWVOR Voter Service leads: Abigail Bok (Vote411), Marianne Germond (Voter’s Guides), and Peggy Bengry (State Ballot Measures). LWVOR is still looking for a Voter Service Chair to represent this work as a liaison to the LWVOR board. With the reduction of work off the shoulders of the VS Chair into these other lead positions, the VS Chair will be able to activate, coordinate, and manage the various efforts to closure across Voter Services each year. Read the full position description here. League Voter Services makes election information available to the public to encourage citizen participation in government. The Chair inspires Voter Service volunteers and dedicated professionals to produce clear, unbiased information for tens of thousands of Oregon voters. The VS Chair directly contributes to making democracy work. Please contact us at nominating@lwvor.org or lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in the VS Chair role. Advocacy Team Opportunities Natural Resources What is your passion related to Natural Resources? You can help. The 2023 legislative session is over, but 2024 is just around the corner. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring. If any area of natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com. Training will be offered. Climate Emergency Natural and Working lands, specifically Agriculture/ODA (Oregon Dept. of Agriculture) Transportation, I-5 Bridge and ODOT state agency Environment/Climate Related Lawsuits/Our Children’s Trust Public Health Climate Adaptation (OHA, Oregon Health Authority) Regional Solutions/Infrastructure (with NR team) State Procurement Practices (DAS: Dept. of Admin. Services) CE Portfolio State Agency and Commission Budgets Oregon Treasury: ESG investing/Fossil Fuel divestment Please contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in helping out in any of these areas. Social Policy Human rights Immigration, Refugee & Asylum Seekers/Migrants GLBTQ+ Basic Human Needs Please contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org if you are interested in helping out in any of these areas. DEIJ: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Toolkit for local Leagues LWVOR Youth Council DEIJ Chair Deenie Bulyalert and LWVOR Youth Council DEIJ mentor Elizabeth Kirby have produced a DEIJ Toolkit for League members! This Toolkit is a collection of resources and tools to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in your organization and community. You can find it linked in the Knowledge Base in the Member's Section of the website. Once you've clicked on the Toolkit link be sure to check out the READ ME document first to get a snapshot view of all of the enclosed folders. If you're looking for a good place to start, feel free to check out pronouns.org, where you can learn about personal pronouns and why they matter. Please reach out to Elizabeth at deij@lwvor.org if you have any questions! Youth Outreach: Youth Civic Leadership Opportunities Members of the LWVOR Youth Council attended the Convention in May. We believe the promotion of democracy relies on organizations with similar goals working together to share ideas and resources. Each month beginning October 1st we will share opportunities for young people across Oregon from LWVOR and other great organizations to increase intergenerational civic involvement in our communities. Please email youthoutreach@lwvor.org to contribute great ideas, requests, and to stay informed. Oregon’s Electronic Portal Advisory Board (EPAB) News A CYBER alert from Oregon’s Electronic Portal Advisory Board. Do not give your personal information to anyone who calls you. They may spoof your caller ID as official government agencies or as our merchants, with their actual names and phone numbers showing on your phone. State agencies are seeing increasing “authorization testing fraud” in the last few months, where bad actors call, claiming they are trying to verify stolen credit card information. The defensive push now is to help various agencies understand and address needed measures. They explain that this is not a breach of state systems & data, per se. These people use other websites, passing data on to third party fraudsters or actually working on the fraud themselves. This is being seen not only by our state agencies and state portals but also by many merchants, now collaborating to mitigate these threats, and building higher walls to keep fraudsters out. Did you know that LWVOR advocates are appointed to state groups? The League is represented in the EPAB (roster) and the DWAC, Drinking Water Advisory Committee (members). Our LWVOR Advocacy Team welcomes your help, meeting year-round, including for Cybersecurity and Privacy legislation. Recommended Reading Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome – America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing Our September Recommended Reading is from UO Professor Randall Blazak, required reading every term for his classes. He is Chair of the Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crimes and LWVOR is an attending member. In Memoriam: Alice Bartelt We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear colleague, Alice Bartelt, who has been President since May 2023 and long-standing Action Chair, trusted informally as Parliamentarian for the League of Women Voters of Oregon. Lisa Bentson, our First Vice President, and Rebecca Gladstone, Second Vice President, are Acting Co-Presidents of the League of Women Voters of Oregon until a replacement is