The LWVD Newsletter
Summer 2026 |
RECAP! | Members attending the Annual Meeting on May 30 had a wonderful buffet breakfast provided by members. After our guest speaker, Amber McReynolds, we got down to business. At the Annual Meeting each year, we must pass a budget, make any necessary bylaws changes, consider and vote on changes and additions to our program positions, and elect officers and directors for the coming year. 
Here are the items we adopted.
Budget: Members passed a budget of $52,905.00.
Bylaws: Most changes were made to bring the Bylaws up-to-date with current practices. One new item was to elect the chair of the next Nominating Committee at this meeting. Thank you to the Bylaws Committee: Patty Cordova, Janet Imhoff, Jeanette Scotland, and Nancy Ulrich.
Program: Several changes were made to our current Program:
- Amended our position on Cable Television so we can be involved when a new franchise is adopted every ten years. This will come up in 2028.
- Deleted our position on Health as we can better use the more recent and comprehensive LWVUS position for local advocacy.
- Passed as review/update of our position Standards on the Courts, part of our Justice position. A study committee will be formed to consider any necessary changes to bring this position up-to-date.
- Passed a new study of Water Issues in Denver. A study committee will be formed to consider the availability of water for the City of Denver, the complexities of the problem, and the solutions being proposed.
- Passed a new item to develop a Land Statement for our Indigenous Population, to understand and recognize the challenges and accomplishments of native Indian tribes in our area in modern times.
Election of Board Members
Several board members were elected to a two-year term, including:
- Janet Imhoff, Director of Organization; Susan Stark and Sarah McCarthy, Co-Directors of Program/Advocacy; Pearlanne Zelarney, Director of Communications; Padma Rajendran, Treasurer; Bobbie Heisterkamp, Director of Development; and Lynn Eikemo, Director at-Large.
- Board members serving the second year of their term: Lisa Haddox and Mariam Bouricius, Co-Directors of Voter Service and Pearlanne Zelarney, VOTER Editor.
- Three Board members have been appointed since the Annual Meeting: Katherine Schultz and Annie Cannon, Co-Directors of Membership, and Kathy Howell, Secretary.
Janet Imhoff, Director of Organization | Amber McReynolds Adresses LWVD at
Annual Meeting
 At our May Annual Meeting, Denver League had the pleasure to welcome back the former Director of Denver Elections Division, Amber McReynolds. She has been instrumental in creating what is now called “the gold standard” for voting access and ballot processing procedures in Denver, in Colorado, and across the country. McReynolds views LWV as the most important organization supporting elections and civics around the U.S. She expressed that members’ attitudes and what actions are taken demonstrate LWV’s value to the community at-large.
She specifically praised the “critical role” several Denver League members played after 2006 in the implementation of Denver’s new voting system. In 2009, Denver instituted ballot tracking administratively, without needing to change a law or procedure. The need for ballot tracking became apparent because of the large volume of phone calls from Denver voters asking the status of their ballots. Where was it in the system? Now 150 million voters nationwide have access to ballot tracking.
See the full article here.
Sarah McCarthy, Co-Director of Program/Advocacy | Annual Meeting Awards
Toni Larson
Shirley Weaver Suffragist Award for Lifetime Achievement
Presenter: Nancy Ulrich
There is probably no one who has been as involved in leadership positions in League for as long as Toni Larson. She has been involved primarily at the State level, serving as president as well as Program and Advocacy Chair or Co-Chair for an innumerable number of years. She's headed up petition efforts, Y and Z for redistricting is one example. But, she has been through it all a Denver Leaguer, always there to bring us up-to-date. Now that she is "retired," she is researching data centers for the League and continuing to help us understand ballot issues. She has been a 50-year member for many years. We are so sorry she was unable to attend Annual Meeting to receive our most prestigious award. It is well-deserved.
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Janet Imhoff
The Mother Lode Award for Outstanding Contributions During the Past Year
Presenter: Jeanette Scotland
Janet is a new LWVD member, but not at all new to the League. She was active for many years in Texas and we are so lucky to have her expertise with us now. Janet jumped right in after moving to Denver, first as Secretary and in the upcoming year as Director of Organization. We relied on her excellent minutes and even more valuable opinions at Board meetings. She also took the lead in getting our Policies and Procedures up-to-date and was part of the By-Laws committee. She also became part of the Program/Advocacy committee and organized all the work needed to update our Program book, which we all voted on at Annual Meeting. It was a busy year for Janet and we look forward to all she will do as Director of Organization in the coming League year!
