eVOTER
Newsletter of the League of Women Voters of Williamsburg Area (Virginia)
July 7, 2024 - Vol. 6, No.01
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16 Jul 2024, Tue 9–11am: Board planning meeting | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
- 07 Aug 2024, Wed 6–8pm: Board meeting | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
- 04 Sep 2024, Wed 6–8pm: Board meeting | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
- 02 Oct 2024, Wed 4–6pm: Board meeting | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
- 06 Nov 2024, Wed 4–6pm: Board meeting | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
- 04 Dec 2024, Wed 4–6pm: Board meeting | Williamsburg Reg. Library/Schell Rm - 515 Scotland St
|  | We had a hugely successful annual meeting - approving our new board members, programs for our upcoming year, and the new budget.
Our guest speakers, Dianna Moorman, Chad Stewart, and Lauren Zuravnsky, gave us in-depth expert insight into the voting issues in James City County, the challenges to improving public school education in Virginia, and the complexities of maintaining a clean, viable, renewal water supply in the Hampton Roads area.
Thank you members for your enthusiastic attendance! We hope to see you at our upcoming events, voter registration tables, and the Fall Back to League meeting on October 17th. So now, meet some of our board members!
Susan Bivins (President) - I serve on the Board because democracy and the rule of law are very important to me and should be to everyone. I enjoy knowing what is happening in our country, and I like having people around me with whom I can discuss the issues.
I only joined the League once I retired as an attorney for the Army. I was a uniformed JAG, then a civilian doing Contract law, environmental law, and administrative law for 38 years. I'm fortunate to have my two grandchildren in Toano, so I like spending time with them, reading, and traveling. I volunteered with the League and have served 2 years as Vice President and 2 years as President.
Fun fact: the concept of Left and Right continue to confuse me more than politics.
Jacqueline Dodd (Membership) - Moving from another state to become a new resident of Virginia, I discovered that voting rules are very different, and I needed to learn more about the state of Virginia. After COVID I started looking for activities that I could become engaged with and feel like I am actually helping others. As a member of the League of Women Voters I help with membership but more importantly I get to work with dynamic, caring, and selfless women and men who are passionate about protecting the right to vote and helping folks learn about how to register to vote. I am still enjoying being active at the gym, walking my neighborhood, needlepoint, growing a healthy weed patch, learning about Virginia, and traveling. Retirement is like having Saturday everyday. Helping the LWV-Williamsburg gives me the opportunity to meet and learn about new people.
Denise Koch (Voter Services) - Educating and encouraging voters is my passion and my niche in the League. Working with my co-chair to offer voter registration and education opportunities is most fulfilling. My professional life was as a Spanish educator, and I have also been privileged to work with a number of local nonprofits. Fun facts: Retirement has allowed me to indulge in my two most favorite activities, fly fishing and competitive ballroom and country dancing! My league activities have given me another opportunity to give back to the community and to work to ensure people fully participate in our democracy
Linda Rice (Advocacy) - I serve on the board to communicate the importance of participating in all levels of government. I want to encourage public awareness about the significant economic and societal issues confronting us in Virginia and the US. I taught high school biology for seven years, worked for James City County as a Management Analyst, and worked for the Department of Army for 25 years in various capacities, mainly as an Environmental Specialist. I have volunteered for the PTA Council, Virginia Conservation Network, the Sierra Club, and Friends of Forge Road and Toano. I enjoyed horseback riding for many years, training Labrador Retrievers, and hiking in the US and international locations.
Rebecca (Becky) Sipos (Public Relations) - As LWV-WA director of public relations, I work to promote League of Women Voters’ activities. It’s one way I can give back using skills I developed as a journalism teacher and as communications director for a nonprofit. I love the League’s civic mission of empowering voters and defending democracy. Although I am now retired, I stay busy playing golf, participating in book clubs, playing duplicate bridge, and taking Osher classes. I also just completed training to be a docent for the Muscarelle Art Museum when it reopens. I encourage everyone to join the League to support our democracy.
Karen Siracusa (Web/Communications) - I serve on the Board to help promote the democratic process, encouraging voting, protecting Constitutional rights, helping Americans understand issues and candidates.
In the past, I have written non-partisan postcards to voters, volunteered with the Sierra Club, and raised money for charities in New Jersey, my home state! During my time on the League, I have learned how to set up a website, use Constant Contact, and delved into the history of voting in America by serving on a LWV of Virginia issue group! I have had two sides to my work life - computer programming and library work. As a retiree, I enjoy walking (when less than 80 degrees!), swimming, reading, and learning more about Virginia. I attempt knitting (attempt underlined).