found. Please contact lwvor@lwvor.org with any questions or messages you would like to share. A Celebration of Life for Alice Bartelt has been set for 4pm October 13. Responses from members (More can be read on our website): I knew Alice as a dedicated, knowledgeable, respectful, and generous League leader. She was committed to helping the Oregon League achieve its advocacy priorities. She also kindly shared her time and expertise to serve as a parliamentarian and a speaker for local Leagues as well as LWVOR. Her death is a sad loss for all of us who knew her and who benefited from her service to the League and to Oregon. -Margaret Noel Alice was a model for many of us. She could be responsible to groups, keeping up with her political commitments, but also keep an individual life. She could be generous and kind, and also keep things in order with Robert’s Rules. One of the lights in the room we were blessed to know. -Jody Wiser My deepest sympathies on losing Alice. She was a guiding light in our League as Chair of the LWVOR Action Committee and newly elected President. Her contributions and work ethic were an inspiration to us all. It was an honor to be a member under her leadership in the state Action Committee. She was a remarkable woman and her work will live on both in the League and in our hearts. My sincere condolences, she will be dearly missed. -Nancy Donovan, member of the LWVOR Action Committee, and Chair of the LWVPDX Education Committee

We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear colleague, Alice Bartelt, who has been President since May 2023 and long-standing Action Chair, trusted informally as Parliamentarian for the League of Women Voters of Oregon. Read more about Alice's life and legacy in her obituary. A Celebration of Life for Alice Bartelt has been set for 4pm October 13. Lisa Bentson, our First Vice President, and Rebecca Gladstone, Second Vice President, will be Acting Co-Presidents of the League of Women Voters of Oregon. Please contact lwvor@lwvor.org with any questions or messages you would like to share. Responses from members: I always felt connected to Alice by her responsible activity on behalf of all us Leaguers and by extension all Oregonians. A loss for all LWVers of Oregon. My condolences you — and to family. Fran Greenlee, Bend This is so very sad. I send ALL of us sympathies for this unwelcomed event. She was one very special person. Barbara Klein This is truly sad news. What a loss for the League and all of us who worked with Alice for so many years. Marge Easley Oh dear! She will be so missed! She really cared so much about doing the right thing! Josie Koehne This is such sad news. What a great loss. Katie Riley Alice gave so much to the League for so long, as well as to her work as a parliamentarian. A great loss. Debbie Kaye Alice was a model for many of us. She could be responsible to groups, keeping up with her political commitments, but also keep an individual life. She could be generous and kind, and also keep things in order with Robert’s Rules. One of the lights in the room we were blessed to know. Jody Wiser Oh, my deepest sympathies to her family and friends. I had many positive experiences working alongside her at the capitol and in meetings. Alice, thank you for all you did for the people in this state. John Bartholomew My sympathies to Alice's family, friends, and her League family and friends too. Carol Moon Goldberg Condolences to all her family as well as to the League family. Abigail Bok In sadness I join you to mourn the passing of Alice Bartelt. What a woman. What a leader! Please continue to keep all of us in the loop regarding any memorial service and how her memory can be honored. Most Respectfully, Kathleen Mason A profound loss. Our condolences to Alice's loved ones and the LWV of Oregon community. League of Women Voters of the United States We will miss Alice, not only for her expertise, but for her grace. Carolyn Buppert Alice's passing has shocked and saddened so many of us. My sympathy to her family and to all those that love her. She had an impressive memory for Robert's Rules of Order and League protocol. At meetings I attended where she was Parliamentarian, she never referred to the rule book. She was organized, knowledgeable about so many things, gracious in conversation, and devoted to the League. Her passing is a loss to so many people. Judy Froemke, LWVPDX Member Education Chair I knew Alice as a dedicated, knowledgeable, respectful, and generous League leader. She was committed to helping the Oregon League achieve its advocacy priorities. She also kindly shared her time and expertise to serve as a parliamentarian and a speaker for local Leagues as well as LWVOR. Her death is a sad loss for all of us who knew her and who benefited from her service to the League and to Oregon. Margaret Noel We mourn the loss of this hardworking, effective leader. As chair of the League of Women Voters of Oregon's action on state issues, she made a difference to all Oregonians, and she will be sorely missed. Peggy Bengry I was so saddened to hear of the death of your president and wonderful League leader, Alice. I know her family and your league family are in mourning and devastated. I am reaching out to let you know that we are here to help in any way we can and mourn along with you. Take care and extend my condolences to your board and membership. Yours in League, Deborah Turner My deepest sympathies on losing Alice. She was a guiding light in our League as Chair of the LWVOR