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Pearlanne Zelarney
The Mother Lode Award for Outstanding Contributions During the Past Year
Presenter: Jeanette Scotland
Jeanette started her entertaining recognition of Pearlanne Zelarney by unrolling a scroll of cards representing all the many contributions Pearlanne has made to the Denver League this past year. She tried to keep her recipient unknown, but those involved in League couldn't be in the dark too long. Pearlanne already wears two hats on the board, Director of Communication and Voter Editor. That's enough right there. She is also very involved in Voter Service, attending their meetings, formatting and editing the important Ballot Issues Pamphlet. Since she's adept at computers, she was the primary mentor for our new office manager in learning all the ins and outs of Club Express, our membership and communication platform. She handles questions during Q and A, and any other technical issues with monthly briefings. She's always there for League. Thank you, Pearlanne. | 
Sam Robinson
JEDI Awardor contributions toward Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Presenter: Pearlanne Zelarney
Our JEDI award winner began by taking Circulator training in 2024 to help register voters, which then, thank goodness, led to him join the League and the Voter Service Committee. A little more than a year ago, he developed our Education Young Voters program based on programs developed bin New Jersey, Oregon, and Boulder County. It includes a classroom presentation with a brief mock-ballot exercise. Two high schools piloted the materials in the fall of 2025. With two Youth Council members, he shared the program with league members and guests at our February 2026 briefing. Since that time, he has met with several other Colorado leagues to explain the program and has offered to assist in implementation. Thank you Sam for developing a civics education program aimed at making Denver area youth feel engaged in their community and eager to vote so their young voices will be heard. And for bringing down the average age of League members dramatically!
|  | | We had heard about Drinks & Dialogue from other Leagues, and in September 2017, Patty Cordova led our effort to introduce the concept to the Denver League. It's a way to get to know other Leaguers in a casual setting, a place to buy a drink, alcoholic or not, and food if you wish. We usually have a topic, but with plenty of time to enjoy the group. We want to meet all these new members we have. We want to get more people involved. We hear this hotel is newly renovated with a great patio and parking. Let's show up and move into the new League year with new commitment. See you there!!! | Denver League Receives Large Donation from First Unitarian Church
 We were thrilled to learn of a generous grant of $11,500 from the members of the First Unitarian Church of Denver. The church created a Support Fair Elections Auction Item with ACLU and LWV as the recipients of all donations. The total received was equally divided between LWV and ACLU. Sue Stark, Janet Imhoff, Toni Larson, and Lisa Haddox attended their Sunday service on July 12 to accept the check and speak about the League to the church members. Eight church members then signed up to volunteer with us in a number of areas, including voter registration, program, and development. This gift will make a huge impact on our budget, especially as we were not able to have a spring bulb sale.
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| My first experience of a LWV National Convention was both inspiring and a bit confounding. Inspiring in that Colorado’s presence and influence were evident. And confounding as relates to the cautious process that the League applies to any changes it makes to its inclusion of new public policy positions. If I was fuzzy on the definition of “consensus” prior to our working days in Columbus (Ohio), I now know what this form of agreement requires.
 Bob Connelly and I, as delegates from the Denver League, were among 16 attendees from Colorado. Our primary focus was to support Colorado’s proposed adoption by LWVUS of a position on religious freedom. Many of you will recall the briefing we had in the spring of 2025 when Jeff Oster (Gunnison LWV) presented the study done by Colorado’s Religious Freedom Task Force to counter the actions of religious nationalism.
Colorado’s proposed concurrence was one of several from other states that were “not recommended” by the LWVUS board. To be considered for a consensus vote of the delegates to the convention, Jeff first had to present it in the Plenary session on Friday and obtain acceptance by 50 percent of the delegates in order for a motion to hold a consensus vote on Saturday. Colorado’s delegates ran what I can only call a “campaign” to get our proposal understood and supported by the necessary two-thirds vote which would move it for inclusion in the 2026-2028 Impact on Issues. And oh, did we work at it! Wearing our “Build This Wall” T-shirts to all events, we staffed a “wares table” where we gave away our T-shirts, handed out over 750 tri-fold brochures explaining the study and talked with anyone who would listen about the increasing number of government actions and court cases that side with a particular religious tradition. Actually, we were well received by delegates. Our T-shirts became the fashion statement of the convention.
