The LWVWA’s “Be a Voter” campaign was selected as a finalist for the LWV of the US Powering Democracy Award, which will be announced on June 26 at the national convention. The Powering Democracy Award recognizes state and local Leagues for their exemplary work over the past biennium. The award’s theme was inspired by the national League’s Women Power Democracy campaign, and ideal submissions support the Women Power Democracy goals and/or the goals of the Campaign for Making Democracy Work and the League’s Strategic Framework. All winners will receive a cash prize from the LWVUS in recognition of their excellent work over the past biennium. 

The Be a Voter Campaign is a voter outreach project highlighting local Leagues working together with the state League, statewide outreach, materials in Spanish, a social media campaign, and a partnership with a major newspaper, The Spokesman-Review. The Be a Voter Campaign is  a research-based project providing a broad suite of tools for local Leagues to use across Washington state. With uniform messaging, an accompanying Be a Voter graphic, and the LWVWA logo on voter outreach tools, local Leagues achieved messaging synergies across a statewide audience. 

The LWVWA worked with local Leagues to develop voter outreach tools and graphics that local Leagues could download from the state website. The state League encouraged members to use these tools to help spread the word. The tools include full- and half-page printer-friendly flyers and bookmarks, and some voter education materials are also in Spanish, such as a flyer promoting VOTE411.  

The Be a Voter social media campaign, which was active leading up to the 2021 election, featured 33 mis- and disinformation info bites—short factoids regarding elections in Washington state. The state League also worked with local Leagues to develop a toolkit with the social media info bites for local Leagues to use. To prepare the 33 factoids of mis-disinformation for the social media campaign, the League asked our Office of the Secretary of State (OSOS) to share the major questions that voters had brought up during the 2020 election. State League volunteers organized these queries and drafted responses, and the OSOS reviewed the questions to ensure accuracy. 

The mis- and disinformation factoids were featured in the Your Vote publication, a “tabloid” that was produced in partnership with The Spokesman-Review, the major newspaper in Spokane, Washington, and most of Eastern Washington. Your Vote, which also included selected voter information articles, was made available to the public in a PDF format in Spanish and English.  

The Your Vote materials are available to download from the LWV of Washington website on the Voter Tools page (no login required); the Be a Voter Toolkit is available in the For Members section of the LWVWA website (login required).