Action Committee and newly elected President. Her contributions and work ethic were an inspiration to us all. It was an honor to be a member under her leadership in the state Action Committee. She was a remarkable woman and her work will live on both in the League and in our hearts. My sincere condolences, she will be dearly missed. Fondly, Nancy Donovan, member of the LWVOR Action Committee, and Chair of the LWVPDX Education Committee I knew Alice in a variety of contexts — the American Association of University Women of Oregon and the Oregon League of Women Voters. I am profoundly saddened that I won’t see and hear her leading the LWVOR State Public Policy team, receive her informative emails about the legislature or experience her keeping AAUW of OR members on track with her wise leadership as Parliamentarian. I don’t usually use the signature I typed in below, but I thought it might give you an idea about how Alice and I intersected. There are many qualities I admired about Alice, but perhaps the most important to me was her generosity. When I took over from her, Kappy Eaton and Marcia Kelley as the AAUW of OR State Public Policy Chair some nine years ago, Alice was always helpful in getting me going, answering questions and so on. I frankly felt that she wasn’t given enough credit for the work she did before I came on, but I hope she heard my appreciation. Although I didn’t see her organize things, I experienced the results of that organizing talent. It’s hard for me to believe all the “balls in the air” that she balanced. Alice was very perceptive and I so very much appreciated her willingness to be honest. It is a quality I cherish and one which is all too often in short supply. I have some wonderful memories sitting at a luncheon table, trading a chuckle or two about this or that — sometimes about the state legislative world, sometimes about the AAUW and LWV worlds. I sought her company when she wasn’t sitting at the head table, although we shared that assignment as well. My sincere condolences to you, her family. I will miss Alice. Warm regards, Trish Garner, J.D., M.S.W. Member, State Action Committee, League of Women Voters of Oregon Member, Board and Portland Justice Interest Group, League of Women Voters of Portland, Oregon Member, National Inclusion and Equity Committee, American Association of University Women State Public Policy Chair, 2014 - 2022 and Current State Diversity Chair, American Association of University Women of Oregon I am so sorry to learn this. I worked with Alice on the state Higher Education study and was immediately impressed with her wealth of knowledge about the League and other matters, as well as her organizational skills and ways of dealing with people. She was one of the major influences on my becoming active in LWVPDX. We have all suffered a major loss. Linda Mantel, LWVPDX Development Chair Sorry to hear about this, she has been a dedicated and effective activist for so long. The world is a better place for her commitment and work. Mike Hiland What a devastating loss! Alice was an amazing woman and leader. I had the privilege of working with her on several league projects. Alice's attention to detail never flagged, so it's no surprise that she was a parliamentarian par excellence. I offer my sincere condolences to Alice's family and friends, and to her league family as well. Alyce Prudden, Past President, League of Women Voters of Curry County

President's Report Dear Members and friends, It’s a new League year and a very new board. The Board had its retreat in June and there was much enthusiasm and creative ideas from our members. I am definitely discovering the many talents that this group has, and I very much appreciate all of the energy and willingness to take on new tasks. In an effort to be more inclusive, board meetings will be held on Zoom and will occur on the 4th Monday of the month at 7:00 pm. We are hoping that this might make it possible for more members to join the board. Alice Bartelt LWVOR President Save the Date Fall Workshop – October 7, 2023 in Eugene Legislative Process Day – November 7, 2023 at the State Library in Salem Youth Voter Summit – January 19, 2024 in Salem You will receive more information about these events in the near future. Help Wanted LWVOR has an open board position: Voter Services Chair (formerly, Voter Education Chair). Voter Education includes Youth Outreach, Mock Elections, civics educational programs, etc., and no longer will oversee Vote411, Voters' Guides, or other General Election activities. We know that local activities are important, but we cannot be effective during the next election cycle without state volunteers to cover these important tasks. The specific duties can be sent to you if you have an interest in doing any of these. We want to thank Susan Cobb for leading the effort to revamp this position so that several folks can do the work for Voter Services at the state level. More News The Sine Die Legislative Report (sign up here)will be coming soon. It had to wait to confirm which bills would be signed or vetoed by Governor Kotek. This was a fairly successful legislative session in many ways for the people of Oregon. We hope that you will have time to read it to see how much work our volunteers do. As promised at the Convention in May, the Farmworker Issues position was amended by the State Board to replace “farmworker” with “agricultural worker.” This broadens our position to allow workers who do agricultural work to be included when we use our position