101 Years, Making Democracy Work

February 14th is a momentous day for the League – especially in Oregon. The League of Women Voters was founded on February 14, 1920. Oregon became a state 162 years ago on February 14, 1859. (And of course it’s Valentine’s Day.)

In 2020, we celebrated our Centennial with memorabilia, a slide show and a video highlighting past and present achievements. Then we had a panel discussion, which not only reviewed the past, but also pointed to our future. And ended with a toast to our second century!

Our 101st year has been a blockbuster, with more than 101 important achievements!

Voter Service

-Since our Centennial, our voter service has included:

• Producing neutral nonpartisan voter information for the Primary, Special and  General Elections
• Distributing 10,600 printed copies of English and Spanish voters’ guides for the Primary and General Elections  (in spite of the pandemic)
• Producing a total of 83 candidate-interview videos for our Video Voters’ Guides in the Primary and General Elections. These videos had more than 17,000 views.
• Producing a total of nine videos of voter forums (five for candidates; four for measures). These had 3,721 views.
• Providing voter registration information in person (when possible) and online
• Reaching at least 59,873 Portland area voters with Vote411.org
• Reaching about 43,000 voters with the voting resources on our website
• Presenting 18 online Speakers’ Bureau presentations to 502 voters
• Updating our Directory of Elected Officials for Multnomah County

Advocacy

-Our advocacy work in this past year has included:

• Five letters to the Portland City Council and one to US District Judge Simon (Click here to read these and other advocacy statements.)
• An In Our Opinion column and a Letter to the Editor in The Oregonian
• Support for six local ballot measures, including two Voters’ Pamphlet statements, based on our research and advocacy positions
• Helping gather signatures for the redistricting (“People not Politicians”) ballot initiative
• Action Committee presentations on earthquake risks, industrial land, economic opportunities planning, wildfire management, and police reform.

Civic Education

-In addition, we produced four free recorded informational programs which have had more than 700 combined views:

• Privacy and Cybersecurity Today
• The Future of Healthcare
• 2020 Election Debrief: What’s Next?
• From Houseless to Housing and Services

And More!

-To publicize all the information we offered, we used our social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), sent out hundreds of press releases, and paid for ads on three radio stations and in four online and print newspapers.

-Plus, our 2020-21 study of Police Accountability is almost finished! And we have given copies of our recent study and position on Portland’s City Government to members of the Charter Review Commission.

Thanks to our volunteers and our donors for their gifts of time and money, which made these achievements possible.