Debra Chandler, a past LWVFL co-president, introduces LWVPBC officers and board members Donna Colabella, Megan Wiston, Joyce Sullivan, Melissa Gannon, Cynthia Sheehan-Hartwell and Patty Whitehill. | Annual meeting features election, bylaw changes, budget. | LWVPBC held its annual meeting at Fountains Country Club on April 15. Members voted on by-law changes, the 2026-27 budget, and the new slate of officers and board members.
President Amy Kemp recognized several members for their accomplishments:
* Reisha Roopchand Allen for honoring life-time members during Women’s History Month. They are: Marcia Halpern, Marilyn Ricci, Linda Sorenson, Karen Wilkerson and the late Trudy Winsberg.
* Dan Lishansky, who fixes everything and ensures that technology and the website are working.
* Dorneth Weir, League Accountant, who works behind the scenes to keep the League's financial records accurate.
The Nominating Committee that prepared the slate for the 2026 Annual Meeting consisted of Marilyn Ricci, Chair; Reisha Roopchand Allen, Susan Breece, Melissa Gannon and Nancy Gau. The Nominating Committee that will prepare the slate for the 2027 Annual Meeting consists of Ken Thomas, Chair; Marilyn Ricci and Susan Breece.
— Linda Prior
|  |  | VOTER REGISTRATION RULES CHANGE AFTER 2026 | But new law means SOE faces documentary issue next year. | I was privileged to meet with Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link recently to discuss planning for the 2026 elections. Our Election Protection poll monitors share her interest in helping all voters to vote and watching for any impediments.
The good news is that voting in 2026 elections will take place under existing rules. However, Supervisor Link is concerned about implementation of Florida House Bill 991, which takes effect Jan. 1. The new law requires documentary proof of citizenship, or DPOC. Her office is working to create a digital system to accept data from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
In Florida, acceptable DPOC will include a certified birth certificate, valid U.S. passport, certificate of naturalization, a Florida Driver License/ID that indicates citizenship and several other documents. However, large numbers of Florida voters who do not have DPOC on file will have to personally appear at one of their local SOE offices to show DPOC. It will require additional staffing, time and office space.
Supervisor Link is concerned about what they do with the documentation. There is an implied risk of digital information that could be accessed. Copying it would be time consuming and expensive. She would like to be able to just confirm “we have seen” the DPOC, but that is unknown at present.
Stay tuned. Behind the scenes, legislative rule-making will answer a lot of these questions. Our Florida election experts will be watching.
For now, remember the 2026 elections will operate under the same rules as in 2024 and 2025.
— Kate Renchin, Palm Beach County Voting Rights Coalition Co-Chair
|  | A PRIMER ON NEW, CHANGING STATE LAW | Equal Ground hosts what may be the best legislative recap I attend each month. Now it is coming to Palm Beach County to give a wrap-up of this year’s whole session.
LWVPBC has the honor of partnering with NAACP WPB, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Zeta Tau Omega to welcome Equal Ground to our community. These people all but sleep in the Capitol and know a lot about what is happening and how it impacts each of us. They will help us prepare for the various changes in the laws as they are scheduled to take effect — the good, the bad and the ugly.
I’m also excited to hear their Q&A with elected officials. Hearing from them in person adds valuable context to what is happening and why.
Please join us at the Main Palm Beach County Library, at 3650 Summit Blvd., in West Palm Beach from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6. We’ll provide some light appetizers.
— Kate Renchin, Palm Beach County Voting Rights Coalition Co-Chair | PALM BEACH COUNTY LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION | Upcoming Special Legislative Sessions | The Florida Legislature has a scheduled Special Session from May 12-29 to finalize the FY 2026-27 state budget after failing to reach an agreement during the regular session. The Legislature must finish the state budget by June 30 to avoid a shutdown. Legislators are also looking at a potential special session regarding property tax reduction. Read more. | NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE PUSH ADVANCES
| | On April 13, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the National Popular Vote bill into law, making Virginia the 19th jurisdiction to pass National Popular Vote.
There are 222 electoral votes committed to NPV. When 270 electoral votes are reached it will take effect. For more information go to the National Popular Vote Team page of the LWVPBC website.
— Daniel Lishansky,
National Popular Vote Team Chair | | | MAY EVENTS
Click on the flyer to see the details
| The League of Women Voters is excited to invite you to Munch & Mingle, a casual get together over coffee, tea and a selection of bakery and lunch delights that are available to purchase. Come and schmooze with local League members and potential members from Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Boca Raton and surrounding areas. You'll see members you know and make new friends too!
We're meeting on Saturday morning, May 9, at 11:30 a.m. at The French Bakery, at 814 N. Sixth Ave., Delray Beach, north of George Bush Boulevard. We hope you can make it. And please wear your name tag.
Questions? Contact either Linda Prior or Maura Taft. | MAY TEAM MEETINGS
Members must log in to see the Zoom link. Pre-registration is not required.
| VOTER SERVICES IN THE COMMUNITY | BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK | | Left: Janet Clark, Marcia Halpern and Carol Carnevale offer voter registration assistance at St. Mary's Hospital in West Palm Beach during Black Maternal Health Week. Right: Clark discusses the voting process and new laws with event participants at St. Mary’s. | Two local events in Palm Beach County, organized by the National Council of 100 Black Women’s West Palm Beach chapter, both were well attended. They featured speakers, meals, raffles and vendors offering services for pregnant women and new mothers. Doctors explained the importance of pregnant women staying healthy before conception, especially during the first trimester when the babies’ organs are developing. A Haitian lawyer from Florida Rural Legal Services provided translation for some of the attendees in Belle Glade.