Jeff Oster and the Colorado League’s new President, Mary Parker, were eloquent in presenting our proposal to augment our national Principle around individual liberties established in the Constitution. Delegates from many states spoke in support. I won’t go into all the twists and turns, but Saturday’s Plenary session was quite a lesson in Robert’s Rules of Order and what constitutes a Quorum. Clearly the bulk of the attendees noisily protested when it appeared on the first consensus vote that we just barely did not achieve the required two-thirds vote. The parliamentarian and board, “reading the room,” found ways to re-raise our proposal and to allow a vote on what would constitute a quorum. There was a standing applause when we prevailed. In John Lewis’ words, we made "Good Trouble!"
I do not have the final language that will be added to the 2026-2028 Impact on Issues guide to public policy positions, but the specific language concerning the first Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise clauses protecting both individual conscience and the boundary protecting all faiths equally will allow a stronger stance by LWVUS on both advocacy in state and federal legislatures and, if necessary, legal action to uphold equal rights. The Colorado delegation celebrated that night at a local Italian restaurant and toasted Jeff for his leadership.
Colorado will have a presence on the National Board for the next two years. Julie Stackhouse from Larimer LWV will be the Treasurer.
Susan Stark, Co-Director of Program LWVD
| Voter Service in Action
Denver’s Primary Election - get the data!
Check out the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Election Data and Maps website. You can find out a lot of information about our recent June 30 primary election, as well as previous elections. Unfortunately, the rate of return for Denver was only at 38.4%, with most ballots counted, although this was an improvement over the 2024 primary rate. Many people waited until election day to turn in their ballot - let’s get people voting earlier for the November election! Look for the map on the left side of the page and hover over precincts to see more specific figures, including your precinct.
CD 1 Candidate Forum - Thanks!
Many thanks to all of the volunteers who worked on our candidate forum for Congressional District 1 that was held at Montview Presbyterian Church on May 28th. And thanks to our media partner, El Semanario, which live-streamed the event and uploaded the recording for viewing, as well as the staff at the church for their logistical support. We’ll be hosting more candidate forums prior to the November election.
Voter Registration
We had many voter registration events in preparation for the June Primaries. Thank you to all circulators who joined us! And now we’ve had our first post-election event, attending the annual Washington Park 4th of July Celebration.
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April 27 - Concorde Career College with Interim Campus
President Monica Jeffs, Dean Kevin Paustian,Student
Affairs Director Dr Davis-Warner, Regional VP of
Operations Erin Henry, Concorde students. |
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May 4 - Brookdale Park Place - Renee Ruderman,
Leah Wiggins-Marshall, Anne Ercolani, and a voting
enthusiast! |
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May 13 - University of Denver Pioneer Leadership
Program - Project Presentations |
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| May 16 - Lush Cosmetics - Robyn McNelly |
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May 19 - Educating Young Voters at Westwood
Community Action Team neighborhood organization
- Sam Robinson presenting Your Voice, Your Power |
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June 26 - Free Concert at Rocky Mountain Park sponsored
by District 1 - Jim Westcott, Gwen Murdock, Lisa Haddox |
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July 4 - Washington Park - Future Voters making
Buttons with Joanna Ortiz and Cathy Naughton |
Lisa Haddox and Mariam Bouricius, Voter Service Co-Chairs | Recent Advocacy
In response to the Ballot Mail for Federal Elections proposed rule (39 CFR Part 111), the LWVDenver Board sent this comment to Dale Kennedy, Director of Product Classification for the U.S. Postal Service:
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters of Denver (LWVD), we are writing to request you delay or abandon the Postal Service’s proposal to add a section to DMM 705 regarding preparation for mailing ballots for general, special, or run-off federal elections. We are submitting this comment based on the member-approved policy position to “support a governmental system that is open... efficient, fair in its treatment of all citizens.”