in advocacy. This is especially important in this time of rising temperatures and other risks for these workers. If you have not visited the LWVOR website in the last month, you will find that it has been updated by Sarah Andrews and Abigail Hertzler. It looks fantastic and we hope that it is more user-friendly. You will need to sign up to access members-only information but most of it is available to the public. This was a huge undertaking and we appreciate the work of our staff on this. The Youth Council and the board advisors who liaise with them are very busy. They are planning the Youth Voter Summit in January, but are undertaking many projects before then. We are hoping to have a presentation by them at the Fall Workshop as well. If you were at our Convention in May, you had the opportunity to meet some of these energetic folks. We are extremely fortunate that this group has formed and that they are doing outreach to other youth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS President's Column Action Committee Report Development Report Youth Council Perspective 2024 OSME Update Website Update LWVOR Convention 2023 In Memoriam PRESIDENT’S REPORT By Alice Bartelt, LWVOR President It is my pleasure to serve as the President of a very active organization. What is important to me is that the board represents most parts of the state and that they have various League experiences. The Nominating Committee did a great job of recruiting board members. At the convention in Eugene, the members voted to allow flexibility in sharing offices. Even though I am serving as president, I will be sharing some duties with the First and Second Vice Presidents. Leadership in the League is much work, but we in Oregon know that training for our leaders is essential. We are hopeful that anyone looking to lead a local league or to serve on the state board will be rewarded in the successes that we have every day. I want to give you a little bit of background about myself. I have served as president for several state-wide organizations, including the American Association of University Women, Oregon NARAL, International Training in Communication, and the Oregon Association of Parliamentarians. I am a retired attorney. Since I retired in 2007, I have become a volunteer in a number of organizations, including the Oregon League. I joined the League in 2008 and have served for most of the time since 2009 as Action Chair. Because of my work on Action, I have not been as involved with other aspects of the League. But I will learn as I go along. I look forward to serving as your President, with assistance from the board. ACTION COMMITTEE REPORT By Becky Gladstone, Action Chair The LWVOR Action committee followed the contentious 2023 Oregon legislative session, stymied by the minority party senators’ walkout from May 3 to June 15, 2023, and limited building access for continuing seismic construction—completion now forecast for 2025. Most of our efforts were influential for the many bills we supported or opposed, so overall it was a surprisingly successful, though not positive, session for us. We worked with coalitions, posted Action Alerts in our Newsroom, and sent weekly legislative summary emails, backed up by extensive Legislative Reports (LR). Meanwhile, our active initiative petition work continues for campaign finance reform and redistricting. We are getting requests to work with others, including preliminary research into defining legislative quorums. Subscribe and watch for our final Sine Die LR after session completion, with the Governor signing or vetoing the session bills in early August. End-of-session rumors swirled as information was not shared for purported weekend leadership meetings, partisan bill lists for negotiation, interpreting consequences for Legislators’ absenteeism, and scheduling special sessions, with failure imminent for agency budget bills. Public access was absent and it seemed that many bills were likely to die with too little time for procedural requirements, which could include returning amended bills to the House for concurrence with subsequent amendments. The walkout delayed Senate floor hearings for probably hundreds of policy and budget bills across all issue portfolios, including many of the 160+ issues we testified to. Some Senators’ unexcused absences, to prevent assembly of the minimum quorum required to vote, were intended to prevent otherwise likely majority passage of legislation for reproductive and/or gender affirming health care and gun safety bills. As the end of session was declared imminent, advance public meeting notice periods shrank and sometimes were omitted. The Action Chair position has changed from Alice Bartelt, newly elected LWVOR President, to Becky Gladstone, LWVOR past President. We will meet this summer to celebrate our successes and to face our issue and leadership gaps, looking to reorganize. Watch for a roster of issues that need volunteer support, especially from organizers who can support our volunteers and issue experts. We are planning for a summer Action Retreat, a Legislative Process Day in the fall, and Day at the Legislature in spring of 2024. For information, please write to Becky Gladstone, b.gladstone@lwvor.org. DEVELOPMENT UPDATE By Jackie Clary and Freddi Weishahn, Development Co-Chairs The LWVOR received the Carol and Velma Saling Foundation grant for $50,000 on May 24, 2023, for our essential work providing Oregonians across the state with trusted, non-partisan voter information and civic