Fun fact: I am learning to play Mah Jongg and wondering if Bridge is in my future!
Abra Smith (Great Decisions) - I became interested in serving on the board through the Great Decisions program which presents lectures on current topics of interest from the Foreign Policy Association. I am also very interested in promoting our Democratic process through voting and working to recruit the greatest number of voters possible to the elections. The mission of the League is so important! I worked with the Department of the Army in Procurement for the majority of my career and loved my job. Since retirement, in addition to the work with the League, I have become an avid golfer, a sometime pickle-baller, and workout regularly with weights and attend spin classes. Fun Fact: I hold a black belt in Shorin-Ryu karate, and I hold world and national records in weight lifting. My other great interest is reading, and I now belong to 4 book clubs! I have two children and four grandchildren.
Laura Tripp (VP) - I’ve been a volunteer all my life. I participated in student government and extracurricular clubs in high school and college; was a member and leader of a local chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs before I married and had a child. I enjoyed 12 years of PTA membership/leadership and nine years as a catechism teacher. Add to those 10 years as a Soccer Mom. I promised Linda Rice I’d join LWV after Kevin went to college and I did in 2018. As a Board Member of the League, I participate in Voter Services events and programs that support WJCC Public Schools, including voter registration events and I coordinate our WJCC High School Scholarship program, and help with Hospitality and anything else that needs support. (During COVID, I was a member of a mask-making group.) I hope to continue my volunteerism, especially with the League, for years to come.
Mary E. "Dejah" Tyler (Secretary) - Since I was old enough to vote, I'm the friend who bugs you to vote in off years and May elections. That's why I joined the board. Voting is important to me. I am an empty-nest divorceé and live with my 15-year old Jack Russel mix Dolly. Yes, I will eventually show you a photo (if you don't ask me not to). I used to be a high-tech journalist, until the Internet ate journalism. Currently, I'm a grad student in Computational Data Science. People hear that and assume I'm 25. This is approximately correct, if you switch the numbers around. I went back to university in my 50s. and now I'm a software engineering intern at a medical AI company. I volunteer as a Tax-Aide for AARP every spring. A fun fact about me: I always wear a decorated hat. I make them myself, by hand--the decoration, not the hat. | PEGGY WALKLET - LEAGUE PRESIDENT 1964/65
|  | The past and present meet. In May I had the chance to meet in person with Peggy Walklet, a former League of Williamsburg Area President and one of the founders for our local League.
Peggy Walklet (annoyingly called Mrs. John Walklet back then) was the second President of the Provisional Williamsburg League and also President when the League was granted full status on March 17, 1965.
As Peggy told me, the local League wanted to ensure that it was integrated, which was not in keeping with the events in Virginia at the time, so they had to prove themselves. Finding meeting places that would accept an integrated Board was a challenge, but the women used their influence to make it happen, meeting at Colonial Williamsburg or Bruton Parish Church buildings. Peggy would have been thirty-eight years old and went on to have nine children. If I recall correctly, she was already thirty-eight when she helped found our League.
We talked about how education was a huge topic then as it is now. The Williamsburg League did a study in 1969 about the underfunding of public schools. We did the same study in 2023, still finding underfunding. Peggy and her daughters, Debbie Walklet-Smith and Megan Walklet-Tighe, still follow events in the Williamsburg Area through the eVoter and Peggy said she was impressed with all the issues in which our League becomes involved.
It was such an honor to meet Peggy in person. Our League continues to need intelligent and enthused 39-year-olds, 29-year-olds, 59-year-olds, ... any age, who want to make a difference in the world. Thank you, Peggy!
~Susan Bivins, LWV-WA President
| CONGRATULATIONS ALYNN PARHAM!
| | Alynn Parham, a Jamestown High School social studies teacher, was recognized as a 2024 Virginia Humanities Educator Fellow. She is among only seven K-12 teachers in Virginia so honored. Ms. Parham is also a member of our local League and earned a M.A. Ed in 2018 from William & Mary.
| | | WELCOME NEW & RENEWING MEMBERS
| Thank you renewing members! And a Special Welcome to new members! Names with asterisks gave an extra amount above basic dues!