— Pamela Maldonado, Voter Services | Katherine Wagner-Reiss, above left, and Pam Maldonado represented LWVPBC at the Black Maternal Health Week event at the Belle Glade Library. Above right, Maldonado practices grandma skills so the baby’s real grandma could have dinner. | CELEBRATING WESTGATE FESTIVAL | The League offered Voter Registration help at the Celebrating Westgate festival April 11.
Above left, Dawn Tarpinian and Nancy Zimmers, seated; Pam Maldonado and Alina Newman, standing. Above right: Maldonado and County Commissioner Bobby Powell, whose district includes Westgate. | ‘TASTE’ EVENT AN INTRO FOR NEW MEMBERS | The Membership Team hosted new/newer members and their friends on April 11 at the Canyon Branch Library in Boynton Beach to learn about the League — who we are, what we do and what they can do to make a difference in their communities by joining the League's mission.
Team chairs and seasoned members guided the gathering through a brief but impactful slide show, then broke into small groups in which they could hear about each team's work and have their questions answered. As usual, the Membership Team provided light refreshments with the help of Linda Prior.
Check back here for the next Membership event in the late summer or fall.
— Donna Colabella, Membership Co-Chair | A WARM-HEARTED WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBERS | Their contact information is available in the Member Directory at LWVPBC.org.
Margaret Natali (Boynton Beach), Shannon Smigo (Boynton Beach), Kimberly Newsome (Boca Raton), Gina Remington (Boca Raton), Mark Harris (Boca Raton), Kathleen McBride (Palm Beach Gardens), Kathy Brister (Palm Beach Gardens), Charles Sawicki (Palm Beach Gardens), Dorinda Beever (West Palm Beach), Meagan Meador (West Palm Beach), Erin Sita (Lake Worth), Sherry Sidler (Lake Worth), Maurta Hennessey (Lake Worth), Stacey Einhorn (Wellington), Nancy Martelli (Wellington), Sharon Reed (Highland Beach), Christine Raso (Riviera Beach) and Marcia Nielson (Tequesta).
— Linda Sorenson, Membership
| Stop legit emails from going to spam or junk | Email systems are getting better at filtering junk, but sometimes legitimate emails are caught as well. Here’s how to reduce that:
• Add legitimate email addresses to your Contacts so messages from those senders go to your inbox.
• Some LWVPBC emails come through our website platform. Save this address in your Contacts: mailer@mail2.clubexpress.com
• If you find a legitimate email in Junk/Spam, mark it as “Not Spam” to train your email system.
• Check your Junk/Spam folder daily so you don’t miss important messages.
If your Junk folder is already full, start fresh by emptying it now. Most, if not all, of what’s in it is junk or spam anyway. Going forward, most messages there will be true spam. When you know most are spam it will be easier to run through them and delete them quickly.
Start today. It’s much easier to scan a small number of new items than to search through a large backlog.
— Daniel Lishansky, Web and Tech Team Chair
| Publications Team seeks research volunteers for Voters’ Guides
The Publications Team is looking for detail-oriented volunteers to assist with research and writing for our upcoming Voters’ Guides.
Volunteers will research and draft clear, concise descriptions of various elected offices — including mayors, council members, commissioners and other government officials — as well as compile related election information.
Responsibilities
* Research the duties and annual salaries of assigned elected officials
* Verify information with Municipal Clerks and other appropriate staff
* Update and maintain general election information write-ups used in the printed LWVPBC Voters’ Guide
* Complete specific research assignments as provided, according to a format
Training and guidance will be provided.
Qualifications
* Strong research and writing skills
* Ability to interpret municipal charters and navigate municipal websites effectively
* Friendly, persuasive and patient communication skills — especially when working with busy government officials
* Comfortable using Google Sheets
If you are organized, curious and committed to supporting informed voters, we would love to hear from you. Please contact: Carol Carnevale. | Join the Website Team
Web Team volunteers help keep the LWVPBC website running smoothly, and several people have recently joined and are learning how to manage portions of the website. We are still looking for someone who would like to post team photos to the Gallery, and someone who knows Canva and would like to help create graphics. If you are interested or have questions, email Web@LWVPBC.org.
Special Thanks to our current active team members:
· Ashley Cacicedo – social media and graphics
· Carol Carnevale – newsletter and weekly events e-blasts
· Lori Geiger – calendar events
· Kathy Kudler – spreadsheets and rosters
· Lynn Levy – eblasts and proofreading
· Dawn Weir – financial setups and related entries
· Patty Whitehill – login issues and Zoom
— Daniel Lishansky, Web and Tech Team Chair
| NEWS FROM STATE, NATIONAL LEAGUES | 'BEDROCK OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT' DISMANTLED
SCOTUS Louisiana v. Callais ruling ‘will immediately open the door to racist redistricting; indeed, we have already seen it happening in anticipation of this decision.’
| LWV, CIVICS CENTER PLAN HIGH SCHOOL EFFORT
Cross-country collaboration to foster voter registration in U.S. high schools
and empower next generation of voters to participate fully in public life.
| LVW, OTHERS: TRUMP MAIL BALLOTS E.O. IS ILLEGAL
Executive order ‘would create chaos for election officials, erode public confidence in our elections, and block Americans from exercising their most fundamental right and responsibility as citizens — voting.’
| SUIT TAKES AIM AT ‘SHOW YOUR PAPERS’ FLA. LAW
LWVFL, other voting rights groups say retroactive measure ‘will disenfranchise eligible voters and create unnecessary barriers to the freedom to vote.’
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