education. The Saling Foundation has been a stalwart supporter of LWVOR, and we are deeply grateful. We were also awarded the Oregon Humanities Public Program Grant for $8,152 on June 6, 2023, for our Youth Outreach to encourage civic engagement among young voters in rural, urban, and marginalized communities across Oregon. Our non-partisan Youth Council, joining efforts with LWVOR, will engage in online and in-person training and mentoring to create an accessible and equitable path for youth to civic education and engagement. Their peer outreach workshop at our LWVOR State Convention, May 20, 2023, was inspiring! Watch for news of their Youth Voter Summit, planned for January 19th, 2024. LWVOR YOUTH COUNCIL PERSPECTIVE By Celine Ioffe, Youth Council President I have always believed perspective is everything and the national perspective I gained attending LWVUS Council in Las Vegas last weekend is exciting for all present and future young League of Women Voters members. In all my conversations, whether it be with a member of the Colorado League or a member of the National Board, there was not a single person who wasn’t deeply interested in learning how to involve and create more opportunities for youth within the League. Attending Council also made me aware of the many different youth involvement projects across the League nationally, including several college campus chapters, Maine’s youth internship program, and more. This made me realize there is no one direct youth pipeline into the League, which makes it difficult for youth in certain areas to get involved. Connecting and following up in the weeks ahead with as many state Leagues as we can and offering collaboration, support, and sharing of resources for their own Youth Councils in their state or local League was my goal for the weekend. Representing my other nine LWVOR Youth Council members at a national Council in Las Vegas as a 17-year-old, only six months into my work with the League, was one of the most growing and grounding experiences I’ve had. I was able to gather diverse League perspectives from practically every state and met so many incredible and inspirational people. I am so thankful to the League for giving me this opportunity, for my other two Oregon attendees, Diana DeMaria and Jackie Clary, for being so supportive and helpful the many times I needed it, and for the kindness of LWVUS President Dr. Deborah Turner and LWVUS CEO Virginia Kase Solomon to include and devote valuable time to one of their newest League members at such a busy event. I am motivated and excited to expand the future of Oregon’s Youth Council and the growth of youth involvement in our local Leagues and beyond. 2024 OREGON STUDENT MOCK ELECTION (OSME) By Mimi Alkire, State Board Secretary In the November 2022 General Election, LWVOR hosted the first statewide student mock election since 2012. For that mock election, nearly 5,000 students were registered to vote by 38 educators from 21 different cities/towns, representing 15 counties from every corner of the state. However, because of the formidable firewalls around urban school district emails, we were only able to get a response from exactly one (1!) Portland Public Schools educator and only a handful of educators from other large urban districts. So, to try to make headway in the Portland area, LWVPDX hosted a Multnomah County student mock election in May 2023. PDX volunteers contacted or visited their neighborhood middle and high schools to deliver information about the 2023 student mock election. That effort brought us active contact information for 64 local educators! These come from 13 middle and 14 high schools in the Portland metro area. They include both public and private schools. We hope to replicate that process in other leagues around the state for 2024. In May 2023, students in Multnomah County voted on Measure 26-238 (Tenant Eviction Representation) and Portland City Measure 26-240 (Children’s Levy). Many of the 2023 contacts were unable to participate in the spring county election but expressed interest in the 2024 statewide mock election. Although we had a small turnout, we count this as a success in collecting contact information for 2024. Reports and feedback from 2023 participating teachers were positive and helpful. Mock ballots are always accompanied by instructions and an optional lesson plan with many ideas and resources for teachers to use in preparing their students to vote. For the 2024 primary we plan to provide two lesson plans for teachers to use all or parts of: 1. A lesson plan addressing Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV). This one will answer the questions: What is ranked-choice-voting and how does it work? It would be appropriate for social studies classes but is also geared toward math classes. 