The proposed rule under 39 CFR Part 111 contains an implementation timeline that is unrealistic for both the USPS and local election officials, especially in this midterm election year, although they are among best practices for election mail ballots that Denver, Colorado’s elections division largely follows. Furthermore, the proposed Mail-In and Absentee Participation List would create a duplicative step of data entry and review at the local and state election levels that could endanger voters’ personal information under the Privacy Act. The unrealistic timeline and the addition of duplicative steps to mail ballots risks governmental system efficiency and fairness.
Because the U.S. Postal Service is an independent executive government entity, it is vital that national online access to all public comments in this rulemaking process be provided. Thank for your consideration of these comments in your rule-making process.
Victory in Colorado!
Federal Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Voting Rights Organizations Seeking to Protect Colorado Voters From Intimidation
DENVER, CO -- On July 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in favor of NAACP Colorado, League of Women Voters of Colorado, and Mi Familia Vota in their case challenging a door-to-door voter intimidation scheme in Colorado. In its ruling, the Tenth Circuit corrected significant errors made by the district court and remanded the case for a new trial. The Tenth Circuit’s opinion clears the way for the plaintiff organizations to go to trial against all the named defendants—including against the United States Election Integrity Plan (USEIP), an organization that orchestrated the voter intimidation campaign in the aftermath of the 2020 election—in order to protect Colorado voters from intimidation and coercion.
Update on LWV lawsuit against the Dept. of Homeland Security and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Background: In August, 2025, the above agencies banned nonpartisan groups from registering voters at administrative naturalization ceremonies. We had been registering new citizens for years at these ceremonies.
As we mentioned in the December/January VOTER, the LWVUS and several state and local Leagues, including LWV Colorado, filed a lawsuit in November and asked for a preliminary injunction against the ban. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss. The hearing on the motion was held March 17. The judges heard the motions and noted the extensive factual record we brought forward and ruled we had standing to bring the lawsuit, which means they are likely to deny defendants’ motion to dismiss. So far, so good, but for now the ban stands.
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| In Memoriam
We received the sad news in June from her sister that long-time Leaguer Bess Turner had died. Bess joined League after an effort to introduce African American women to League. She proved to be an invaluable member of the Matchless Unit and the strong and effective Women's Issues Resource Committee. One of her greatest joys was being a part of the Women To Watch program, which recognized women who had faced unbelievable challenges but had prevailed. Bess' sister mentioned how proud Bess was of the program. Unfortunately, we had to forgo the program after the COVID pandemic. Our sympathy to Bess' family and friends. | We Need Your Volunteer Hours!
These are important for getting grants at the local and national level. You can use the form to enter any hours you have spent on League activities.
Volunteer Hours Form
| Welcome New and Returning Members
Anna Abrahim, anna.abrahim.mtv@scienceandtech.org, 80011
Christine Betts, cobetts63@comcast.net, 80209
Michelle Bontrager, tea.bike@yahoo.com, 80212
Janet D'Aigle, j.daigle.tx@gmail.com, 80007
Bahnya Kim, bahnyack1222@gmail.com, 80111
Elise Mueller, elise.mueller2009@gmail.com, 80205-5561
Jennifer Rowland, jennifer.rowland444@gmail.com, 80210
Penny Sputh, psputh@gmail.com, 80237
Christl Tate, ctateco@gmail.com, 80220
Joyce Waite, jwaite212@gmail.com, 80202
Patterson Williams, pbwilliams1207@gmail.com, 80222
| LWV Denver Units
A great place for meaningful conversations
Units are small groups that meet after briefings to discuss the topic further and whatever else is on the minds of the attendees. Look in the September VOTER for their next meetings. Joining a Unit is a great way to start getting involved with League.
| VOTER Articles Welcome!
We welcome articles from all members. We traditionally publish the VOTER on the fourth Thursday and the deadline to submit articles is the Friday before.
| Edition |
Article Deadline |
Published Date |
| September. |
August 21 |
August 27 |
| October |
September 18 |
September 24 |
| November |
October 16 |
October 22 |
Please send your articles or ideas about articles to pzelarney@yahoo.com.
| When You Renew Your Membership
Consider a Donation at the Same Time
If it's time to renew your membership, you can easily do it online here:
Join or Renew Here
Please consider contributing to the Denver League when you renew. The whole process is quite simple.
Members, please consider forwarding this VOTER and encourage your friends and neighbors to join!
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Printable LWVD VOTE
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