Brenda Barrera, **Jean Bodine, Linda Cole & Carol Schrader, Denise Corbett, **Sue Delos, Susie Dorsey, **Brenda Beebe & Douglas Duncan, Cynthia Gibson, Rubyjean Gould, **Raymond Green, **Loretta Hannum, **Celia & John Martyn, Jacque & Ken Meriam, **Nancy & Bill Moye, Susan Mulnix, Penny Pulley, **Linda Rice, Ronda Roberts, **Donald Schilling, Mark Silverman, Rebecca Sipos, Angela Surber, David & Georgia Ann Tetrault, Laura & James Tripp, Linda & Mark Wenger, Pam Wright.
And a special recognition for Allen & Molly Cooke, who although not members, generously gave to our local League. | JULY 17 - CANDLELIGHT VIGIL | | Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Leaders of the March) - NARA - photo by Rowland Scherman taken on 28 Aug 1963. John Lewis is 2nd from right.
| July 17, 2024 marks the fourth anniversary of the death of Congressman John Lewis. Williamsburg JCC Indivisible and the League of Women Voters of the Williamsburg Area are hosting a Candlelight Vigil at the Williamsburg JCC Courthouse, located at 5201 Monticello Avenue, Williamsburg from 8-9 PM. That evening, we will come together to commemorate his death and more importantly his life's work to secure voting rights for all people! With the ongoing attack on Democracy, the events will highlight the urgency of this moment in our history. We will be sharing information intended to educate, motivate, and activate our community to work towards the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, the Native American Voting Rights Act and DC Statehood.
Please join us with your signs - we will provide the candles and music and great chant.
| JULY 17 - COMMUNITY BABY SHOWER
| Our League's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and our Voter Services team are partnering with Birth in Color, YJCW NAACP, and Olde Towne Medical and Dental Center to host a Community Baby Shower in recognition of Maternal Health in Virginia.
- Encourage your friends and neighbors who are expecting to come to the Baby Shower on Wednesday July 17 from 11:30-2:30 PM at Olde Towne Medical and Dental Center.
- Expectant mothers must Register to receive a gift bag.
- Print the English Flyer and/or Print the Spanish Flyer and share it at community centers, health centers, apartment complexes, grocery stores, libraries.
| | July 25 | 4:30 PM | Member's Home
Discuss with us the Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash From 1600 to the Present by Fareed Zakaria
- Check out the NY Times book review Here.
- This title is about 383 pages and WRL library owns 2 copies.
| | |  | Like many other states, Virginia needs Election/Poll Workers as we head into the November 5th Presidential Election. Being a poll worker, also known as an Officer of Election, is a way to serve your community, your state, and your country.
Apply to be an Election/Poll Worker. The application process is the first step. An Officer of Election/Poll Worker must be a competent citizen and a qualified voter of the Commonwealth and complete an application. Apply Here!
Here’s a synopsis of information from the Help Virginia Vote website:
- Roles: Officers of Election/Poll Workers help the election run smoothly during Early Voting and on Election Day. Roles are based on the needs and staff availability in your location. Duties may include: Greeter; Pollbook Officer; Ballot Officer; Voting Equipment and Booth Officer; Chief Officer; Assistant Chief Officer
- Training: All Officers of Election/Poll Workers will be trained before Election Day.
- Early Voting: Volunteers are needed during Early Voting (September 21 – November 4) based on scheduling.
- Election Day: If you’re able to work on Election Day, November 5, please be aware you will be there for the entire day. Polls are open from 6:00am until 7:00pm unless hours are extended by court order. You will be asked to arrive before 6:00am and stay past 7:00pm. During the day you will fulfill your responsibilities and help neighbors as they cast their votes. When polls close, you will assist in securing equipment and ballots, complete paperwork and pack up materials and supplies.
- Payment: Some Officers of Election/Poll Workers even get paid, but payment depends on the type of appointment and the locality.
- State Code: “Any person who serves as an officer of election as defined in § 24.2-101 shall neither be discharged from employment, nor have any adverse personnel action taken against him, nor shall he be required to use sick leave or vacation time, as a result of his absence from employment due to such service, provided he gave reasonable notice to his employer of such service. No person who serves for four or more hours, including travel time, on his day of service shall be required to start any work shift that begins on or after 5:00 p.m. on the day of his service or begins before 3:00 a.m. on the day following the day of his service. Any employer violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. § 24.2-119.1”
| | Take time to go see the fabulous exhibit of the work of Academy Award winning film costume design artist Ruth E. Carter now on display in the Afrofuturism in Costume Design Exhibition | Running May 11 - December 1, 2024 at the Jamestown Settlement
| | | | LOCAL GOVERNMENT & BOARDS | Did you know that LWVUS holds regular policy, advocacy, and litigation briefings for League members? Watch them live or view the recordings later. You can view the recordings and slides from past webinars.
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