2. A lesson plan addressing the Parties and Primaries in Oregon. This one will answer the questions: What are the political parties of Oregon and what do they believe? What is a closed primary and why do we have one? The OSME Committee would love your input as we prepare for the upcoming primary election. If you have comments, questions, ideas, or would like to join the OSME team, please contact Mimi Alkire (mimi.alkire@gmail.com), Chris Cobey (VoterService@lwvpdx.org), and/or Diana DeMaria (YouthOutreach@lwvor.org). REGISTER YOUR MEMBER ACCOUNT ON OUR NEW AND IMPROVED WEBSITE! The new website was designed with members and the public in mind. Please take a few moments to explore the new format and let us know what you think. A few highlights: • Members-only section featuring an interactive forum (register and sign in to view) • Improved Legislative Report and Study accessibility • In development: An extensive Knowledge Base featuring toolkits and tutorials for, DEIJ, Voter Services, New Members, and commonly used digital services such as Google products, Zoom, Canva, and more! Login to view. PLEASE NOTE: You will need to re-register your account on the website to log in and view the members-only section. After logging in, click on the profile icon to see the dropdown list for members only. Feel free to contact us at media@lwvor.org if you have any questions. LWVOR CONVENTION 2023 By LWVOR Staff After years of remote meetings to keep each other safe in a pandemic, League members gathered in-person once again for the LWVOR Convention in Eugene, OR. Laughs, hugs, smiles, and handshakes were shared in the lobby of the Eugene Graduate Hotel, as the oversized University of Oregon duck statue overlooked the reunion of League members coming together for the first time at a Convention since 2020. LWVOR Bylaws dictate that every other year, delegates and observers from the majority of Leagues across the state come together to approve bylaws updates, discuss the budget, approve potential study topics, and vote in new Board members. It was also a time of meeting those who may only have been seen on a Zoom screen. Some League members chuckled as they met their tall colleagues for the first time, commenting that virtual meetings make for deceptive perceptions of height. The weekend kicked off with a tour of the Shelton-McMurphy house, a historical landmark of the Eugene community. League members then gathered for the tradition of the “dine-around,” where groups gathered at well-reviewed restaurants recommended by the Lane League host, enjoying the chance to explore downtown Eugene. Saturday marked the beginning of the business proceedings of the League Convention, where Becky Gladstone, outgoing LWVOR president, conducted a program that addressed some of the key foundations upon which the League operates. Reports were presented from several committees, including Nominating, Budget, and Program, while an energetic discussion ensued from delegates and observers on several clarifying points. A midmorning business intermission saw Representative Nancy Nathanson making an informative, stirring presentation about her work in the Oregon Legislature. The Saturday morning program concluded with lunch speaker Regina Lawrence, who spoke eloquently on the timely, critical topic of local journalism in Oregon. Four workshops followed the Saturday business program, including Youth Council members introducing themselves and sharing their goals for the newly-formed committee, a panel discussion of the First Amendment, a Nominating Committee task force presentation, and an update of LWVUS activities relating to climate change. Saturday ended with Pulitzer finalist Les Zaitz offering a moving and forthright presentation on the importance of truth in journalism and the role of news writers in furthering fact-centered reporting. The Sunday business meeting wrapped up the Convention with votes by delegates on the budget, proposal of studies, and more. League members passed by the silent auction tables for last-minute bids, coffee mugs in hand. The newly-designed LWVOR banner served as a backdrop for group photos for local League members, our renowned Action committee members, and the outgoing and incoming Board members. Becky Gladstone, passing the gavel after four years of exemplary leadership, smiled as she pulled on her Youth Council beanie and held up her commemoration plaque. The League leadership then passed into the highly capable hands of our esteemed parliamentarian, Alice Bartelt. The LWVOR Convention ended the same way it began: With handshakes, hugs, smiles, and a renewed sense of commitment to the League principles and mission. League members have adapted swiftly over the past few years to achieve greatness in unprecedented times, defending democracy across the state and in their communities through one challenge after another. While political perils of great magnitude persist, the attitude at the 2023 Convention was one of hope. Together, League members have faced down adversity across the decades in their fight for democracy, and that spirit was evident in the passionate discussions and resolute perspectives. As Les Zaitz concluded in his rousing speech on the importance of fighting for truth: “There is one step that you and I have to take, and that is to not give up.” IN MEMORIAM In June, the League of Women Voters of Oregon mourned the passing of the esteemed Norma Jean Germond. Norma Jean was an active member of both her local Clackamas League and the state League, where she served as President from 1979-1983. Her influential volunteer work included stints at several organizations, including as the chair of the LWV Columbia River Task Force, member of National Board of Association of Community College Trustees, chair of the Oregon State Advisory Committee on Adult Education and Literacy, president of the board of the Association of Environmental Education Centers at Clackamas Community College, first chair and founder of the Northwest Conservation Act Coalition (now NW Energy Coalition), and elected to Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition Board. Germond was honored with a Distinguished Service Award at the LWVOR Century Celebration in 2020 for her volunteer work.