The League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville held its annual meeting on June 8th that began with a panel of local experts who spoke about how we can gear up for the 2024 general election from different perspectives.

The League of Women Voters and other civil rights and civic organizations have been advocating for Alameda County officials to ramp up voter engagement, educational efforts and independent oversight of our local elections. Fortunately, these efforts are bearing fruit, as the Alameda County Board of Supervisors recently agreed to establish an independent oversight committee to ultimately support and improve the work of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

To receive a link to watch or re-watch the panel, email kandea@lwvbae.org

Panelists included the following noteworthy speakers, all of whom expressed interest in working together in the future:

Helen Hutchison, LWVC Board Member

Sietse Goffard, Asian Americans Advancing Justice/ALC member

Fred Nisen, Disability Rights California

Brittany Stonesifer, Staff Attorney for the Democracy & Civic Engagement Program at the ACLU of Northern California

After the conclusion of the panel and a short intermission, members approved the 2022 Annual Meeting minutes and a 2023 budget that reflected the need for belt tightening and new fundraising ideas to support the organization’s long-term sustainability. Attendees then voted to elect the slate of  Board officers and members, as presented by the LWVBAE nominating committee. The slate, which was unanimously approved, included the youngest Board member in LWVBAE history, Alex Li. The officers will continue to be President Kandea Mosley Gandhi, Secretary Elise Mills, and Treasurer Cynthia Chen. Beginning July 1, when the new League year starts, the following members will continue to serve on the Board: Jinky Gardner, Linda Carothers, Eric Arens, Christine Wenrich, and Rashida Hanif. The directions to the Board included focusing on further reducing our organizational expenses and fundraising. A few longtime members, Diz Swift and Nancy Bickel, offered to lend a helping hand to support these efforts. After this closing segment of the annual meeting, and words of gratitude given by the president and others to all members and those leaving the Board – Pam White and Adena Ishii – the about 25 folks in attendance wished each other well and said goodnight.